The kiss on the terrace over the lake, backlit

Wedding venues on Lake Orta

Wedding at Il Giardinetto, Pettenasco

Pettenasco, on the lakeshore

The newlyweds on the boat, the village of Orta behind them.

The lake as a route, not a backdrop

Pettenasco to Orta San Giulio takes a few minutes by boat. That crossing is what opens the afternoon: you leave the garden, head out, and the village appears all at once.

Out on the water there are no walls and no schedule. What is left is the wind, the light bouncing off the lake, and two people who, for the first time that day, have nobody around them.

A wedding on the lakeshore, among the greenery of the garden

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In Pettenasco, a few minutes from Orta San Giulio, Il Giardinetto has stood right on the water since 1932, when Luciano Primatesta opened it as a simple tavern. Since then the same family has turned it into a hotel with a restaurant, without losing its bond with the lake and the tended garden that gives it its name.

In summer dinners move under the garden gazebo, among lights and flowers, with the wedding carrying on late into the evening just steps from the water; the panoramic terrace, meanwhile, offers the most open light for portraits in the early afternoon, when the lake is still full of reflections.

In such an intimate venue I move with discretion, so as not to disturb the closeness of the group: I prefer to watch and wait for the right moment rather than stage it.