Autumnal Elegance Overlooking The Amalfi Coast

Weddings

Jan 25

Nobody likes the idea of postponing their wedding, but with the help of Exclusive Italy Wedding and Flower Addicted, this gorgeous couple successfully made their two-times-postponed wedding into a one-of-a-kind wedding and went viral on TikTok.

Once they had to reschedule the second time to September, they knew they wanted to ditch their white and greeneries theme for Autumnal Elegance. “It fits perfectly with the Villa Cimbrone’s history and gothic architecture. It was utterly romantic!” said Gwendoly, the Bride.

Take a peek into their full gallery, captured by Gianni Di Natale.

Our Story

Name: Gwendolyn R. von Rahn & Ronald M. Ongaro Jr

Wedding Date: 28 September 2021

Guest Number: 40

Location: Ravello, Amalfi Coast

We met in October 2014 in a quintessential guy-meets-girl NYC love story - at a bar in the East Village. It was happenstance that we were at the same happy hour through mutual friends. He was supposed to go home after one cocktail because he had a big event the next day but I made sure he knew that he shouldn’t leave. Ron proposed in November 2018 on the rooftop of our Brooklyn condo. We have a beautiful view of the NYC skyline and love watching the planes line up in the sky to come into the airports at night. It’s always been a special place for us.

The Engagement

He had tricked me into getting glammed up for what I thought was a black-tie gala at his private social club, University Club. As it turns out, he had planned an epic surprise engagement party with our loved ones at Gramercy Tavern and the Arlo Soho Hotel, even flying in my family and best friends from Atlanta, Florida, and Los Angeles for the event.

The Bridal Look

My bridal vision for the day was classic, timeless, and sexy, so I opted for an old Hollywood glamour look. I tried on hundreds of dresses and nothing seemed to make sense or fit me right until I found Galia Lahav. There is just something about how she knows to flatter a woman's body. I wore a custom Galia Lahav with custom-made cape sleeves.

For my husband, Del Toros made a custom pair of black velvet loafers for Ron that included one American flag and one Italian flag on either shoe. Del Toros manufactured them right there in their studio in Naples, Italy, and shipped them directly to Villa Cimbrone. His shoes were a huge hit.

The Venue

We both knew that we didn’t want a big traditional wedding and, since we’re both such wanderlusts, wanted to do something more intimate abroad. When we coupled our love of the beach with Ron’s Italian family roots, the Amalfi Coast was the perfect choice. We fell in love with the town of Ravello which is suspended in the clouds on the top of the mountain over the Italian coastline.

With the help of our amazing wedding planner and some of my mother’s internet sleuthing, we found Villa Cimbrone and knew it was the venue for us. It’s truly the most beautiful place in the world.

The Style

Our vision for the wedding week, and especially the wedding day, was to not overdo it and play off of the natural elements of the Amalfi Coast. We also didn’t want to shy away from color. Once we postponed our wedding for the second time to September, we knew that we wanted to ditch the whites and greenery and go for autumnal elegance, which fit perfectly with the Villa Cimbrone’s history and gothic architecture. It was utterly romantic.

The Wedding Day

Villa Cimbrone is only accessed by foot (you cannot get there by car!) so our guests met in the Ravello Piazza (the town square) for welcome Aperol Spritz cocktails and were accompanied by a Neapolitan band as they made their way up to the gardens of Villa Cimbrone.

Our ceremony was hosted in the quaint garden at Villa Cimbrone called The Tea Room with a backdrop of a magnificent gothic column structure, surrounded by the sun peeking out from the hundreds of trees. Hand-painted wedding ceremony fans with illustrations of Villa Cimbrone were waiting for each guest, as well custom-blocked linen flower pouches with our wedding crest. Our reception was hosted in Villa Cimbrone's gothic-style crypt overlooking the mountains. The special details, suspended florals, and special touches were gorgeous. The decor was something out of a fairytale.

The Music

We had live music throughout the weekend. From the five-piece Neapolitan band at our welcome party, to the Neapolitan Duo who escorted our wedding guests to Villa Cimbrone, to the string quartet who played beautifully during our ceremony and cocktail hour overlooking the mountains along the Amalfi Coast. We surprised our guests with an Italian opera singer during dinner as a gift to our parents. We’ll never forget the look on our guests’ faces when the tenor began to sing. Once the dancing picked up, we danced the night away with a DJ who brought the house down.

The Highlight

We never thought to make our cake cutting moment a focal point but once we walked over to cut the millefoglie cake, our DJ played “That’s Amore” by Dean Martin and the entire wedding burst into song and dance. It was a moment I’ll remember forever.

Something I wish I knew before

Because of the lingering presence of COVID and the hardships of travel for some, as a result, there were a couple of very important people who couldn’t be with us. We were surprised and honored by how many of the original bunch actually ended up making the international trip but the absence of a few integral people in our life was something that was challenging for both of us. That being said, we always felt resolute in our plan for an international destination wedding, knowing that we were truly celebrating our love and marriage in a way that was authentic to us vs. getting sucked into the pressures of the wishes of others.

How we would describe planning an Italy destination wedding

Uncertain and challenging. I have the utmost respect for any couple who planned and executed a wedding during COVID and the exhaustion that came along with it. It was certainly a time for perspective so we never let the abrupt changes to our wedding cloud what was really important, but having a wedding canceled twice would weigh hard on anyone. I’m immensely grateful to our wedding planner, Laura Frappa, and her team. At the end of the day, it worked out exactly as it was supposed to.

Advice for Italian Bride-to-Be

Work with local vendors. It was important to us to work with local vendors across the board - from the florist to photographers to hair & makeup to musicians. We didn’t feel it was necessary to outsource any vendors when there was so much beautiful, soulful talent on Amalfi Coast and in the surrounding areas. To do so would have felt like we were sacrificing the local character. We also wanted to support local artists in any way we could, especially given the area’s reverence for ceramics. We worked with local artists on beautiful hand-painted illustrations for wedding events, another local artist who hand-blocked our custom tablecloths and handpainted our dining chargers, and even had another artist custom paint our initial onto ceramic limoncello bottles and shot glasses for our guests to take home. I’m still in awe of the creativity that all of the vendors brought to the table, not to mention how easy and lovely they were to work with when COVID canceled our first two wedding dates.