A Timeless Destination Wedding in Italy Decorated With Roses

Erica and Catherine met on December 8, 2017 at a bar in New York’s West Village when a casual nightcap with friends for Erica turned into the beginning of their relationship. “There was this overwhelming sureness that she was going to be the person,” Erica says of what she felt when speaking to Cat that night. “Like I knew her in another life, like this moment was always meant to happen in some sort of cosmic way.” Despite how sure Erica was that there was something between them, the pair remained friendly for five months before sharing their first kiss. From there, a romantic relationship developed, and, on January 25, 2023, Cat surprised Erica with a proposal at a château in the South of France. “I can’t remember a thing she said, I just know I said yes,” Erica laughs. The couple popped Champagne, enjoyed dinner on the terrace, and slow danced to Chet Baker at sunset. 

As two avid travelers, it was a forgone conclusion that Erica and Cat would host a destination wedding. The only question was where it should take place. Since Italy is one of their favorite places to visit, they decided to invite guests to join them in Ravello, where they hosted a black-tie wedding at Villa Cimbrone on September 27, 2024. where romantic gardens and the Gothic architecture in the venue’s crypt served as the backdrop for their ceremony and reception. “We chose Villa Cimbrone because it took our breath away,” the brides explain.

The envisioned a timeless design with a color palette of white, ivory, pale shades of pink, and subtle gold and silver accents, and Sabina from Infinity Weddings and Events helped bring that vision to life. Here, see every photo of the couple’s wedding weekend—including their welcome party at Villa Eva—through the lens of Danilo & Sharon.

Erica and Cat worked with Linden Illustration to design their invitation stationary, which included unique shapes and custom illustrations. “Our formal wedding invitations were completely custom to reflect us as a couple and our wedding venue,” Erica explains. They incorporated a subtle half-moon and stars motif to represent the fact that they felt their meeting was cosmic destiny, a sparrow to symbolize love and spiritual connection, and a snake to signify wisdom and growth throughout the design.

The invitations also featured poppy flowers as a nod to their Italian destination wedding along with Alaska’s state flower (forget-me-nots) to represent their annual vacation destination. 

The paper goods gave guests all the information they needed about the weekend’s events, including the pre-wedding welcome party and post-nuptial pool party. “We really wanted to take care of our guests from start to finish during the wedding the weekend,” Erica says. “Most of us are from New York City. New Yorkers love ambiance, great nightlife, and good cocktails. This definitely had all of those elements.”

Erica and Cat set a “garden party chic” dress code for their welcome party at Villa Eva, and they made sure their own looks were in keeping with the event’s theme. Cat wore a strapless white jumpsuit from Black Halo paired with Start Weitzman pumps. Erica wore a floral linen dress Agua by Agua Bendita, Oscar de la Renta hoop earrings, a Chanel bag, and Badgley Mischka platform sandals.

The couple chose Villa Eva as their welcome party venue because of the unique features it offered their guests, from coastal views, outdoor bars, and ivy-covered structures. “It was a five-minute walk from Villa Cimbrone and had a completely different vibe,” Erica adds.

The evening began with two hours of cocktails, during which guests enjoyed their choice of drink or one of the couple’s two signature sips—a negroni and an espresso martini. “This was the first time we were welcoming everyone to Italy, and we wanted the chance to get lost in conversations and welcome everyone properly,” Erica explains of the decision to extend cocktail hour.

Family members and friends also enjoyed appetizers like focaccia bread with tomatoes, cream puffs stuffed with cheese and lemon, and miniature eggplant parmesan along with various carving stations.

The inspiration behind the welcome party’s design? Versace “Flower Fantasy” plates, which were also by guests that evening for dinner. “I loved the color palate—green and lavender is such a harmonious color combination,” Erica says. “Everything else sort of fell into place once the plates were chosen.”

Dinner tables were topped with ivory tablecloths and decorated with pastel green and pink tapered candles. Though the centerpieces of roses, ranunculus, lilies, tulips, sweet peas, and more were largely pastel in terms of color palette, there were a few bold pops of red and magenta. As an extra special touch, each place setting was complete with a custom oval shaped menu with the guest’s name printed on it. 

During the three-course dinner, the couple’s loved ones shared heartfelt speeches. “All our friends and families are somehow great writers and speakers,” Erica notes. “I cried at every single speech.”

After, guests moved to the other side of the venue where they enjoyed a dessert station and late-night pizzas as they danced the night away. Around midnight, Erica and Cat joined their guests for a short walk back to Villa Cimbrone to get some rest before the big day. “We were laughing and singing in the side streets of Ravello,” Erica recalls. “This is what it was all about: being together.”

After sharing a quiet breakfast together on the morning of their wedding, Erica and Cat chose to get ready separately. Erica got into bridal mode in a white slip dress by Privacy Please paired with a chiffon wrap robe by In Bloom by Jonquil and Amina Mauddi slingback pumps. Her stunning engagement ring—a 4.5 carat oval-cut diamond with a hidden halo, pavé band, and gold setting—was on full display.

The couple knew they would be pulled in a ton of different directions on their wedding day, so they planned to have a private moment together during their first look. In the historic courtyard at Villa Cimbrone, Erica tapped Cat on the shoulder before they saw each other. The brides remember that they both immediately started crying before sharing a warm embrace.

“Prior to the first look I was starting to get anxious about the wedding,” Erica remembers. “The minute I was with Cat I didn’t care about any of that stuff anymore. All that mattered was from this moment on we were going to be together.”

Erica tried on over a hundred different wedding dresses, but she ultimately went back to the very first look she tried on. “It was everything I wanted and more!” she says, “It just took a lot of nos to realize it was an absolute yes.” The Monique Lhuillier dress featured a drop waist, sweetheart neckline, and lace detailing throughout that reminded Erica of Italy. She accessorized with David Yurman drop earrings (a wedding gift from Cat), a Tiffany ring that served as her promise ring, and two tennis bracelets.

Cat envisioned a simple yet elevated bridal look. She chose a luxe mikado A-line gown by Estee Couture with pockets, a detachable bow, and cathedral train. “It matched my vision and overall style and stood out compared to the other dresses I had tried on,” she notes. “The designer was there for a trunk show while I was trying it on and that made it an even more special experience.” She styled her look with diamond stud earrings and her matching Tiffany promise ring. 

Erica and Cat’s wedding ceremony took place in the villa’s garden, where the Amalfi coast and the Mediterranean Sea served as a natural backdrop for their vow exchange. “I wanted the organic beauty to speak for itself and didn’t want our design to overpower or take away from the beauty of the Amalfi Coast,” Erica explains. “I really wanted to complement what was already there.”

To that end, the couple chose white garden-style chairs for their guests, which played nicely with the existing garden setting. Arrangements of pink roses—both along the aisle and in a grounded arch shape at the front of the ceremony space—were specifically made to look as is they were growing right out of the ground, almost like rose bushes.

Each chair had a packet of rose petals to toss at the end of the ceremony and a white or pale pink parasol for any guests who needed a break from the Italian sun. 

As guests arrived, they enjoyed welcome cocktails and a stroll through the gardens. A harp and violin duo performed live, keeping everyone entertained until the ceremony began.

The couple didn’t have children at their wedding, so they thought it would be fun twist on tradition to have “flower men” instead of flower girls. Cat’s brother, Joey, and her cousin, Austin, took on the job without hesitation. “They’re both super fun and goofy guys and we knew they’d do a great job,” Erica says. “They got into character, twirling around like ballerinas and sprinkling flowers everywhere—we could hear our guests laughing from our hiding spots.”

“It’s safe to say we did things a little differently for the ceremony,” Erica explains. The couple decided they would each honor their parents by being accompanied by both sets of parents down the aisle. “It was nice share this moment with both parents. We also had our parents sitting closest to us at the altar,” she adds.

Cat’s entrance was to the tune of Bach’s “Chorale Cantata 147.” Erica chose Gabriel’s “Oboe Morricone,” one of her favorite songs since childhood.

The couple enlisted Guiseppe Rossi from Blessings from Italy to officiate the ceremony. “I really wanted the ceremony to be taken seriously. Giuseppe is a professional officiant, who studied at the Vatican for over a decade, and carried us through a very moving, spiritual ceremony,” Erica says.

Erica and Cat exchanged personal vows they wrote for each other, which they penned in custom vow books with their names and wedding day. Their words ended up moving everyone to tears. “Committing to each other in front of your family and friends, while nerve-racking is not something either of us take lightly,” Erica explains. “This was the most important part of the wedding weekend.”

After a moving, emotional ceremony, the newlyweds wanted a lighthearted, celebratory recessional to help transition to the party. They chose Ray LaMontagne’s “You Are the Best Thing,” which was performed on the harp, as the soundtrack to their petal-strewn exit.

Guests moved to cocktail hour while Erica and Cat snuck away for a few more portraits, both around the property and on the photo backdrop they worked with the team at Danilo & Sharon to create, inspired by an Oscar de la Renta bridal shoot Erica fell in love with. “I wanted photos you could see in magazine and the way they capture moments is so glamorous yet tasteful,” Erica says of the photography team. “I also love how they do bridal portraits.”

They also hired another photographer, Paco & Aga, to capture documentary-style photos of the day.

While the brides were posing photos, guests were invited to the venue’s Infinity Terrace for the cocktail hour, where they were entertained by a jazz guitarist playing songs like “Fly Me to the Moon” and Italian classics like “Volare.” “This terrace is unlike any other,” Erica says of the space. “You are on top of the world sitting with clouds.”

Guests took in stunning coastal views and a beautiful sunset as they waited for the brides to arrive. Erica designed a custom wedding monogram that was displayed on top of the cocktails with drink toppers and emblazoned on ice cube in margaritas and negronis. She also created a custom logo with a Roman head as a nod to the statues seen throughout the villa, which was then added to matchbooks for guests to take with them.

When Erica and Cat joined the crowd for cocktails, they had a surprise in store: a Champagne tower, which was set up on a table decorated with plenty of pink roses. It proved to be more than just a celebratory moment—it was also an epic photo opp for the newlyweds.

The dinner reception took place in the villa’s open air crypt, where unique gothic architecture and views of the mountains and sea set the tone for a chic, elevated evening. Guests were seated at round tables topped with white linens decorated that were further decorated with tall candelabras, taper candles, tea light candles, and arrangements of fresh white roses in bud vases. When the brides first toured the venue, they immediately envisioned the space being filled with hundreds of glowing candles.

Each place setting had a custom wedding menu created with Papira. “I wanted a long, thin, folded menu,” Erica explains of her vision. “I haven’t really seen this done before but I think it looks so beautiful.” The result was a folded menu with gold foil press printing featuring their wedding crest and the menu written in both English and Italian.

When Erica and Cat saw the reception setup for the first time, they were speechless. “When Cat and I first saw this, it was hard not to get emotional,” Erica says. “It was so beautiful and so much time and effort went into creating this.”

The couple and their guests enjoyed a four-course meal of Italian favorites—including two pasta courses!—while they enjoyed Erica’s famous dinner party playlist. “This is a playlist that is well known and loved amongst my friends and family,” she says. “It’s the playlist that Cat and I have cooked to, slow danced too, and shared with others over the past eight years.”

The bride’s changed into party-ready looks when it came time to start dancing. Erica wore a two piece set from Magda Butrym with Amina Mauddi slingback pumps. Cat says she feels most like herself in jumpsuits or pants, so she chose a bustier top paired with tuxedo pants by Fleur du Mal paired with Stuart Weitzman pumps.

The couple served a traditional Italian wedding cake, a millefoglie, featuring light layers of puff pastry topped with chantilly cream and berries. “We cut the cake to ‘The Best Things In Life Are Free’ by Sam Cooke,” Erica says. “It was delicious and so fun.”

Dancing took place in the crypt, where DJ Fabio performed alongside a local saxophonist who kept guests guessing with various outfit changes. “I wanted the dancing area to feel like its own space, separate from the dinner,” Erica says. “We chose mirrored silver columns, silver disco balls, and a mirrored bar with candles all around to give it a separate, yet cohesive style.”

The couple bought about a hundred disposable cameras and gave them out to guests at the reception so that they could capture pictures from their points of view. “It was an exciting thing to look forward to when we got home,” Erica says.

The next day, they closed out their wedding weekend with a brunch buffet and pool party.

Immediately after the wedding, Erica and Cat joined 20 of their closest loved ones for a trip to Capri and Tuscany. Then, they enjoyed a private honeymoon months later at the Four Seasons in Koh Samui, Thailand, where the latest season of The White Lotus was filmed.

To any couple deliberating between a wedding and an elopement, Erica suggests going with the bigger party. “You don’t need to do anything crazy, but this is the only time in your life that you will have everyone you love in one room,” she says. “I had no idea the impact that Cat and I have had on our friends and family. If I hadn’t had this experience I wouldn’t have been able to share in their love and joy for us.”