Our first kiss was a memory that will always be with us. That kiss made us understand that we were in love with each other and were meant for each other. After that kiss, everything was clear, our love was stronger than everything else, and we had to hold on to it.
Tell us about the proposal.
We had dreamed about our wedding for so long that I don’t even remember when we first started to talk about it. Lorenza proposed first with a nice homemade dinner at home. Ilenia proposed a couple of years later. She wrote a song for Lorenza and proposed with it during a vacation in Tuscany.
Talk us through the decision to elope.
We always loved the idea of doing a small wedding as big celebrations are not our thing. We got engaged in 2018, and our wedding would have been in 2020. Our plan was to get married in Vancouver, Canada, where we live, and have an intimate wedding with a few friends.
After the wedding in Canada, we planned to have a small party in Italy with our families and friends in a timeless small-town villa near Florence, Tuscany, where Ilenia proposed to Lorenza. We liked the idea of getting married twice, legally with our family of choice and symbolically (LGBTQ+ marriage is not legal in Italy) with our families and friends back home.
Nothing of what we planned happened.
A global pandemic made it impossible to travel or do any gatherings. After an initial disappointment, we decided to elope. Tofino seemed just the perfect location, and we could not wait any longer. Our 10th anniversary was coming up soon, and we wanted that day to be our wedding day.
Talk us through the elopement.
We rented out an Airbnb for us and some friends for a couple of nights in Tofino. And we had a lovely ceremony at the beach during golden hour and a delicious dinner. We are lucky enough to have a pastry chef as a friend that kindly prepared a gourmet dinner that night. The day of the wedding was perfect, everything was unexpectedly just the way we wanted, even if we had to change our plans last minute. The day was only about us, no guests to entertain, no family members to please, no stress or expectations. We were so happy and in love that everything else didn’t matter. The breathtaking landscapes of Tofino were the perfect frame for our celebration of love! We would not change a thing!
Photography by Sara Rogers
Dress Designer OFFON Clothing
Florist Forage & Bloom
Wedding Rings My Golden Age
