Drawn together by a mutual passion for music, Lacy Green and Aaron Williams met nearly a decade ago at a music festival. A year and a half later, they found themselves out on the road doing a radio tour for their incredible country trio, The Wonderful Nobodies, all the while developing a friendship and chemistry that set the stage for sharing not only guitar chords but wedding bells, too. “A very quick way to decide whether or not you like someone, on any level, is to be trapped in the car with them for weeks on end,” jokes the bride. “It was tight quarters.” Thankfully, she and her future husband hit it off, and one day, the timing was right for the friendship to segue into more.
A movie at Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre, followed by dinner at iconic sushi spot Ru San’s, served as Lacy and Aaron’s first date. It was such a memorable evening that Aaron did his best to replicate it three years later when he proposed, waiting until Lacy had gone to visit her family for the weekend. When she returned, Aaron had festooned the entire house with lit candles and recreated their first-date dinner. “It was just a sweet, low-key, very personal moment for the two of us,” Lacy says of their engagement.
Though Italy was already a top contender for their honeymoon destination (thankfully, it was pre-COVID), the idea of tying the knot there came as a surprise to even the bride and groom. In fact, initial plans were underway for a local ceremony in Nashville, when a joke from the bride’s sister changed their wedding agenda — it was the perfect solution at the perfect time. “My mom, sister and mother-in-law were all out here one weekend, and we were looking at wedding venues and trying on dresses and doing all the things,” the bride tells us. “I was quickly becoming aware that the wedding was getting bigger than we might’ve hoped, and my sister jokingly said, ‘Why don’t we all just go to Italy with you and call it a day?'” Though everyone laughed it off, it inspired Aaron and Lacy to mull it over. Ultimately, the couple decided to go for it, and they were thrilled when both families were wholeheartedly on board.
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Jumping into the planning process, Lacy encountered the first hurdle of their “modified elopement”— neither she nor Aaron had ever been to Italy before, so they were starting from scratch. Enlisting the help of an Italian event coordinator seemed like an excellent first step, but Lacy’s enthusiasm and motivated personality led her to start organizing everything on her own instead. “I got so excited that I got online and started researching tons of stuff myself because I thought it was fun to figure out,” she says. “I had a couple of calls with planners, but I ended up finding a ton of stuff I liked on my own and just reaching out. Surprisingly, I really planned it all myself.”
Things started falling into place when she and Aaron booked an Airbnb with stunning gardens and breathtaking views of the ocean. Villa Trasillo was so serene and beautiful, in fact, that they ultimately decided to have their ceremony there, too. “Initially, we thought we would plan a ceremony on the island at a designated area like a church or overlook or something,” Lacy explains, “but it turned out that the home was so gorgeous, we were like, ‘Why wouldn’t we just do it right here?'” It was the ideal location to fulfill the couple’s dreams of a small, intimate wedding. Despite her initial misgivings that everything would be in Italian and require an intermediary, Lacy found that most businesses she reached out to were accustomed to tourists. With the help of Instagram, Lacy landed a photographer, and then everything else was left in the hands of fate and local charm. “We pretty much picked up everything else there in the village,” Lacy says. “Since it was such a small affair, I was like, ‘Let’s just find flowers when we get there, and if we can’t find anything, it’s fine.’ The scenery was so beautiful that we didn’t have as much to compensate for!”
She did, however, still need to find the perfect dress. Thankfully, her younger sister came through in a big way, offering Lacy her wedding gown. A few adjustments later, Lacy had her own rendition of the Stella York stunner that her sister had worn down the aisle. Shoes proved to be a bit more complicated. “Shoes were impossible!” Lacy exclaims. “Because of the dress, I didn’t want to wear flats, but I also couldn’t wear very high heels. It took me forever — I think I looked through hundreds of pairs of shoes! It was the one thing where I was like, ‘Is this me projecting my wedding stress?'” She laughs, adding, “And then, of course, like all wedding shoes, you don’t ever see them.”
On September 29, 2019, Lacy and Aaron exchanged vows in front of a view of the sparkling blue waters of Anacapri, a small cliff town near Italy’s Amalfi Coast. Both of their families were present, along with Lacy’s best friend — who officiated the ceremony — and her wife. In keeping with tradition, they skipped “first looks,” seeing each other for the first time when Lacy and her dad strolled arm in arm down the long walkway that led to the ceremony location.
Sticking with a few traditions and bypassing others, Lacy opted not to carry a bouquet. She and Aaron also updated their vows a bit. And since they only had 11 guests, the couple looked for ways to make the ceremony even more personal and unique by including everyone. “We were like, ‘Okay, we’re flying to another country; let’s not have the ceremony be over in seven minutes,'” says Lacy, adding that it would feel too anticlimactic. With that in mind, they left room for anyone who felt inclined to say something — a prayer, poem, or word of encouragement. “No pressure,” Lacy explains, “just if they felt led.” They were amazed and humbled when every single person got up to share an expression of their love. Given how musical their families are, Lacy’s dad and father-in-law both surprised them by singing old Motown classics. “My dad serenading us probably got me the most,” says Lacy. “I’m a real dad’s girl, and that one got me. And it was first! I was like, ‘You can’t make me cry at the beginning.'” After they’d exchanged vows, the newlyweds had their first dance to Darrell Scott’s “You’re Everything I Wanted Love to Be,” then closed out the ceremony with a prosecco toast.
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In lieu of a reception, and in true Italian fashion, everyone sat down together to enjoy a post-ceremony feast prepared by a local chef. Caprese salad, zucchini pasta, locally caught fish and potatoes were passed around family-style. To round out the evening, the chef presented a traditional Italian wedding cake, which she insisted Lacy and Aaron cut together. “It was one of my favorite meals that we had the entire time that we were there,” Lacy tells us, “and it was so nice to be able to sit there and not be in a restaurant — to have an intimate moment together.”
While the wedding celebration may have ended with their incredible dinner, the romance continued for another week as Lacy and Aaron departed for their honeymoon adventures through Florence, Rome and Capri. Their guests took advantage of the destination wedding, too, independently traveling until everyone met up again for one final dinner together in Rome.
Putting together a wedding abroad might be daunting for some, but Lacy tells us she regrets nothing. And though she admits there are details they gave up by going the Italy route, she also says they got it back tenfold through the memories they shared with those closest to them. “Every destination is different, and everybody’s idea of the perfect day is different, but I could not have imagined anything better,” she offers. “It was so fun and such an incredible memory for our families. To have three or four days in a place that is so beautiful … It was such a way for them to bond, too!”
She’s also quick to point out that it took a lot of pressure off, enabling everyone to be present and enjoy the day, rather than running around to entertain numerous guests and coordinate vendors. “There can be a lot of pressure around weddings,” she says, “but a destination wedding can be anything in the world that you want it to be — and it might be a lot easier than you think!” Though they handled all of the formal, legal aspects of their marriage before leaving for Europe, to avoid jumping through hoops in Italy, Lacy and Aaron give all the wedding day credit to their small, symbolic ceremony at Villa Trasillo. “I begrudge no one who wants to do it up,” Lacy says of bigger weddings. “I’ve gone to those weddings and loved them. But if the thought of all of that overwhelms you or detracts from that day for you, I say go for a destination wedding. We just took a big leap of faith, and I can’t imagine it being more perfect.”
Congratulations on your marriage, Lacy and Aaron, and “evviva gli sposi” (long live the bride and groom)!
RESOURCES
Photography: Peggy Picot
Ceremony and reception venue: Villa Trasillo
Airbnb concierge: Francesca Di Pino
Bride’s gown: Stella York
Bride’s shoes: Michael Kors
Matron-of-Honor’s dress: Altar’d State
Groom’s attire: Banana Republic
Catering: Chef Luisa
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