Lake Como, Reimagined

Grand Hotel Victoria in Menaggio.

Lake Como hardly needs an introduction. For generations, its historic villas, manicured gardens and extraordinary landscape have embodied a particular idea of Italian elegance. In recent years, it has also become one of the world’s most coveted wedding destinations, attracting couples from across the globe in search of romance, beauty and the unmistakable atmosphere of life on the Italian lakes.

With such an established identity, however, comes an interesting creative challenge: how do you create something new in a destination that has already become an icon?

That question became the starting point for Lake Como, Reimagined, a bridal editorial conceived at Grand Hotel Victoria in Menaggio. Rather than trying to reinvent Lake Como, the intention was to explore another side of it — one that would speak to a younger, cosmopolitan generation of couples whose idea of an Italian wedding is rooted in style and heritage, but not necessarily in convention.

“Lake Como has an incredibly strong identity, and that is part of what makes it so special,” explains Monica Roma, founder of Leoeventi. “But there is a tendency to associate weddings here with a very specific aesthetic: white tablecloths, white chairs, abundant white florals, soft pink tones and a very romantic, classical approach. It can be beautiful, but I wanted to show that this extraordinary destination can also accommodate something bolder, more fashion-forward and more contemporary.”

The result is an editorial built around contrasts: old and new, softness and structure, stillness and movement, Italian heritage and modern design. And Grand Hotel Victoria provided the natural stage on which to explore them.

Where Heritage Meets Contemporary Design

Overlooking the lake in Menaggio, Grand Hotel Victoria immediately offered the duality the creative team was looking for. Its stately early 20th-century façade speaks to the history and grandeur associated with Lake Como, while its recently redesigned interiors introduce a distinctly different vocabulary: clean architectural lines, contemporary furnishings, rich materials and a modern approach to luxury.

For Monica Roma, who has spent more than two decades working in the Italian wedding industry, that juxtaposition was precisely the point.

The hotel allowed the team to retain the sense of place that couples travel to Lake Como to experience without feeling obliged to reproduce the aesthetic language traditionally associated with the destination. The building’s history did not need to dictate the style of the wedding; instead, it could become the counterpoint to something new.

Grand Hotel Victoria was also deliberately chosen because it remains relatively underexplored within Lake Como’s wedding landscape. In a destination where a handful of famous villas have become instantly recognisable around the world, the Menaggio property offered the possibility of creating imagery that felt less familiar.

It was not about rejecting tradition, but about giving it another perspective.

That philosophy became particularly evident in one of the editorial’s strongest design moments.

The Table That Changed the Direction

Sometimes the most successful design decision is knowing what not to add.

Inside Grand Hotel Victoria, the team discovered a striking handcrafted wooden dining table. With its rich tone, sculptural presence and strong contemporary character, covering it with a floor-length tablecloth – however elegant – immediately felt unnecessary.

Instead, the table itself became part of the design.

“Once we saw it, we knew we didn’t want to hide it,” Monica Roma recalls. “It already had such personality. The idea became to work with the design that existed in the hotel rather than covering it and creating something completely separate from the space.”

The floral language followed the same philosophy. Instead of traditional arrangements filled with romantic blooms, oversized tropical and architectural foliage created dramatic shapes above the natural wood. Deep green was layered with black glass and subtle gold accents, creating a palette that felt graphic and confident without becoming excessive.

The effect was lush but controlled. Greenery became almost architectural rather than decorative, its scale creating drama while the restrained palette allowed each individual element to remain visible.

It was also a reminder that luxury does not necessarily mean adding more.

When photographer Daniela Rettore of The Fashion Wedding saw the finished table, even she was surprised by how powerfully the different elements had come together. What had been conceived as a strong design statement became even more striking in reality: dark wood against vibrant green, transparent and black glass catching the light, and flashes of gold adding warmth.

Rather than transforming the room into a conventional wedding setting, the tablescape seemed to belong to it.

A Bridal Story Through a Fashion Lens

Fashion was never intended to be a secondary element of the editorial.

Two Vera Wang bridal looks brought a distinctly couture sensibility to the story, while vintage statement jewellery and carefully considered beauty styling moved the imagery further away from conventional bridal portraiture.

The fashion direction was led by Daniela Rettore, whose background in the fashion industry — including her own experience as a model — strongly influenced the visual language of the shoot.

Daniela approached the bride not simply as a subject wearing a wedding dress, but as the protagonist of a fashion story. Hair, makeup, accessories and jewellery were considered as part of the complete image, while the photography alternated between polished portraiture and frames filled with movement and spontaneity.

That sensibility can be seen particularly in the black-and-white imagery, where motion blur and unexpected compositions introduce energy into a setting more commonly photographed through soft, romantic imagery.

The result feels unmistakably bridal, but never static.

One of the day’s most memorable moments happened away from the carefully constructed sets. Dressed in one of the bridal looks and carrying a lace parasol, the model walked along the waterfront in Menaggio. Tourists began turning to watch, intrigued by the unexpected figure moving through the everyday life of the lake.

It was a small, unscripted moment, but one that captured something central to the concept: bridal fashion can respect romance without being predictable.

Breaking the Rules, One Detail at a Time

The same thinking continued throughout the editorial.

There was no desire to create something provocative simply for the sake of being different. Instead, familiar wedding elements were reconsidered individually and given a subtle shift.

Even the wedding cake reflected that approach.

For decades, the round, tiered cake has dominated traditional wedding imagery. Here, a rectangular cake introduced a cleaner, more graphic silhouette — a seemingly simple change that complemented the geometry and contemporary lines found throughout the design.

It is precisely these small decisions that can change the personality of a wedding.

A table does not automatically need a tablecloth because it is a wedding table. Flowers do not necessarily need to be pale and romantic because the ceremony takes place on Lake Como. A wedding cake does not need to follow a familiar silhouette. And bridal photography does not always need to be perfectly still.

For Monica Roma, contemporary wedding design begins with questioning these assumptions — not to discard tradition, but to decide which traditions still belong to a particular couple.

That distinction is important. Lake Como’s classical wedding aesthetic remains timeless for a reason. The purpose of this editorial was never to suggest that it should disappear. Rather, it was to demonstrate that couples can arrive in one of Italy’s most historic destinations and still bring their own visual identity with them.

The destination should inspire the wedding, not prescribe it.

The Lake as an Experience, Not a Backdrop

There is, of course, one element almost impossible to leave out of a Lake Como story: the boat. Travelling across the water has long been one of the most romantic parts of a wedding on the lake, and private boat portraits have become almost synonymous with the destination. But here, too, the team wanted to broaden the familiar narrative.

Rather than using the boat exclusively for posed photographs of the bride and groom, the experience expanded to include their imagined guests.

Suddenly the visual language changed.

The couple was joined by friends. Champagne appeared. Sunglasses replaced carefully composed poses. Bodies moved, people laughed, and the boat became less of a photographic prop and more of what it should be: part of the celebration.

Davide Bugari of Bugari Films further developed this sense of movement through film, particularly throughout the exterior sequences, creating scenes in which the landscape became something to move through and experience rather than simply admire from a distance.



For Monica Roma, the boat was always meant to be more than a beautiful backdrop.

“The boat shouldn’t exist only because it gives you beautiful photographs,” she explains. “Of course, the photographs are wonderful, but it can also become one of the moments everyone remembers — being on the lake together, having a drink, laughing, enjoying the view. That experience is part of the wedding.”

It reflects a wider shift in how a new generation approaches destination celebrations. The photograph remains important, but increasingly the question is not simply How will this look? It is also How will this feel?

And sometimes the most memorable luxury is participation.

When Luxury Becomes Intimate

Perhaps the most significant idea behind the editorial has little to do with flowers, gowns or tables at all.

It is scale.

For years, the visual shorthand for a luxury wedding was often abundance: more flowers, more guests, larger installations, longer tables, increasingly elaborate production.

But scale and luxury are no longer necessarily synonymous.

Much of Monica Roma’s work through Leoeventi has centred around elopements and intimate destination weddings, and that experience informed the imagined celebration at Grand Hotel Victoria. The editorial deliberately suggests a smaller group — people who genuinely know one another, who can sit around the same table, board the same boat and experience the entire day together.

There is a different energy when the guest list becomes a circle rather than a crowd.

With fewer people, attention can shift from spectacle towards experience. A couple can devote more time to each guest. A dinner can feel personal rather than programmed. A boat trip can include everyone. Design choices can become more specific, and each element can be selected because it contributes something meaningful rather than because a large space needs to be filled.

This is not minimalism in the sense of doing less. It is concentration.

LUXURY is no longer necessarily about SCALE. Sometimes, it is about INTIMACY.

A beautifully considered celebration for a small number of people can be every bit as extraordinary as a wedding for hundreds — and in some cases, the intimacy itself becomes the greatest privilege.

For a generation that increasingly values experiences over formality, that distinction matters.

A New Generation of Lake Como Weddings

The couple imagined for this story is international and design-conscious. They appreciate fashion, architecture, food and travel. They choose Lake Como precisely because they love its history and beauty, but they do not necessarily want to adopt a predetermined idea of what an Italian wedding should look like.

They want Italy without becoming a caricature of Italy.

That is perhaps where the future of destination weddings becomes most interesting.

A destination should never become a theme. The most compelling celebrations allow two identities to coexist: that of the place and that of the people who have chosen it.

On Lake Como, centuries-old villas can coexist with couture fashion. Historic façades can frame contemporary interiors. Tropical foliage can sit against dark wood and gold. A lace parasol can appear on a public waterfront and stop passers-by in their tracks. A private boat can move from romantic portrait session to spontaneous party within minutes.

None of these elements diminishes the destination’s identity.

They reveal another version of it.

And perhaps that is the most contemporary expression of luxury: having the confidence to choose rather than simply follow.

Tradition, Reinterpreted

As the editorial moved from the interiors of Grand Hotel Victoria to the waterfront and finally onto the lake itself, its original contrasts began to dissolve.

Classic and contemporary no longer felt like opposing ideas.

The Vera Wang gowns belonged against both the hotel’s historic architecture and its modern spaces. The bold tablescape did not fight with its surroundings; it highlighted them. The boat remained one of Lake Como’s most recognisable traditions, yet filled with friends, movement and celebration, it suddenly felt different.

That balance was ultimately the purpose of the project.

There is no need to reinvent Lake Como. Its beauty does not require improvement, and its history does not need rewriting. But each generation can find a new way to inhabit it.

For today’s couples, that may mean replacing excess with intention, formality with experience, or convention with personal style. It may mean inviting twenty people rather than two hundred and giving those twenty an extraordinary few days together. It may mean choosing one spectacular table instead of transforming every surface, or allowing a wedding gown to move rather than posing perfectly for every frame.

Above all, it means understanding that timelessness and modernity are not mutually exclusive.

The most successful contemporary weddings may be those that know exactly what to preserve — and exactly what to change.

On Lake Como, where history is everywhere, that conversation between past and present feels particularly appropriate.

And as the boat pulls away from Menaggio, with the lake stretching behind it, champagne glasses raised and the formality of the earlier portraits giving way to laughter, the idea becomes beautifully simple:

Luxury is not only about creating something beautiful enough to photograph. It is about creating something beautiful enough to remember.

Photography: The Fashion Wedding @thefashionwedding | https://www.thefashionwedding.com.
Planning + Florals + Design: Elope in Italy @elope_in_italy | https://www.leoeventi.com.
Videography + Content Creation: Bugari Films @bugarifilms | https://bugarifilms.com.
Venue: Grand Hotel Victoria Menaggio @grandhotelvictoriamenaggio | https://www.grandhotelvictoria.it.
Boat: Fercap Lake Como @fercap_lakecomo |
Cake: Qualcosa di Dolce Bakery @qualcosadidolce_bakery | https://qualcosadidolce.it.
Makeup: The Beauty Fashion Bridal @thebeautyfashionbridal.
Hair: Andrea Fabbretti @andfabb79.
Rentals: 0039 Events @0039events | https://www.0039events.it.
Bridal Gown: Vera Wang @ateliermada_ | https://www.ateliermada.it.
Groom Suit: Bencivenga Alta Sartoria @bencivengaaltasartoria | https://bencivenga.eu/.

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