A BACHENDORF' S WEDDING FEATURE
A BACHENDORF' S WEDDING FEATURE
china. A first course of delicate citrus risotto with pink grapefruit arrived adorned in gold leaf while tenors sung beloved Italian arias. The wedding cake, created by pastry chef Bastien, took the form of a hydrangea flower served in coupe glasses and incorporated into a champagne tower. Even more memorable than its beauty, MaryEllen says, were the flavors, lemon and elderflower layered with rhubarb and raspberry. After their first dance to “At Last” by Etta James, a saxophonist led guests into the afterparty as fireworks lit the lake. MaryEllen emerged in her third look, Chantilly lace and crystal embroidered gold skirt, as “Club Travmezzo” came to life, a playful tribute to Travis, her initials, and their stay in nearby Tremezzo. The evening included an espresso martini ice luge in the shape of a swan and dancing into the night and dancing into the night under the strawberry moon!
THE WEDDING DAY On the morning of the wedding, before the grandeur unfolded, MaryEllen and Travis exchanged letters and chose not to see one another. As a tenor sang “Ave Maria” from a villa window, MaryEllen walked toward Travis in a custom Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda gown of Sicilian lace with a cathedral veil embroidered in their new family crest. Travis had planned to remain composed. “I could not keep the tears of joy at bay,” he admits. For MaryEllen, the moment felt almost otherworldly. “It felt like I stepped into heaven.” Having grown up arranging flowers alongside her mother, MaryEllen envisioned blooms that felt as though they had always belonged to the villa. Sculpted boxwoods and abundant pink and white peonies and roses framed the garden ceremony, while subtle crosses and sacred music and prayer honored their Catholic faith.
AT THE HEART OF IT ALL “Personal, romantic, nostalgic, heavenly.” That is how MaryEllen and Travis describe their wedding weekend, and it felt, they say, “true to who they are.” Beneath the baroque grandeur, the couture, and the fireworks over the water, there was a single moment that distilled everything. Seeing each other for the first time, they both felt the world go quiet. “It was only us,” MaryEllen says. It is a moment they will always treasure. MaryEllen says she couldn’t imagine a life without the love and laughter they share and Travis describes MaryEllen as “the perfect fulfillment of the term ‘better half.’” Their rings were chosen to represent every season that marriage brings. Not only the big, beautiful moments, but the quiet ones. A slow morning sharing a cappuccino, card games with good friends, time with family, a sunset together. Those moments, they say, are what these rings will carry for a lifetime.
At cocktail hour, strings played and a vocalist performed Sinatra while arancini was passed, honoring MaryEllen’s Sicilian roots. Signature drinks included the Negroni, Aperol and Hugo Spritz, and a specialty creation called the Andyamo, named for their dog Andy. MaryEllen and Lauren Cain, friend and interior designer, sourced cocktail hour cushions from a historic Northern Italian textile mill, Rubelli, in the Lake Como region. MaryEllen felt it was important to include Lake Como heritage, complementing the classical Italian elements of the wedding. For the reception, MaryEllen changed into a second Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda gown, its silk skirt hand-painted with florals inspired by both MaryEllen’s grandmother Olivia Zummo’s and Travis’ grandmother Weslynn Martin’s china, two patterns combined into something entirely new as a way of honoring two special women no longer present. The iron-framed glass marquee was blanketed in light and rich pink flowers and the tables were draped in gold Dolce & Gabbana tablecloths, with candelabras intertwined with blooms, and etched Italian glassware and
54 | B ACHENDORF’ S
55 | B ACHENDORF’ S
Powered by FlippingBook