A Welcome Party with All the Glamour of an Italian Love Story

A Closer Look

Lycoris styled this welcome party in two acts, and the first belonged to the Lake Como sun. She wore a cream mini dress tailored like a blazer, with a sharp collar and a column of buttons. Oval cream sunglasses, pearl earrings and crystal-buckled pumps finished it. Dylan answered in a tan suit with a gold lapel pin and an open white collar. Matched in cream and tan, they had the easy polish of a 1960s jet-set couple on an Italian holiday. An orange beach car with wicker seats and a white vintage Triumph roadster lined in cognac leather completed the fantasy of long lunches and slow drives along the water. That soft, sunny opening left the second act all the room it needed.

That act opened at Villa Sola Cabiati, where WOW Wedding planned and designed the evening. Lycoris traded holiday ease for couture showmanship in a white crepe column gown with a plunging V neckline. Its long fitted sleeves erupted into tiers of sculpted ruffles at the shoulder. Covered buttons ran down her back, a high slit cut through the front, and a sweeping train followed her across the gravel. The column kept her long and lean, and the sleeves did all the talking. A sleek low ponytail and a fine pendant necklace stayed out of their way. Dylan switched into a grey suit with a black bow tie and played the classic leading man beside her.

Guests arrived in black, in lace sleeves, sharp suits and floor-length gowns. On the forecourt below the villa's yellow facade, Lycoris's white gown cut through the crowd like a spotlight. Cocktails stayed in the same moody register. Velvet poufs in espresso and black circled mirrored side tables. Copper heat lamps glowed over a white bar, and a chef worked a station of fruit and small bites by the lake gates. Even outdoors, all that velvet and reflection hinted at how rich the night was about to get.

Then the curtain went up on plum. Inside, a salon of white stucco, gilded mirrors and marble busts held long tables and benches poured over in plum satin. The fabric pooled, puddled and swagged until the seating and the tables read as one glossy surface. All that sheen pulled an old-world room into the present. Scalloped plum plates rested on silver chargers, and pleated bronze lamps and goblets lined the center. The lamps brought the light down low, so each long table felt close and private despite the room's grand scale. Deep purple calla lilies, pink orchids, grapes and amaranthus spilled across the satin. Red arrangements in tall urns towered above it all and kept the drama at the height of the ceiling. When Lycoris took her seat on a satin bench, her white sleeves bloomed out of all that plum. The gown and the room finally shared a stage.

Dessert carried the same idea into chocolate. A tiered table skirted in brown satin held silver footed bowls of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, coffee beans, cinnamon sticks and rose petals. Set out that way, the berries, spice and petals looked like jewels on display. Plum had dressed the dinner tables, and chocolate claimed the last one.