Travel with Hunter and Sarah – Lake Como, Italy 2019
September 7, 2019
An Unexpected Photoshoot
Sarah and I had just sat down to lunch with my family at Villa d’Este, a hotel that’s consistently ranked among the top in the world. We were seated outside, beneath the canopy that made up the Veranda Restaurant. We had a 180-degree view of Lake Como, with the 300-year old Villa to our backs. If you know Sarah and I, you know that world-renowned 5-Star Hotels aren’t exactly our typical hangout spots, but Dean and Lisa would be getting married here at Villa d’Este the following day, and we would be guests at the wedding. We had barely sat down at the table when Ethan, a videographer on Dean’s media team came over and asked to talk with Sarah and I.
In a few rushed words, Ethan explained that Dean and Lisa had brought him from their production studio in Arizona to do what he does best – documentary filmmaking – for their entire weeklong wedding celebration. However, the couple had just asked him to take them on a mini portrait session – something he has no expertise in (it may sound strange to someone unfamiliar with visual arts, but asking a documentary filmmaker to capture posed engagement type portraits is like asking a sculptor to paint you a landscape with oil pastels). So without thinking, Sarah and I hopped up and agreed to lead the session so that Ethan (and the other videographers) could focus on video.
Of course, with no warning and our camera bags back in our room, we had ONE camera and ONE lens (we typically rock three cameras and have 5 or 6 lenses at our disposal during sessions). But we didn’t let that stop us. I took charge with shooting while Sarah focused exclusively on helping Dean and Lisa pose and find the perfect lighting conditions for each shot. The session was barely 30-minutes long, but we were able to get in our groove and do what we do best – capture stunning shots of our couples!
But That Was Only The Beginning
We had a blast with Dean and Lisa during their mini-session, and later on Sarah and I lamented to each other that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to capture them on their wedding day too. I supposed that’s why they say, “Be careful what you wish for,” right?!
Because we woke up the next morning to a text from the wedding planner. Dean and Lisa have requested that we join their Italian photographers and co-shoot their wedding day. Say whaaaaat?! So instead of lounging around the lake until late in the afternoon and heading back over to the hotel with our family, we were there by early lunchtime with every bit of camera gear we had brought from the States, ready to tackle the day.
It was an honor to shoot alongside Carlo Carletti and Angelo Governi, giants in the Italian photography world. Not to mention the highly awarded videographer Alexander Ma of AndHer Visuals, Como’s top wedding planner Elena Pensini, and Italy’s most highly-awarded floral and event designer Vincenzo Dascanio.
The day was beyond incredible, and one we’ll certainly never forget!
You can always see more of the day for yourself – we blogged about it last week (here)!
But of course, that was only two days of our week-long stay in northern Italy. Let’s start from the beginning…
Our Time In Como
Sarah and I (along with my parents, my brother Tanner and his girlfriend Jess) arrived in the small town of Como very early on a Saturday morning, several days before the wedding. Thanks to the fact that our flight landed in Italy at midnight East Coast time (6:00 am Italian time), very few of us had slept on the plane and it was morning when we arrived. Sarah, of course, being able to sleep anytime anywhere, had at least gotten a few hours of sleep.
But we forgot our lack of sleep pretty quickly when we arrived in the historic city square of Como and beheld the lake for the first time. After such a long travel day, it was hard to believe that we were actually in Italy! But it was even harder to believe how beautiful the lake was. We walked around downtown Como and checked out the Cathedral that was literally 1,000 years old.
That afternoon, our Villa was ready. We didn’t know much about where we were staying – just that the entire extended family of both Dean and Lisa would be staying there, so it had to be pretty big. What we found absolutely blew us away! This 300-year old villa had eleven bedrooms, a private pool, and overlooked the lake.
For the entire week, we ate breakfast on the back patio beneath a vine-covered arbor as we looked out over the lake. Breakfast, by the way, was always espresso and fresh-baked pastries laid out by the kitchen staff each morning.
Those first few days, we barely left downtown Como. We’d leisurely walk or ride bikes into the heart of the small European city, and explore the narrow streets and expansive squares so common to ancient European towns.
We, of course, frequently stopped to buy an espresso or a gelato or marvel at one of the local bakeries which, as you might expect, were all delicious. Sarah had a pasta dish one night in downtown Como that she still hasn’t stopped talking about.
One night, we even took Tanner and Jess out for a couple session in the streets of Como.
We blogged about it (here), but these are just a couple of our favorites!
Tanner and Jess were even kind enough to turn the camera around on us and (with a little guidance) snap a few photos of us too! It’s rare for us to be in front of the camera, so we’re so excited about these!
Exploring
Our second day in Italy, Dean and Lisa rented a private boat for the entire villa to enjoy. That afternoon, we hopped on the boat and took quick trip over to Bellagio, another famous city on Lake Como.
Bellagio sits at the intersection of the two arms of Lake Como (it’s shaped like an upside-down Y), so the city is surrounded by water on three sides. It’s steep, narrow streets and history dating back to before the Roman Empire made it an incredible spot to spend an afternoon.
On the way back, the captain weighed anchor just before sunset so our party could jump off the boat into the lake and swim! The water was the perfect temperature, and we found champagne waiting for us when we got back on the boat!
Ethan, Dean’s videographer, was kind enough to snap a few photos of the group as we partied on the boat that afternoon!
The following day, we did something that I never in my wildest dreams could’ve imagined we’d do: we went to Switzerland… for lunch! It was literally as easy as getting on a train for 30 minutes and we were in Lugano, a beautiful Swiss lake town that was similar to Como, but with more Germanic influence.
How can you beat a backdrop like this?!
We literally explored the city for an hour, grabbed lunch at a small café, and hopped back on the train that same afternoon.
By the way: the trains we rode between Italy and Switzerland were the quietest and cleanest public transportation we had ever been on. We all agreed we would never drive anywhere if the transit system was like that in America!
The day after our excursion into Switzerland, we visited Brunate, a small village on top of one of the mountains that overlooks Lake Como. We sat outside and ate lunch at a small café and marveled at the views.
Although the vistas of Lake Como from 1,500 feet were breathtaking, our trip up to the top was slightly terrifying. We rode the “funicular” from the streets of Como up to Brunate, which is essentially a trolley that only goes up and down the mountain. Imagine 81 adults stuffed inside a standard-sized school bus that was then hauled up a mountain by a metal cable no thicker than the neck of a glass beer bottle. The ride only lasted 7 minutes, but it felt more like 70.
Wedding Weekend
Like we mentioned at the beginning of this blog, we were pulled away from lunch the day before the wedding for Dean and Lisa’s couple shoot. But that afternoon, we still had some time to explore Villa d’Este’s famous gardens and estate.
The villa itself is nearly 500 years old, and the gardens are only a couple hundred years younger than that. With rooms averaging $1,200 per night, it wasn’t the sort of place Sarah and I ever expected to even walk inside, much less visit and photograph.
While we obviously LOVE shooting weddings and REALLY enjoy our jobs as wedding photographers, we also took some time to enjoy the rehearsal and the reception, and snapped a lot of photos with family throughout the weekend.
I mean, with views like these and everyone all dressed up, how could we not snap a few pictures?
The morning after the wedding we attended the Wedding Brunch Buffet, where we stuffed our faces with 5-star food and pretended like we weren’t leaving the most beautiful place we had ever visited the following morning. But that afternoon we explored Como one final time as a family, snacked on one last gelato, and prepared for our return journey.
Overall, our time in Como was a week beyond anything we had ever experienced together as family! Lots of great meals…
Beautiful views…
Incredible photography opportunities…
And lots of quality time together.
While we were all as sad to leave as Sarah looks in this photo below, Sarah and I were also excited to get home and continue serving amazing wedding couples back in the USA!
Thanks for following along! Oh and P.S. if you want to follow along while were on these adventures, as well as get exclusive content like the photos below, be sure to follow Hunter and Sarah on Instagram!
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Well, that’s it! Thanks for following along, and check out the links below if you want more adventures with Hunter and Sarah!