This Wedding at Lake Garda in Italy Was Inspired by Artist Cy Twombly
When Rachael White and John Young met through mutual friends at a party in New York City, she had been living in Madrid and was headed to London in the fall to get her masters in fine art. “I’d had something of a carefree summer,” Rachael says. “I had every intention of moving permanently to Europe, but John knocked me off of my feet. We had a whirlwind romance before I departed in late August.”
The couple dated for six years—the first of which was spent divided across the Atlantic—before they became engaged. “We didn’t expect to wait so long,” Rachael reveals. “We were just having so much fun!”
In the winter of 2017, the artist Cy Twombly’s retrospective was set to open at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and Rachael, who is a specialist in post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s, booked a trip as soon as she heard the news. She encouraged her aunt and uncle, who were already planning on being in Spain, to come as well. “We arrived on a sunny February day and immediately went to the Pompidou, where I fell in love with one painting in particular—Empire of Flora from 1961,” Rachael remembers. “It was painted in the months following Twombly’s marriage to his Italian wife, and it was filled with energy, passion, and love. Afterwards, we walked back to our hotel. I was in a total daze, completely overwhelmed by what we had seen and where we were. In the room, we started reflecting on the romance of it all, and John shifted the conversation to focus on us, and our own romance, then he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him. It was the most dizzying moment for both of us, so much so that we forgot my aunt and uncle downstairs waiting to go to dinner with us! An hour later, we emerged, ring on hand, tears in our eyes with news to bear!”
They all dashed off to a festive dinner at Septime, but Rachael and John were too excited to eat. “It wasn’t until we arrived back at the hotel, well after midnight, that we could manage food: burgers and a bottle of champagne, in our own celebratory way,” Rachael says. “We spent the next four days in Paris, eating, drinking, and museum-ing our way through the bliss of our engagement.”
Rachael had been to Italy a couple of times, but is the first to admit she didn’t quite understand all of the enthusiasm around it. “John, the most Italian non-Italian person I’ve ever met, was appalled, and felt like he had to rectify the situation with a vacation in the summer of 2018,” she jokes. He had already spent a lot of time in southern Italy and wanted to try something new, so they set their sites on the Italian lakes. “We serendipitously stumbled upon Lake Garda, which reminded me of Tuscany, the South of France, and Italian lake romance all rolled into one,” Rachael says. “I fell in love.” After several days at Villa Arcadio, it quickly became evident to them that they’d found the perfect spot for their wedding weekend. The festivities would include a boat outing (in honor of the surroundings), a barbecue (a nod to Rachael’s Texas heritage, and an outdoor movie (a favorite pastime for the couple).
The couple wanted to create some continuity with their engagement, so they gave wedding planner Kristin Doggett of Bellafare an image of Twombly’s Empire of Flora to serve as the inspiration for the weekend. Lia Burke Libaire did her own rendering of the painting, which became the foundation for the invitations, as well as the palette for the flowers and setting for many of the weekend events—and the bride’s outfits. “I just loved tying everything in together—our mutual passion for art, travel, and that special engagement moment,” Rachael says.
“I was lucky in finding Amir Taghi,” Rachael says of the designer who custom-made her dress. “He is truly a visionary and was able to give me exactly what I wanted: classic and timeless, with a contemporary twist.” The blue bow was dyed to achieve the exact shade of French blue that Rachael was envisioning, and they tweaked the design a few times until they arrived at the final arrangement: part bow, part sash, and lots of drama! “I loved it so much, I told him not to give me the option of bustling; I wanted to maintain the dramatic effect for the whole evening. The veil was his idea entirely. He had seen our invitations, and Twombly’s Empire of Floral, and had the idea of incorporating that design onto the dress.”
