The Bride Wore a Hand-Painted Dress to Her Italian Garden Wedding at Hotel Il Pellicano
New York-based interior designer Augusta Hoffman is the first to admit she had a crush on Jonathan Swygert ever since middle school. “We are both originally from Dallas and he went to the brother school of my all-girls school,” Augusta says of the man she ended up marrying. “We had a little seventh-grade romance, but then lost touch throughout high school. Right before our graduation, we reconnected—and I have been lucky enough to have had him as my partner ever since.”
Jonathan, who works in creative product development for the custom menswear company Knot Standard, surprised Augusta with a proposal in their tiny East Village kitchen on the morning of their anniversary. “I can be very shy, so I loved that we had such a private moment together,” Augusta says. “That afternoon, he organized a party with all of our friends in the penthouse of the Bowery Hotel. It was all truly a surprise and felt so incredibly fun and festive after dating for 10 years. It was something I’d dreamt of for a long time!”
Their wedding date was initially set for September 2020. “After the original cancellation [due to the pandemic], we were overly optimistic and continually pushed the date to the next season,” Augusta says. “During the spring of 2021, we weren’t quite sure if we would ever make it back to Italy, but we were desperate to get married. We ultimately decided we couldn’t wait any longer and had a small ceremony, surrounded by 10 sweet friends and family members in upstate New York.”
Once the world opened up again, however, Augusta and Jonathan were able to proceed with their original plan—and married again in April 2022 at Hotel Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole, Italy. “While all of the Covid delays felt overwhelming in the moment, I am so happy things worked out the way they did,” Augusta says. “It felt like a dream to be in another country with all of our favorite people after such an intense period of being apart. We were so unbelievably grateful just to be there.”
For the bride and groom, one of the silver linings of a drawn-out wedding planning process was really getting to know everyone involved in bringing their dream weekend to fruition. “[Our event planners] Matthew Robbins, his husband, Luis Otoya, and their entire teams at Robbins Otoya and Matthew Robbins Design are brilliant and so beyond lovely to work with,” Augusta says. “As a creative myself, I understand how much work goes into production and execution, and they make it look easy. It was the opportunity of a lifetime to work with some of the most extraordinarily talented people in the world, and I think our wedding ended up being the definition of the Italian term: sprezzatura. Every detail was curated with style, but in a way that felt approachable, casual, and fun.”
Augusta also worked with another industry leader, stylist Carrie Goldberg, on her outfits for the wedding—and all of the festivities surrounding it. “The concept of wedding dress shopping was beyond intimidating to me, so Carrie stepped in to guide the experience and make me feel at ease,” Augusta says. “The process felt collaborative, creative, and very thoughtful.”
On Friday, the bride wore a dress from Markarian, paired with burgundy Manolo Blahnik mules and a matching evening bag from The Row. She was able to repurpose the long, white Danielle Frankel coat that she wore during her previous, more intimate ceremony as well. “This felt like a really poetic nod to our original wedding—there have been so many happy times while wearing that coat!” Augusta says. Her long pearl earrings for Friday’s events were also from Danielle Frankel. “I worked with Danielle to design her expanded atelier and showroom space,” Augusta explains. “And before I left for the wedding, Danielle was incredibly kind and gifted them to me.”
All of Jonathan’s suits, meanwhile, were custom-made and produced by Knot Standard. “On Friday evening, he paired his bespoke blazer and slacks with an old Loro Piana shirt from my late father,” Augusta says. “The dry cleaning tag applied on the inside still has my dad’s name on it. It still smells like him.”
The ceremony was short and sweet. Everyone took little Italian cars up the hill to a private garden that overlooked the ocean on the grounds of Hotel Il Pellicano. Once guests had taken their seats, the bridal party walked down the aisle to the festive sounds of bossa nova while everyone waved flags in the air that read “Finalmente!”
Surrounded by olive trees and beautifully layered baskets of flowers, the couple recited their vows to one another. “This was completely out of my comfort zone and something I was extremely nervous about, but in retrospect, it was such an important opportunity of self-expression that I will never forget,” Augusta says. “It felt romantic, spirited, and vulnerable all at the same time. Because we were already married before the ceremony, the energy felt really light.”
Augusta’s look for the service was equally effervescent and uplifting. A collaboration between two well-known designers and artists—Monique Lhuillier and Hermione de Paula—the dress was one-of-a-kind. “I fell in love with the romance of Monique’s dress, but knew I wanted to make it my own,” Augusta says. “The very, very talented Hermione stepped in to delicately embroider and intricately hand-paint the entire gown. Hermione designed my sage green veil as well—also beautifully painted and embroidered to include my favorite botanicals, geographic coordinates of meaningful locations, and a special quote by Anne Lamott often recited by my late father. It was Carrie’s brilliant idea to have Hermione paint my gray silk heels from The Attico.”
For beauty, the bride enlisted makeup artist Harold James. “Harold is intimidatingly chic, in the best way, and has such a calming energy,” she explains. “We had very little discussion about a plan for my makeup and hair. I fully trusted Harold and let him take the lead.”
For the big day, Jonathan wore a custom tuxedo from Knot Standard with shoes from Baudoin Lange, gold P Johnson tuxedo shirt studs, and his favorite Mr. Leight glasses. “I loved how he switched into an ivory, raw silk dinner jacket after our ceremony to change the energy,” Augusta notes. “Not every groom has an outfit change!”
