There are destination weddings, and then, there are destination weddings. The nuptials of Francesca LaRocca and Wilson Ashford are decidedly the latter. Held in Italy, overlooking the “Eternal City” of Rome, and unarguably the wedding of the summer of 2023, it’s the stuff dreams are made of. Yet, this Italian fairytale began once upon a time in Fresno, California. Well, the main characters of this story met in Hawaii, in 2018, at a mutual friend’s wedding. This is an example of time being everything. “We had been neighbors our whole life and never met until Hawaii. I always knew who Pat [LaRocca] was, but I never knew he had daughters,” Wilson explains of the pair’s proximity while growing up. “We ended up hitting it off at the wedding, and the rest is history,” Francesca seconds.

The road to Rome was a few years in the making, and the proposal had its own set of curve balls. Wilson had planned to propose to Francesca on a hot air balloon ride, but when the date approached, in May of 2021, it was too windy to fly. Wilson was determined to ask Francesca to marry him that weekend, so with her sister Isabella’s help, the plan moved to Shaver Lake since the couple would often go up there alone during COVID. “We always have impromptu trips to Shaver, so when Wilson asked me if I wanted to go up the night before, I didn’t think anything of it. I barely packed anything.” “Francesca always told me that whenever I was going to propose, the only thing that she wanted was to be completely surprised.” When he finally popped the question, “I definitely was surprised,” Francesca affirms. “We woke up Sunday morning and did our normal routine, walking the dog around our neighborhood. Next thing I knew, Wilson was down on one knee, and my parents and sister were hiding in the woods behind a tree.”

For Francesca, Italy was love at first sight. Ever since she visited there for the first time at age seven, she had always wanted to get married in the land of her ancestors. “I always talked about how special it would be to get married there,” Francesca recounts. “I definitely would tell Wilson before getting engaged that if it were up to me, we would get married in Italy. Sure enough, when we got engaged and everyone was asking where we wanted to get married, and I told them ‘Italy!’ My parents were excited but a little hesitant because it seemed like a lot of work to plan a destination wedding. We also wanted to make sure Wilson’s family was on-board, which they were. So, I reached out to my cousin Dena, who lives in Rome, for help, and she sent me a list of venues in Rome, Tuscany, Sicily, and Sorrento, and we went from there.” After narrowing down that list to two places, one in Sorrento and one in Rome, the couple decided upon an unseen venue.

“I wanted a venue that spoke for itself, and both venues were absolutely stunning,” admits Francesca. “I had wanted to get married on the water, so Sorrento seemed perfect, but it was more challenging for our guests to get to,” Wilson concedes. Dena toured the Roman venue, Villa Miani, and sent them videos and photos. “It was breathtaking from her videos, so I could only imagine how spectacular it was going to be in person,” Francesca reminisces. “The grounds were immaculate, and the view was absolutely incredible. From the venue, you can see all of Rome—the Vatican, colosseum, etc.” That’s all it took for the two to book the venue about a year and a half before the wedding. Yet, this was only the first step. Considering that planning a wedding abroad is challenging alone, doing so in post-COVID times and without speaking Italian added to the task at hand. “We had a wedding planner from Italy, but honestly, thank goodness for my cousin Dena because she really helped make the whole wedding come together.” The Big Day was set for Saturday, July 8th, 2023.

When you invite 400 people to a destination wedding and 215 RSVP “yes”, the event is much more than a day-long celebration. The couple arrived in Italy on Sunday, July 1st. “We wanted to get there early to finalize any wedding details and have time to hang out with our family and friends who traveled so far to celebrate with us,” Wilson recalls. “It was nice because some of our family and friends vacationed before our wedding and some after, so we wanted to make sure we spent time with everyone!” shares Francesca. On the Thursday night before the wedding, the couple had a welcome party at The Waldorf Astoria for those who made the transatlantic trip. “It was our chance to mingle with everyone before the wedding and thank them for traveling so far,” she says as Wilson reiterates, “Thursday was a fun night and the weather could not have been more perfect.”

Francesca and Wilson’s siblings stood by their sides as they took their vows. “My brother, Trenton, was my best man. I had eight groomsmen in total, but two couldn’t make it because they had just had babies,” explains Wilson. “My sister, Isabella, was my maid of honor,” and Francesca also had eight bridesmaids altogether. The bride wore Monique Lhuillier and carried her mother’s wedding purse, while the groom sported an Armani tuxedo. Both donned matching rings. Because of the legalities involved with a wedding taking place in another country, Francesca clarifies, “We got married in Fresno at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in May before because we wanted a church wedding.” Since they legally had to get married in the United States before going to Italy, she got two rings: “One for our church wedding and then matching rings for our wedding in Italy,” which they incidentally found while walking the streets of Rome in the days leading up to the wedding.

This laid-back nature is another trait that both Francesca and Wilson share, and this approach is readily apparent in their wedding aesthetic. It was of utmost importance to her that their venue spoke for itself and didn’t need any extra fluff. “The view was stunning, so I didn’t want to take away from that. I definitely have more of a romantic style, I would say, so I wanted a lot of candles and not an overwhelming amount of flowers,” Francesca elaborates. Above all, Wilson echoes, “We wanted good food, good music, and our family and friends to have a great time.” With a desire to embody simplicity, timelessness, and understated elegance, the couple sought to create a moment that they could look back on 20 years from now and still be in love with their choice of location, aesthetics, and outfits. At the end of the day, “Our family and friends really made this wedding magical. We had A TON of food. Italians love to eat, so my dad wanted to make sure no one left hungry,” Francesca laughs. “We also had violinists greeting our guests as they arrived, three tenors that surprised our guests during our first course, a live band performing as we danced in between meal courses, and a DJ for the after party which was upstairs in the villa.”

Wedding food isn’t often memorable, but in true Italian style, the LaRocca + Ashford wedding is an exception to this norm. At the cocktail hour, there was a large appetizer spread overlooking the entire city of Rome, featuring a fresh mozzarella station, Italian antipasti buffet, assorted marinated fish, and an Aperol Spritz cart. A three-course meal of eggplant parmesan, trofiette pasta with caramelized tomatoes, stracciatella cheese, and pesto and veal loin with crispy potatoes and vegetable ratatouille was served. “A lot of our family and friends said out of all the dishes they ate during their trip, our wedding food was one of their best meals,” reveals Wilson. “Everything was amazing, but my favorite was the eggplant parmesan appetizer. I told Francesca if she didn’t finish hers to not let the waiters clear her plate and of course, she didn’t finish but let them take it.” “Oops!” she acknowledges while going on to talk about the main dessert event. “We also had a big traditional Italian cake called a millefoglie. It was so big, we had no clue how to cut it.” As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the dessert spread was a spectacle in and of itself, “but we never made it to the table,” Wilson regrettably confesses. “Our friends videotaped it and said it was unreal.” “Apparently, there was a dessert that looked like spaghetti.”

The night was pure magic, but the party didn’t necessarily stop there. For some guests, their Italian vacation culminated with the wedding night, but for others, this evening was merely the kick-off. “After the wedding, my parents rented a charter bus and about 60ish people went to my dad’s hometown of Pacentro, Italy,” the bride says. “Unfortunately,” Wilson follows up, “we didn’t go because we left that day for our honeymoon, but we heard it was a blast.” The couple honeymooned in Sorrento, where they stayed at the same hotel at which they were also looking to get married. “It’s called the Belleuve Syrene,” shares Wilson. “We also took day trips to Capri and Positano.” Friends and family were vacationing in Sorrento and Positano, so the new Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Ashford relished the opportunity to hang out with some of their guests following the celebration of their marriage. The entire ordeal, from California to Italy, was truly the embodiment of the best of both worlds. When in Rome, do as the LaRoccas and Ashfords do.

Editorial Director Lauren Barisic
Photographer Nakutis Photography