Elisa Mocci and Stefano Marras Wedding | a Game of Thrones Inspired forest wedding in the enchanting Agnata di De Andrè, Tempio, Sardinia.

This is the story of who we are now. Of how my life has changed since that May 2015 in which I found those sky-deep blue eyes again. And in that moment, and only in that moment, I realized that the stories I was telling lacked something to understand them fully, to take in emotions that had been dormant until then. That forever can exist and is worth fighting for, even if life “makes immense turns.”

2018 – Sardinia. Memories.

“I never thought I would start my Blog with my own wedding.

I always found it strange and sometimes inappropriate for a Wedding Planner to make her own public. I had to think again. Because I am coming to this moment now that I am celebrating 10 years in business, since way back in 2008. Because in the meantime, of weddings I have dreamed, designed and realized a hundred, thanks to the brides and grooms who, over the years, have relied on me. At first very young, when only a smile, theatrical and university training and a lot of enthusiasm could convince the bride and groom that Wedding Planner in Italy was a real profession. Then with tenacity and sacrifice, evolving from year to year, trying to learn from my past while hiding an – intimate – part of me that few knew and that would not help me. Because that dream for me had turned out to be anything but.

“My job is to build the happiness of others,” I used to tell myself. Being detached will make me a better professional.

And so I grew up, clinging to that conviction, as the years passed alone in front of a Pc building the first Blogs and Sites, changing strategies and creating from nothing a market in my island, Sardinia, where it was still all to be discovered and made to be discovered, devoting all my energy to this project that made me alive. Being the first destination Wedding Planner in Sardinia – probably in Italy. Miles and miles in a van signed Wedding Dream, discovering beaches, forests and islands with indistinct contours like the dreams of young foreign couples. Even when it didn’t make me happier, when the first competitors arrived to wage war, the one where no one wins. When I wondered if it was me who had no more creativity or were others undermining my self-esteem. When I decided to stop, because the spouses didn’t understand, or was it me who didn’t understand them?

When I realized, however, that growing up means evolving, making mistakes, changing, and changing means following one’s dreams-especially those that seem impossible-even when that means risking being left with nothing in hand. Other nights, alone, creating a new site that represented Elisa. The grown-up “me,” the Wedding Planner (actually no, Designer). Who no longer hides, who has the courage to say no. To those who don’t appreciate, to those who don’t pay, to those who leave her alone.

With Chiara, my 2nd in charge, walking in the rain and wondering whether to say goodbye there or jump over a puddle and become No. 1 in the market.

And so we jumped the gun and dreamed big, traveling to faraway places and taking on incredible challenges, of millionaire spouses and live TV broadcasts, of intimate weddings to celebrate and tea to sip in a London that had become a haven. I clung to who and what fueled my desire to grow, even if the compromise was a couch or a bed that was always empty.

But the heart, the heart had to heal. That was what I lacked, to fully understand this world. It was a tireless journey in search of why I had decided to do this work-beautiful and crazy, as only Love can be-it was a tireless, heartbreaking, visionary search for a Love that I had felt and lost, and that I would tell to anyone I met as a distant memory, a dream blurred and to be redrawn each time painted on different canvases: a beach, a boat, a cottage in the country. And each ceremony, in that moment that as a Wedding Planner you catch your breath between the exchange of rings and signatures, had its own face, that of a 16-year-old boy dreaming of getting married.

If there was one dream, which I had not yet been able to realize, that was it. The first, true and only dream of my life. After all, for the others I had realized so many, I had to bet once again in my own…it would be the one!

The story of these fifteen years away from Stefano and of our reunion, when the time comes, I will tell it….

This is the story of who we are now. Of how my life has changed since that May 2015 in which I found those sky-deep blue eyes again. And in that moment, and only in that moment, I realized that the stories I was telling lacked something to understand them fully, to take in emotions that had been dormant until then. That forever can exist and is worth fighting for, even if life “makes immense turns.” That everything I had so painstakingly built was huge, incredible, but incomplete. And that, I still did not know when, I would also be a bride.

from my “Wedding Diary” proudly featured on ELLE SPOSE.

Excitement. Tension. The good kind that makes you feel your heart in your throat and think “I can’t move a step.” On the threshold of the house, seeing Him pass by and from afar faces indistinct because blurred by tears. And then the notes of a familiar music / the Game of thrones intro /, dreamed a thousand and one times, and my father squeezing my arm and whispering “shall we start with the right foot?”. A laugh that breaks the fear, and the happy ending is one step after another closer and closer. Twelve years looking for us, a look to find us again. A tent to welcome us, represented by the triangle of wood and flowers. And two promises, which become one when, unknowingly, one ends his own with the same sentence with which the other had decided to begin it.

“It was always you”

“It’s always been you”

Tears, lots of them. But of happiness. Smiles, and hugs, and grain flying (along with a whole bag, which escaped someone in the heat).

I never cried at “my” weddings. Not because I wasn’t involved but because, as I also teach my students, getting “into the bubble” is dangerous, when working in the service of others’ happiness. You need a tender but objective gaze, present but not intrusive. I was afraid, that I would fail to get excited. That planning would overpower me by making the event-the Event, and not our Wedding. Instead.

Instead, the time flew as it flies when one is having fun, having a good time, loving. It flew as indeed all brides say, who cannot remember what they ate or drank, and ask over and over again, “What time is it?”. Because time, that yes, you would like to stop it. Pause for a moment so you can look into the eyes one by one all those beautiful people who are there for you, invited or backstage, and hug them and say, “Thank you!”. Thank you for being there, thank you for the journey you took, thank you for every moment together, thank you for building a dream with me.

And I apologize to the poor photographers for being unbearably impatient to get back to the party, as I could hear the boisterous cries of the “Game of Thrones” lineages (competing in the middle of the woods in a mega role-playing game to bring our lost memories back to life) and wanted to be there, in every corner, enjoying the spectacle of unknown people who, from one minute to the next, became Family.

I put aside my role as Wedding Planner when I realized that I could not count the minutes between courses by pondering the right time for speeches, that when the time came they would come. And standing next to my husband and listening to his beautiful speech, catching me at my “I love you” his “I know!” on the microphone (in perfect Han Solo style), triggering general hilarity, was something worth more than any planning.

I didn’t do so many of the things I had planned, I did others that were surprising, spontaneous, and fun. For the first time, I left the planning aside after the ceremony and asked my staff to do the same; they were dismayed and at times bewildered, but what came out of it were unforgettable moments that would have blown any other bride’s mind: the cutting of the cake so casual and spontaneous that I don’t even remember who was in front of it other than the clumsy attempt to get my groom to taste it, the surprise first dance (totally forgetting about the dress change and make-up! ), six hours of wild dancing, four of them to the irrepressible Irish music of Alban Fùam wearing a white sweater-regardless of the months and months of evening outfit research-and, at the end of the night, a fleece blanket wrapped around me Superman-style.

I don’t know, really, who remembered to put our figurines on the cake. Not the newlyweds, mind you, but a reindeer and an eagle, symbols of our Scouting past. Maybe someone on my staff, maybe the bridesmaids, maybe my mom, or maybe Stefano himself, who came up to the room and found them on the nightstand and knew how important they were for me, for us.

I don’t know, I just know that for once, for MY time, not being in control of the event made everything PERFECT.

Things I learned as a bride:

That handkerchiefs should be distributed DURING the ceremony and not at the entrance. Or at least at both times.

That it is useless to provide 5 shoe changes when you will forget you are barely wearing a pair.

That it is useful to designate someone to – every now and then – remind you to drink. Water, possibly, at least until the party 😉

That it is your right to ask to be left alone and close the doors of the room during the getting ready to have time to yourself.

That need to remember to be grateful, and to say the “I love yous” that, normally, we forget to say.

That it is best to make sure the DJ has downloaded all the requested songs, especially the legendary 90s.

That pashminas and blankets are a more useful gift than any wedding favor.

That wedding favors are liked. We can tell ourselves all we want, but the thrill of giving something, and the thrill of receiving it, will never go out of style.

Things I learned as a Wedding Planner

Much more than I imagined.

A great Wedding Planner (not emotionally involved in the event) will always remain the best gift you can give yourself.

THANK YOU!!! To those who shared, with their professionalism and friendship, this precious piece of road with us. With Love, Elisa and Stefano.

Ph Bottega53, Video Frame 25 Studio, Bridal dress Alessandro Angelozzi Couture, Bridesmaids dresses Jlm Couture Hayley Paige, Flowers Federica Ambrosini, G-Fresh | Catering Montiblu Nuoro, Hair Sexy In The City Hair&Spa, Make-up Valeria Boncoraglio, Calligraphy Rossella Manganelli, Light sound Centro Musica, Rentals Container Allestimenti, Mise en place Giagoni + GranGalà, Cake & Sweets Carola’s Bakery + sugar flowers Monica Manca, Musica Alban Fùam – Irish Folk Music

Do you want to know the whole story, from the beginning? You can read the account of our love story through my Web Diaries, published on ELLE.it

I EPISODE

II EPISODE

III EPISODE

IV EPISODE

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ELISA + STEFANO ENGAGEMENT SHOOTING, FEATURED ON VOGUE SPOSA

Read from my Journal