219. Wedding Bells

Okay, I’ll admit it. Even though it appears my invitation got lost in the mail, I read every word and looked at every photo of the New York Times‘ coverage of this weekend’s Bezos-Sanchez wedding in Venice.

Venice, which is besieged by out-of-towners on a normal day, is none too thrilled to host their big day, as it seems that the entire place will be put on ice during the four-day event to make way for the Oprahs, Ivankas, and Kims of the world. But you really can’t blame the bride and groom. Venice would be hard to match for beauty or uniqueness. A wedding edition of Harper’s Bazaar lists three regions of Italy as the top three locations in the world for a destination wedding — Amalfi Coast, Lake Como and Puglia — but I have a hunch that after this extravaganza, Venice is going to top that list.

Even at a humbler level, Italy seems to have a special thing for weddings. Perhaps it’s the combination of ritual, family, celebration, dressing up, and feasting, a sure-fire combination in Italian culture. Just walking the streets in any city, one comes across an unusually high number of shops featuring wedding apparel.

There’s no better opportunity to display la bella figura than on that big day.

There is a wedding trend in Italy that is dispiriting, though. On my recent trip, all over the country, I saw groups of “bachelorettes,” trudging around the cities, having their “hen-dos” as the British would say. I assume it is a new custom they’ve imported from us, as they are always wearing sashes that either say “Bride to Be” or “Team Bride,” in English.

Maybe everyone is having a blast, but it would be hard to find a more joyless endeavor, or at least that’s how it appears.

That said, romance in Italy is not dead.

It’s always a pleasure to come across folks who really seem to be enjoying each other.