Rachel Harris & Lee Croome

Town Hall, Lake Como, Italy
Saturday, 13th October, 2007

Rachel and Lee’s relationship was a slow burner. “Lee and I had worked together for six years, but we didn’t really get to know each other until about three years ago when we chatted at a staff social,” says Rachel. “We then started dating a few weeks later. Lee proposed during a holiday to Egypt — he asked me to join him on the terrace under the stars then got down on one knee! I didn’t know he was going to propose and I was delighted. We chose Lake Como in Italy for our wedding, with a party on an Italian theme back in England a week later.”

The dress…

“My dress was by Pronovias (pronovias.co.uk) from a boutique called Karen Forte in Cambridge (karenforte.com). I had my heart set on an Ian Stuart dress but my mum persuaded me to take a look in Karen Forte, who was so helpful. She came out with a dress I would never have tried on but, when I did, my mum cried and then we all cried! It’s such an unusual gown and I’ve had many compliments, plus as the dress was very detailed I didn’t need a bouquet — I just carried a single, long-stemmed white rose. My adult bridesmaid wore a dress from Coast (coast-stores.com), my smaller bridesmaid wore a dress that my mum made.”

The ceremony and reception…

“Our ceremony was held at the Town Hall in Menaggio, Lake Como in Italy.  We hadn’t been to Lake Como before the wedding but, from the photos, we knew it was the perfect location. Our reception was held at The Grand Hotel Tremezzo Palace (grandhoteltremezzo.com). We wanted our day to be as informal as possible so that everyone could relax and enjoy themselves. We had a room at the hotel overlooking the lake which also had a terrace and we all sat around one large oval table together. We held our wedding party back in England a week after our wedding at The Zetter (thezetter.com) in London. We had Italian-style canapés, in keeping with the Italian theme.”

Special details…

“The Chef at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo Palace made an exceptional cake — in Italy, the wedding cake is one of their specialities. The cake was a sponge cake filled with fresh cream, covered in chocolate spirals and topped with fresh fruits. It was enormous! I also created a ‘Welcome to our Wedding’ booklet which contained information on Lake Como, an order of the day and our wedding menu.”

To see more photographs from this wedding, why not order your back issue of Perfect Wedding here?