A magical Jewish wedding in an Italian castle? Yes, please! SoCal couple Lyndsay, the podcaster behind The Pain Game Podcast, and Bill, a radio talk show host, had the most fantastic destination wedding in Verona’s majestic Castello Bevilacqua.
They focused on bringing out the fairytale vibes of their fab venue, as well as bringing in lots of lemons, in honor of all the lemons the couple have had thrown at them – and the awesome lemonade they’ve made out of whatever’s come their way!
We also love that, to bring their far-flung guests together, Lyndsay and Bill had a mystery dinner the night before the wedding to break the ice.
When it came time to choose the perfect team to capture their big day, Lyndsay and Bill chose Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor Collephoto. Photographer Alessando Colle, second photographer Laura Bongiorni, editor by Serena Rossi, and videographer Damiano Mariotti made up the dream team.
Read on for the full story in Lyndsay’s own words…
How We Met
Lyndsay, the bride: I was introduced to Bill’s morning talk show in Los Angeles about 12 years ago. Coerced by a friend that I have to listen to him. Whatever! I didn’t do talk radio. I wasn’t in the early podcast scene. I am a musician!
But then I turned on KFI AM 640 and started listening to The Bill Handel Show based out of Burbank, CA. It is the number 1 morning drive talk show in the United States — Monday through Friday. And he also has a legal show on KFI on Saturdays as well, called Handel on the Law.
I was hooked. I started going to events where he would be, and we just started talking, and it kept going until it turned into something pretty remarkable. US.
A shorter version is: Lyndsay fell in love with Bill as a listener. Bill fell in love with Lyndsay because she was a listener. The End.
A Wedding in Italy
We wanted to get married in a castle in Verona, Italy. After hunting down a few we liked, we ended up going with Castello Bevilacqua. The family that owns and runs it is INCREDIBLE. We fell in love with it in an instant.
The venue is everything you could ever ask for in a fairytale wedding. We loved every moment of the planning and the event with their onsite wedding coordinator, along with two other coordinators we brought in.
I needed all the help I could get putting together a destination wedding in Italy, AND it being Jewish! I pulled them in too late, so it was a mad dash towards the Big Show! And what a show it was. Looking at pictures of all of our guests (and vendors) is truly special. The way everyone was smiling and having such an insane and epic time made it worth all of the work put into the event.
Theme
The theme of the wedding really was about how we have had a lot of lemons thrown at us. Separately and together. And no matter how many thrown our way, we have made some pretty mean lemonade.
The venue is opulent. And we are fairly minimalists. We wanted to have lemons in our decorations/flowers/invitations/etc. So we did that and worked with the florist on the Chuppah and how to incorporate the delicate nature of the event, but also to wow the hell out of people!
Our colors were yellow, olive green, white, and burgundy. We wanted to keep it simple and clean, for the colors to be natural and complement the castle venue.
We did have a wedding planner — Perfect Party Events. We had three of them, and still our heads were falling off! They were AMAZEBALLS. Beyond amazeballs. Paola and Camilla… GODDESSES.
Invitation
My designer friend at Minted and I designed the invitations. Everything about our wedding was unique. But I guess one of the most unique things I did was use the old medieval symbol of Verona and the symbol of Juliette’s house with her window shaped like a heart, throughout all of my pieces.
I got the idea when I was in Verona a year or so back and went into this amazing Romeo and Juliet store and bought a heart ring and wax to make my own wax seals on the invitations, passports, etc.
Hair + Makeup
My hair is short. I had a really long veil; longer than my train. And I wanted glitter in my hair. Marta Piceni was fantastic, and I gave her my hair glitter because I guess something like what I had was hard to get in Italy! Good to know because I am moving to Verona and live with glitter all over me — like I am living in Studio 54!
Makeup was perfect. Alice Righi spent so much time analyzing my Pinterest board of ideas I had for my makeup and hair. She took the time to write me a mini-novella about how to take care of my skin before the big day. She made me feel gorgeous! She listened to what I wanted and didn’t try to force any ideas on me. We created together a look that was simple, elegant, and a little punk rock.
Dress
My gorgeous dress was by LUV Bridal in Southern California!
Shoes
The shoes we wore were sneakers with glitter on them. My husband’s idea! My shoes were by Uubaris, while Bill’s by IGxx.
Wedding list/registry
We did not accept gifts. The best gift they could have given us was showing up in Italy from the States. Their attendance was all the gift we would ever ask for or need. Our hearts are so filled with love, it’s pretty insane. What a blessing to have those people in our lives.
Bridesmaids
I had my maid of honor and another bestie of mine. Also, one of Bill’s daughters was considered a bridesmaid for me as well. She danced her dad down the aisle, and the rest of the crew followed.
They bought their dresses at Stacee’s. Burgundy for my maid of honor, Shannon Ross. And olive green for Teri Walters and Barbara Handel-Penny. Everybody is different, and I wanted to make sure they chose for themselves, not for me. And of course, they wore whatever tennis shoes they wanted.
Ceremony & Chuppah
We had many special touches from dancing down the aisle to “If I Was a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof, to walking out to the “Pina Colada” song.
Our favorite part of the ceremony was doing the 7 circles around him. That was so special! Another part was when we toasted everyone outside with our Pandoro cakes, specially made in Verona, of course, and when we made our toast with the guests and vendors, we all said “L’Chaim!” and fireworks went off behind us.
The crowd went wild! Between the twinkle lights throughout the trees and lights above, Prosecco glasses in hands, we all raised our glasses and watched a better fireworks show than I’ve seen at Disneyland, California. IMPRESSIVE.
Ketubah
Our ketubah was something special. Especially when my mom didn’t remember what her dad’s Hebrew name was. One job mom! Ha!
I designed our ketubah and carried it by hand in a tube from Los Angeles to Verona, Italy.
Our music choice
We put together our own Spotify playlist!
Flowers
Our flowers were by 95 Metri Quadri.
Photographer and videographer
We had a photographer — Alessando Colle, a second photographer — Laura Bongiorni, and the editing was done by Serena Rossi, all from the Collephoto team. We also had a videographer with a drone — Damiano Mariotti. I think there was a total of five cameras at work!
Food and cake
Catering was in-house at the castle, and the food was TO DIE FOR. You can’t imagine how wonderful the food was! And the risotto! My GOD, the risotto!
The cake we had was Pandoro from Verona, along with a full display of other desserts and drinks. I didn’t get any of it! Bunch of pigs in our crowd!
Honeymoon
Our honeymoon consisted of driving through Tuscany to some of our favorite places. Stayed in a castle, an agriturismo which is highly suggested that you do any time you travel to Italy, a fancy spot in Naples, down to Sicily to Catania, Messina, and a few other spots along the way. Leaving Palermo back to Los Angeles.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Don’t be a bitch. Enjoy the things that you forgot. Love the things that couldn’t have gone any better. Laugh a lot. Wear sneakers, not heels. Drink Prosecco.
Extra details
Since we had forty people flying to this shindig, a few got in earlier than others. So we were able to connect with people earlier than planned, which was really neat for us.
We had a mystery dinner the night before the wedding that was neat to break the ice, as not everyone knows each other at a destination event like this. So we already had a few events and nights, and such with some of our guests before the mystery dinner.
This made the wedding day/evening all the more fun. They already had shared new memories with people they hadn’t known or hadn’t seen in a long time. It was pretty special.
And now I am seeing all of our guests as “friends” on social media. We were able to bring a group of strangers to some but not to all, to a destination wedding of their dreams. It was important to us that we celebrated them, as they have celebrated and lifted us up over the past seven and a half years. Getting us to Verona was like star-crossed lovers… We made it!
LYNDSAY & BILL’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Alessando Colle and Laura Bongiorni from Collephoto #STGVendor
Videography – Damiano Mariotti
Venue – Castello Bevilacqua
Planner – Perfect Party Events
Bride’s dress – LUV Bridal in Southern California
Bride’s shoes – Uubaris
Groom’s shoes – IGxx
Bridesmaids’ dresses – Stacee’s
Hair – Marta Piceni
Makeup – Alice Righi
Flowers – 95 Metri Quadri
Catering – In-house at Castello Bevilacqua
Stationery/Invitation – Minted
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, you’ll want to join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club. Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for Jewish and Jew-ish brides that removes wedstress and indecision and gives you what you need to plan with confidence during these uncertain times. Join our Brides Club here.
