REAL WEDDING

  • Photography By:

    Phototerra

    GIANNI DI WANG AND CHRISTOPHER FRISCO

    October 29, 2016. Newport Beach, California

    There was something about Gianni Di Wang that Christopher Frisco just couldn’t forget. They had met through mutual friends but then lost touch. After four years, Chris requested they be re-introduced, and it was after that meeting that they really connected.

    So much so that seven years later, on a romantic trip to the Italian island of Capri, Chris planned a stunning proposal. Two nights before the crucial moment, the couple was dining al fresco when Chris noticed that Jupiter, the all-powerful God of the universe, and Venus, the irresistible goddess of love, were visible at close proximity to one another in the sky.

    “I COULDN’T THINK OF A BETTER TIME TO PROPOSE THAN WHEN ALL-POWERFUL LOVE REIGNED SUPREME FROM ABOVE.”

    “I made sure that Gianni saw this as I explained the unusual event,” Chris says. “Gianni paid little attention and went back to eating her pasta.” On the day of the proposal, Chris, Gianni, family and friends boarded the last boat for the day to the brilliant Blue Grotto. In the midst of the sparkling, magical ocean cave, Chris dropped to his knee (no easy feat on a row boat) and reminded Gianni of that special planet alignment.

    “I couldn’t think of a better time to propose than when all-powerful love reigned supreme from above. As I slipped the ring onto her finger, she choked out a ‘yes’ as all the pilots on nearby boats began singing Neapolitan love songs,” Chris says.

    For their formal wedding ceremony, they wed at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church. One of the most memorable moments came when the Bishop of Los Angeles County, the Most Reverend David O’Connell, asked for the rings.

    “I turned to my best men and passed along the request. Each man shrugged in response. I begged ‘Come on, stop joking! The rings!’ For a good minute, as I panicked, the congregation chuckled, thinking it was a gag. It wasn’t,” he says. The wedding party formed a search party, eventually finding the rings in a tiny bowl behind some flowers. “To this day, people still think it was a gag.”

    For the reception, Gianni and Chris moved the party to their Newport Coast residence, which made the celebration feel comfortable and relaxed—yet still ultra-chic and glamorous. Gianni’s elegant Oscar de la Renta gown perfectly matched the classic, stylish vibe.

    The reception décor boasted luxurious velvet linens, striking rose gold and crystal candelabras and an abundance of white flowers. Everything was enveloped in a clear tent overlooking the Pacific Ocean, which made for spectacular sunset views.

    “As the sun set in the clouds along the coast, the red and orange hues cast a heavenly glow that made the evening magical for all our guests,” remembers Chris.

    For their honeymoon, the couple returned to Europe, beginning in Athens and traveling through the Greek islands and back to Italy. They ended on the island of Sicily, where they stayed with Chris’s relatives. Since his Sicilian family had been unable to attend their wedding, the family generously presented them with a second wedding reception atop the beautiful Madonie Mountains in Chris’s ancestral village. Because the only thing better than one gorgeous wedding reception is, of course, two gorgeous wedding receptions.


    WEDDING TALENT

    Event Design and Planner: Trina Schmidt Weddings & Special Events, Anaheim, CA; Wedding Dress and Veil: Oscar de la Renta

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