A Wedding Story · MMXXV

Elena& Riccardo

A Wedding Story

20 September 2025

Pienza, Val d’Orcia, Italy

Begin Our Story ↓

Elena and Riccardo standing together outside their Tuscan wedding venue at sunset
A warm morning view across olive groves and a Tuscan stone house in Val d’Orcia

Chapter One

Before This Day

We met at a small bookbinding workshop in Florence.

Riccardo ruined his first attempt almost immediately.

Elena slid one of her spare sheets of paper across the table and said:

“Try again. This time, do not rush it.”
Elena and Riccardo at a bookbinding workshop table in Florence with paper tools and handmade materials

Florence, 2022

Coffee after the workshop lasted nearly three hours.

Chapter Two

The Life Between

There was no single moment when everything changed.

There were evening walks after work, Sunday markets, dinners that made too much food, and weekends that began with no plan beyond getting out of the city.

Slowly, life began to make more sense with the other person in it.

Elena noticed the details.

Riccardo made room for joy inside them.

Elena and Riccardo browsing flowers and produce together at a sunlit Italian market
A quiet breakfast table with coffee, bread, figs, flowers, and handwritten notes in warm morning light

A Shared Ritual

The small things became the life we shared.

Riccardo proposing to Elena beneath an old tree in Val d’Orcia at sunset

Chapter Three

The Proposal

In April, Riccardo planned a weekend in Val d’Orcia.

They cycled between small villages, stopped for coffee, took photographs, and let the day unfold without trying to make it important.

Near sunset, beneath an old oak tree overlooking the hills, Riccardo told Elena he wanted to remember this view from the beginning of their next chapter.

Then he opened a small ring box.

Elena laughed before she cried.

The Wedding Day

The Day WeChose Forever

The morning arrived bright and quiet.

There were olive trees, white flowers, long tables waiting in the sun, and the familiar nervous energy of people trying to make everything perfect for the people they love.

But the day never felt too perfect to feel real.

There were unfinished buttons, warm embraces, friends laughing too loudly, and the relief of finally seeing each other.

Wedding details including Elena and Riccardo’s invitation, rings, white florals, and silk fabric
Elena sharing a quiet getting-ready moment with her mother before the ceremony
Elena and Riccardo standing together during their ceremony beneath olive trees, surrounded by loved ones

The Ceremony

Under the Olive Trees

During the ceremony, we looked out and saw nearly every part of our lives standing together.

The people who raised us.

The people who stayed.

The people who knew us before we knew what we would become together.

Elena and Riccardo sitting together alone after the ceremony, looking across the hills of Val d’Orcia

A Moment Alone

Afterward, before dinner and music and all the beautiful noise, we found a few quiet minutes alone.

The hills were still glowing.

For the first time that day, there was nothing left to prepare.

Only the simple thought:

We are here.

Elena, Riccardo and their friends laughing together at a candlelit dinner table beneath string lights after sunset

The Evening

After Sunset

As evening arrived, careful plans became wine, music, long speeches, dancing, and friends gathered around the table long after dinner had ended.

The night felt warm, imperfect, and completely ours.

Elena and Riccardo standing together at night on a candlelit Tuscan street, the bride holding a white bouquet

The Last Page

What We Carry Forward

We imagine a home filled with books, plants, unfinished projects, and people who never need a formal invitation to stay for dinner.

We hope to keep choosing curiosity, laughter, and the life we are building together.

“May we keep making room for the life we have not imagined yet.”

Elena & Riccardo

20 September 2025 · Pienza, Val d’Orcia