In the garden or on the beach, but never in church. The stars get married on islands where there are too many guests to enter the small churches, and the priest has to officiate them in the holiday resort
Let’s say you long for a kitsch Californian wedding, because you grew up with the imagery of television series like The Bold and the Beautiful. The arch of white roses under which the wedding takes place, the feet in the sand or on the tender grass; behind you the sea, the breathtaking landscape, maybe a sunset. And yet, although you grew up in secularized Europe, you also want the ceremony to be officiated by a real priest, decorated with liturgical robes, while the bride can legitimately wear a pompous virginal white dress, with a veil covering her face to simulate modesty. All that remains is to turn to the Aeolian Islands. Because the priest, who could officiate a sacrament at home only in the case of serious health impediments, instead has the possibility of celebrating the wedding at the beach club of your favorite resort when you find yourself on islands where the only church is in ruins or too small to accommodate the newlyweds and their guests.
Just like Diletta Leotta and Loris Karius did at the Therasia Resort Sea and SPA in Vulcano, she with a decomposable old Hollywood dress in white lace, held together by a slatted guêpière-type scaffolding, he in Harry’s Bar style on calle Vallaresso, ” soon two Bellinis at table 3”. The Therasia is a five-star luxury hotel, with a view of Punta della Crepazza and the stacks of Lipari, with infinity pools, internal restaurants that offer the type of cuisine assembled with tweezers, with a spa and thermal baths. On the resort’s website there is also a chapter dedicated to the inevitable sustainability and, if interested, you can download the “code of ethics” consisting of 23 pages written in English. Don Lio Raffaele, parish priest of Vulcano, Lipari and Stromboli united the two spouses in marriage with a quick ceremony, without giving communion. Maybe because anything goes, but even the consecrated host by the pool, with the heels of the bride’s friends sticking into the synthetic grass, seems too much.
To add a further kitsch note, while the bride arrived on her father’s arm under the eyes of Chiara Ferragni and her former right-hand man Fabio Maria Damato, of Aurora Ramazzotti and Michelle Hunziker, of Elodie and Elisabetta Canalis, instead of the solemnity of the March The caramel notes of “All of me” by John Legend rang out nuptial. The big question remains: at this rate, what will happen to the churches? In northern Europe they are now mostly gyms, bars, homes; here, the deconsecrated ones are often architecture studios, photography studios, but also nightlife branches such as the Gattopardo Café in Milan, formerly San Giuseppe alla Pace. Some deconsecrated churches experience the paradox of being used by wedding planners for civil weddings with the allure of the religious. And so, once the rite has been performed shortly, in these “new trendy locations” instead of going out into the churchyard and heading towards a restaurant, you stay with the music blasting, you throw yourself in the bartender’s corner and it’s an evening.
