An Event Stylist’s Magical Italian Garden Wedding with a Vintage Red Ferrari & Forest Reception

For Oyin and BJ, a wedding in Verona was never simply about choosing a beautiful destination. Italy had already become part of their story, filled with memories, shared adventures, and a deep affection for its effortless sense of style. Villa Rizzardi, with its historic amphitheater and expansive gardens, offered the perfect canvas for a celebration that felt romantic but never predictable, elegant with a playful edge, and deeply personal. The design leaned into sculptural florals, flowing silk, and layers of texture, transforming the gardens into a dreamlike setting for an intimate gathering of their closest people. Oyin’s vintage-Victorian bridal look brought another layer of refinement, with an ivory silk two-in-one gown, delicate draping, and freshwater pearls creating a look that felt timeless yet unmistakably modern. From the serpentine aisle and colorful ceremony florals to the candlelit dinner beneath the trees, every detail was considered to create atmosphere rather than simply decoration. Add a Nigerian food experience, live music, and an unforgettable party dress covered in shells and pearls, and the result was a wedding with its own rhythm, personality, and unmistakable point of view.

Our Love Story

The Day We Met

Every great love story usually begins with an unlikely beginning, as the best ones often do, and for BJ and me, ours began with my grandmother subtly matchmaking us in the best way possible. A few years ago, I had just graduated from college and was going to be visiting Dallas for the first time. I mentioned this to my grandmother, and she casually introduced me to her best friend’s son, who lived in Dallas. She sent me his number as a point of contact in case I needed anything and sent my number to him as well. We connected and haven’t stopped talking to each other since then.

The Proposal

BJ and I connected because of our love for travel and adventure. For the proposal, we both knew we wanted something unique and meaningful to us. We’ve always loved Italy, and so, on our trip to Italy, when visiting Lake Como for the first time, BJ told me he had planned a photoshoot and boat tour of the lake. He knew I loved taking photos, so we got dressed and drove to a beautiful lakeside villa. When we got to the villa, he told me he needed to talk to the photographer and asked me to meet him by the steps of the villa that connected to the lake. As I walked down the steps, I heard a violinist playing, saw a “Will you marry me?” sign, and walked into the most beautiful proposal, with the lake as our backdrop.

The Engagement Ring

The most special thing about my engagement ring was that BJ designed it himself with the help of Diamonds Direct Austin. He knows how particular I am about everything and designed a beautiful, unique pear-shaped diamond ring with a diamond bezel cushion. Knowing that he put so much love and effort into the choices he made makes me feel so special, and I feel so happy and blessed to have a man with such profound taste.

Our Wedding

The Vision

Throughout the years, when we envisioned our wedding, we always talked about how we wanted it to feel. We also wanted our guests to leave feeling like they had truly experienced our love. So, we leaned into that and had the most intimate wedding in a city that represented what true love meant to us and in a country that we both loved so much. We had a small wedding at Villa Rizzardi in Verona with our closest friends and family. We wanted our wedding to feel magical and unique to us, so we made our choices based on that feeling and hoped that, when we looked back years from now, we would be happy with the choices we made.

Our Team of Vendors

This truly wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing planner, Enrico Quiani, and the Foor Events team. They are truly amazing and excellent at what they do. I was very nervous about planning a wedding thousands of miles away, and Enrico listened and assured me that my vision would be executed perfectly. They exceeded my expectations. My photographer, Giacomo Verspini, was wonderful. We had initially talked about documentary-style photos with some editorial photos, and I changed my mind at the last minute to have more of an editorial focus.

Giacomo and his team were very accommodating and quickly pivoted to what I wanted. They were able to capture all the special moments and truly blend in and capture every emotion without us even noticing they were there. I am still in awe of how they were able to capture everything from different angles and so profoundly. We look at the photos so fondly and are able to remember the emotions we felt in every moment that was captured. Our creative director, The LifeStylist, and florist, Fiore all’Occhiello, also did an incredible job creating the mood board and design of the wedding and executing it to perfection.

The Location

Choosing Italy came very naturally to us because it represented the beginning of our love and held a significant place in our hearts. We made the most amazing memories on our trips to Italy and fell in love with everything about Italian culture, food, and lifestyle. Verona, as the city of love, represented what we are, and without even visiting Verona, we knew it was where we wanted to tell our love story. Villa Rizzardi is one of the few villas in Italy that still has an Italian-style amphitheater and gardens, and when we visited, we just knew that it was the perfect place to have our wedding. It was classic and had stood the test of time, just like I know BJ’s and my love will, and I couldn’t have imagined getting married anywhere else.

The Ceremony

We had an unplugged ceremony in the amphitheater gardens, surrounded by our friends and family, and wanted a moment of reflection on our journey and how we got there. We worked with our creative director and florist to create a serpentine, silk-draped aisle that had a raised platform as the altar and filled the amphitheater with colorful, textured flowers. We wanted the ceremony to feel like a mystical garden and used colorful flowers that complemented the greenery of the amphitheater to achieve that. The ceremony felt so grand and magical because of the unique architecture of the gardens and the elements of fabric and color, all tying everything together to give it that romantic Romeo and Juliet feel.

Our Favorite Moment

Our favorite moment was right after the ceremony. After saying our vows and having our first kiss, seeing all our family and friends cheering us on as we walked back down the aisle is a memory we will cherish forever. The energy was electric, and we felt so much love and support in that moment.

The Cocktail Hour

We had the cocktail hour at the back of the villa, where we had live show cooking and a saxophonist serenading us and the guests. We also had an Aperol and Hugo Spritz section that paid homage to being in Italy, as well as a Nigerian food section that tied in our Nigerian roots. We simply enjoyed the beautiful sunset with our guests. My favorite part of the cocktail hour was being able to have small conversations with our guests and just interact with everyone.

The Reception

The dinner reception was by far the most special part of the wedding. We had a candlelit dinner under the trees with the most gorgeous tablescape, and it truly felt like we were having dinner in a magical forest. We had one long, banquet-style table, so it felt like an intimate family dinner, and our friends and family gave the most touching and thoughtful speeches. We worked with our creative director and florist to design a unique tablescape that had a draped ivory silk tablecloth and a hole in the center of the table filled with textured flowers and bear grass. We played games during dinner, had a fashion parade, and my favorite part was my husband and his friends serenading me. You could feel the energy, and everyone had the most amazing time.

The Special Touches

We are both very big F1 fans, and our favorite F1 team is Ferrari, so I surprised BJ with a 1989 Ferrari F108 Mondial convertible as our getaway car. It was such a special touch because we both love F1, and with Ferrari being an Italian team, it just felt right. We also gave our guests custom hats, bags, and sweatshirts that had Italy and Verona on them, so that anytime they wore the hats, carried the tote bags, or wore the sweatshirts, they would remember us and their favorite memories from the wedding.

Our Style

The Bridal Looks

The brief for my bridal look was vintage and Victorian, and I always knew I wanted a dress that was effortless and comfortable but still very fashionable. I enjoyed the experience of visiting bridal boutiques but never quite found exactly what I was looking for. I decided to explore getting my dress custom-made and fell in love with the style of the dresses Mazelle Bridal made. My favorite part of the process was getting to pick all the different pieces, like fabric and lace, and going over different sketches until we designed the perfect gown. We went for an ivory silk, two-in-one gown that was very much inspired by the Victorian era. I loved the draping on the sides of the dress, and it really felt like something that would last forever and age effortlessly. I loved that I was able to get two different looks out of one dress, and wearing that gown truly felt like a fairytale.

Mazelle Bridal is a Nigerian-based bridal studio, and the designer was amazing to work with. I felt seen and heard throughout the process and was very confident that they could execute my vision — and they did. I completed the look with silk Jimmy Choo pumps and freshwater pearl jewelry made by a Nigerian artisan called Renikeji Jewelry. Mazelle Bridal also made the party dress, and for this dress, we went for something very fun and loud. The party dress was a hand-beaded shell and pearl dress with a halter-neck design. This dress was modern and captivating, and my favorite thing about it was the sound the shells made every time I moved. It’s truly a one-of-one piece and was perfect for the occasion.

The Groom Looks

For the groom’s look, I opted for a two-tone, off-white jacket paired with tailored black trousers, crafted by Label by Alts. The focal point of the look was a double-breasted jacket featuring peak lapels rendered in a subtle white silk. This delicate contrast created a sophisticated, tonal interplay against the off-white fabric. To maintain the clean, classic lines of black-tie tradition, I styled the suit with a sleek black bow tie and a traditional cummerbund. For a contemporary edge, I grounded the look with a pair of Maison Margiela Tabi dress shoes, which were a thoughtful gift from Oyin and added a distinct, personal signature to the outfit.

Our Bridesmaids’ Looks

For the bridesmaids’ dresses, I really wanted each of my girls to be able to express their personality and style, so I picked chartreuse as the bridesmaids’ color. I thought it would complement the aesthetic and colors we had chosen for the wedding and asked all five of my bridesmaids to design their dresses based on what they loved. I trusted them to design dresses that were creative and ultimately true to who they were, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how unique all their dresses were. They loved the experience of designing their dresses and all felt beautiful and confident in their choices.

Our Groomsmen’s Looks

To complement the overall aesthetic, the groomsmen wore classic double-breasted black tuxedos from SuitSupply, accented with elegant black silk lapels. The crisp, structured tailoring gave the party a cohesive and sophisticated presence that anchored the visual tone of the day. To add a layer of personal sentiment, each tuxedo was styled with custom-monogrammed cufflinks, which were a tailored gift I gave them as a token of appreciation. It was a subtle, meaningful detail that pulled the entire look together while offering everyone a lasting keepsake from the celebration.

Our Advice

For the Planning Process

One of the best things we did was put together a team of people who we trusted to understand the vision and help bring it to reality. We discussed what our priorities were and really focused on what we wanted, filtering out the noise and norms of what a traditional wedding looked like. We made sure our wedding represented us and used that as a starting point to guide our decisions and choices. A big part of our success was leaning into our community of friends and family. We are blessed with very talented friends and family, so we tapped into that and got support from everyone around us. Weddings can become overwhelming and isolating, so ensuring that you are vocal about what you need from the people who love you is very important. For us, doing that lifted a lot of weight off our shoulders, and it truly felt like a team effort.

For On The Day

We made sure we stayed present and were with each other throughout the day. The day goes by pretty fast, so we tried to interact with all our guests as much as we could to ensure they knew we were grateful and happy they were there. As a Type A bride, my goal was to ensure I didn’t stress about anything and just allowed the day to unfold as it would. It was the best decision I made. I simply prioritized having everyone we loved in one place, at the same time, and soaked it all in. It was truly spectacular, and we will carry those fond memories forever.

For Post-Wedding

After saying goodbye to all our guests the day after the wedding, we escaped to an intimate boutique hotel in the Tuscan countryside called Casa Newton. We spent a few days recovering from the festivities, and it gave us time to pause and reflect on how amazing the past few days had been. We shared stories and memories from the wedding and looked back at videos and photos of everything. Throughout our time at Casa Newton, we would catch each other looking at photos with the most satisfied smiles on our faces. Finding some time to soak it all in, pause, and reflect before jumping back into our daily lives was a great way to slowly ease back into our routine. We felt refreshed and ready to start our life post-wedding because of it.