This morning, I found out reading the newspapers that Eliot Cohen and Renee Sutton, daughter of American entrepreneur Jeff Sutton, are going to get married in Puglia on the extraordinary beach of Monopoli. It’s going to be a small and informal wedding to the tune of 25 million dollars, 400 guests, 200 staff, a menu 20 pages-long, 8 truck-loads of flowers and a short and unpretentious wedding list.
And to think that even if young Renee could have had half of Manhattan at her disposal, she has decided to fly to Puglia to get married. Long live Italy, our beautiful country. However, Renee wasn’t the first person to have this idea: Italy seems to have become the favourite wedding destination of VIPs and others too.
I wonder, if the next time I travel abroad someone will say to me: Italia?! Pizza, mafia, mandolino… Weddings!
Surely, Hollywood actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are among the most famous couples of all time. In 2005 they got married at the Castello Odescalchi, an impressive fortress perched above the shores of the Lago di Bracciano, near Rome.
PR queen Roberta Armani was called to coordinate the entire celebration, and together with set designer and director of large-scale events Jean Paul Troili, decided to use the colours on the coat of arms of the Odescalchi family as the main wedding theme.
Castello OdescalchiDeliberately inspired by the Renaissance, the décor was designed around shades of white, red and gold. A multitude of scented candles and torches added warmth to the Mediaeval rooms of the castle and a great many flag bearers in period costumes spelled out the most spectacular and moving moments of the evening, as they greeted the guests with the sound of their beating drums.
What a pity Instagram didn’t exist in 2006, otherwise the #katie&tom would have been a great hit.
However, a castle and a Mediaeval themed-wedding weren’t enough to make their dream of happily ever after come true. In fact, the couple divorced turbulently a few years later. Some people say Scientology is to blame, I blame the flag bearers.
Opposite Naples, there’s a magical island with a breathtaking view, where romance reigns supreme: Capri.
In June 2016, the entire island was locked down for three days to host what many have described as the coolest wedding of the year: between Giovanna Battaglia, fashion editor and stylist for Vogue Japan and W Magazine, and Swedish entrepreneur Oscar Engelbert.
The island welcomed both Italian and international VIPs and celebrities from the world of fashion and beyond, and throughout the entire weekend Capri was off-limits to mere mortals. At the time, all social networks went absolutely bonkers.
Proceedings started Friday evening in the famous Piazzetta of Capri. From 8 pm onwards, this well-known outdoor living-room was commandeered for the pre-wedding party, decked out in red decorations and colourful balloons, taking over the square and the three main bars which face onto it, the Piccolo Bar, the Caffè Caso the Gran Caffè. There were hundreds of guests in strictly casual attire.
What were the evening’s amusements? A news-stand which was decked out as a photographic set for the occasion. You can always rely on the fashion world.
The next day, the religious ceremony took place outdoors at the Lighthouse of Punta Carena, one of the most delightful spots in the whole Mediterranean, to which guests could gain access only after having shown a secret code. The location was elegantly and simply got up and the colour white reigned supreme.
The last party drew this wedding-event to a close amidst DJ-sets, a play of light and an enormous stage for dancing. Really chic, in perfect Capri style.
Without a doubt, George Clooney is one of the Hollywood stars who most admires Italy, and George couldn’t have married the beautiful Amal Alamuddin anywhere else but in romantic Venice.
The fairytale started with a pre-party at the Hotel Cipriani, a luxury five-star hotel on the Giudecca with a view over the Palazzo Ducale and the Venetian lagoon.
However, the official ceremony and the reception for only 200 guests was held at the exclusive Aman hotel with its wonderful frescos. This is Italy’s first 7-star hotel and it’s located inside the Palazzo Papadopoli, built in the XVI century by the Coccina family, rich merchants from Bergamo.
According to certain rumours, although the Aman has two stars more than the Hotel Cipriani, the former would only have been second-choice for the couple as they would have preferred to celebrate their wedding ceremony right in the Cipriani. However, someone was faster than the Clooneys: in fact the hotel had already been booked by an Italian entrepreneur. Is there someone more important than George Clooney?
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