Daniele and Madison’s love story began in the most serendipitous way—a chance meeting at an underground cave bar in NYC’s Lower East Side, all thanks to a scheduling mix-up that kept Daniele in the city an extra night. In the midst of a bustling night out, Madison spotted him across the room, sparking a connection so instant that the club’s noise masked Daniele’s Italian roots. Fast forward to an “easy” hike-turned-challenging proposal and a celebratory evening with friends, their story was as dynamic as their personalities. The couple’s Tuscan wedding at Villa Vistarenni beautifully embraced their romantic origins and Italian heritage. The historic villa, perched on the Chianti Classico hills, provided a luxurious blend of antique charm and contemporary elegance. A simple outdoor ceremony among the cypress trees set the stage for an intimate day, complete with tapestries swaying in the breeze, seasonal blooms in multicolored glass jars, and an underground cellar afterparty reminiscent of where it all began.
How did you meet?
Daniele and I met in an underground cave bar/club in the Lower East Side in NYC in June 2017. Daniele was doing a 1 year program with NYU working as a lab tech. His friends were flying back to Italy and misread their plane tickets, so they ended up having one additional night in NY, so they decided to go out to this club. This kind of club is not Daniele’s thing, so it’s very funny that we met there. I was with a friend and just wanted a fun place to go dancing for the night. I saw him across the room and knew I had to meet him. I did not know he was Italian because it was so loud in the club that I couldn’t hear his accent. After that we had a whirlwind 3 month summer romance, but his year at NYU ended. We didn’t know what we were going to do or when we’d see each other again, but we decided to make long distance work and we did that for 1 year while he applied to PhD programs.
Columbia University is one of the many schools he applied to and in January of 2018 he came to visit me and reached out to Columbia for an in-person interview. They loved him and he was accepted shortly after. He started his program in August 2018 and has been in NYC with me ever since! We moved into an apartment together in Chinatown and adopted our fat tuxedo cat named Cacio.
What is your proposal story?
In September 2021 Daniele told me we were going on an “easy” hike in upstate NY and then having a picnic. This hike was NOT easy. It was incredibly hot and very difficult. Apparently the website Daniele looked at underestimated the difficulty of this hike, so I was complaining about being unprepared. Daniele was upset that I was complaining and I couldn’t understand why (I did not know that he was carrying my engagement ring in his backpack and trying to find the right time ask me).
We eventually finished the hike, which was beautiful, but our legs were killing us. We then went to a historic mansion, now a museum, with a beautiful garden overlooking the water. We walked around and finally set up our picnic. As were were relaxing and eating he tapped me on the shoulder and proposed. I was definitely not expecting it at that moment and of course I happily said yes!
We got back into the city and Daniele told me we had a dinner reservation. We went to the restaurant and 14 of my closest friends were there waiting to congratulate us. We had great sushi and went to a dive bar afterward to drink and spend time with everyone. It was a wonderful day!
Tell us a little a bit about your wedding.
Daniele’s family is from Tuscany, so we definitely knew that we wanted to have our wedding there. We had a small ceremony in NYC at city hall, and a party afterwards, but we knew the big wedding celebration had to be in Tuscany. There are so many beautiful places, but I knew I wanted it to be somewhere with a vineyard and gardens. Vistarenni was a perfect fit, and conveniently only 20 minutes drive from Daniele’s nonna’s house.
I am from Florida and have always been obsessed with flowers. For me the most important parts of the wedding details are food and flowers and for Daniele the food was definitely the most important detail. I love seasonal blooms and our florist had everything I imagined/wanted. I wanted there to be lots and lots of colors and flowers of all different heights/types, in all different types of colorful glass jars.
More than anything we wanted our wedding to be romantic and really fun. Daniele and I met in an underground cave bar, so it was amazing to have our wedding dance party be in an underground wine cellar turned club for us. It felt like a full-circle moment.
Tell us about your attire choices.
Daniele’s suit was from Castiglioni Abbigliamento Uomo dal 1927 in Rome. He wanted to go with a classic Italian style in a dark blue hue. They had the perfect option!
My Dress is Jenny Yoo, from the Jenny Yoo Collection in NYC. I wanted something very flowy and romantic. I looked at a few options and this dress was a perfect fit. I wanted there to also be a shiny/floral element as well, so I added a belt from A.B. Ellie. I also wore my mother’s emerald earrings, which was very special.
What was the most important to the two of you while planning? Was there anything that you chose to splurge on or skip?
The flowers were so incredible. Our florist, Marie Lou Fiori, put together the most beautiful arrangements and it looked exactly as I imagined it would. The food was also incredible. Our aperitivo was amazing and the seated dinner. The disco ball/lights in the wine cellar with the DJ was another big highlight. We had a great dance party!
Another big thing for us was all of my American friends and family getting to meet all of Daniele’s Italian friends and family. It was a dream come true to see everyone together and everyone getting to meet finally!
What were your favorite parts of the day?
Having my sister and Daniele’s best friend officiate for us was such a special memory. My sister Caitlin read her part in English and Luca read his part in Italian. Our wedding definitely had a language barrier element because many guests did not speak Italian and many guests did not speak English. So it was really important to us that everything be in both languages so that no one felt left out, especially both of our parents. So the invitations, menus, and speeches were all in both languages.
Honestly, just seeing our friends and family from all over the world together eating, drinking, laughing, and dancing will always be one of the best memories of our lives. Seeing 80 people who you love from childhood, college, and adulthood all at one Tuscan Villa is an amazing memory.
Do you have any advice for couples planning their weddings now?
I think the biggest piece of advice would be that not everything is going to be exactly what you imagined it to be or perfect, but once it’s all over and you’re looking back you’ll only remember the good things and the bad things will just become funny stories.
Also, I’d say a good videographer is absolutely worth it! We didn’t have to worry about capturing the memories, because they were there to do it. Our videographers captured everything in the most beautiful way and we will cherish that video forever.