Francesca & Hamish: simplicity with an edge on Lake Como
Francesca is half Italian, a quarter English and a quarter Nigerian. Hamish is Scottish. They met at Newcastle University and now live in London, but for their wedding they chose a place closely connected to Francesca’s childhood: Villa Pizzo, on Lake Como, near Lugano, where she grew up, and Como, where she attended primary school.
They married on June 19, 2026, with the lake directly framing their ceremony in the darsena.
The register was timeless and contemporary, with a few bolder elements. Romantic without feeling overly traditional, simple without becoming minimal. Francesca, a designer for an Italian menswear brand, brought her own eye for detail to the day, designing the invitations and wedding stationery herself.
Here, in the words of our wedding planning team.
- What brought you to Villa Pizzo?
- How did that idea translate into the look of the day?
- How much of the couple’s personality came through in the design?
- What did you want the flowers to add to the setting?
- How did you bring together such different cultural backgrounds?
- Was there a moment that captured the spirit of the wedding particularly well?
- What happened after the wedding day?
- What did Francesca & Hamish love most?
- What makes a wedding like this feel effortless?
What brought you to Villa Pizzo?
The venue itself.
For Francesca, Lake Como was never just a beautiful destination. It was connected to her own history, which made Villa Pizzo feel particularly personal from the beginning.
The darsena, with its direct view over the lake, became the natural setting for the ceremony. Rather than building a concept over the venue, we let the place lead the direction of the design.
The guiding idea was simplicity with an edge.
How did that idea translate into the look of the day?
The style was romantic and timeless, with contemporary details and references to Hamish’s Scottish heritage.
Pink was an important element, beginning with the stationery and continuing through the decorative details. The backdrop created for the band introduced a stronger graphic element, giving the softness of the palette a more contemporary counterpoint.
The overall effect was elegant and romantic, but never overly sweet.
How much of the couple’s personality came through in the design?
Quite a lot, and particularly through Francesca.
As a designer for an Italian menswear brand, she brought a very precise visual sensibility to the project. She personally designed the invitations and the rest of the stationery, using baby pink as the key colour.
It was a natural meeting between her own creative language and the setting. Our role was to support that vision and make sure it became part of a coherent wedding design.
What did you want the flowers to add to the setting?
The floral design was simple, romantic and soft, with a palette that felt classic but contemporary.
The intention was not to compete with Villa Pizzo or the lake, but to work within their atmosphere. The flowers became another layer of the setting rather than something imposed upon it.
How did you bring together such different cultural backgrounds?
That was one of the most distinctive aspects of the wedding.
Francesca’s Italian, English and Nigerian background met Hamish’s Scottish heritage, while the celebration itself took place in one of Italy’s most recognisable landscapes.
The Scottish influence was especially memorable during the ceremony. Paddy, a friend of the couple, played the bagpipes as he led the guests from the entrance towards the ceremony area.
It was a small procession, but an unforgettable one: a Scottish tradition unfolding beside Lake Como, and a deeply personal gesture woven naturally into the day.
Was there a moment that captured the spirit of the wedding particularly well?
The walk towards the ceremony.
Having the guests follow Paddy and the sound of the bagpipes towards the darsena created a moment that was both unexpected and intimate. It brought together the couple’s backgrounds without turning them into separate themes.
That was really the spirit of the wedding: different influences, brought together with restraint.
What happened after the wedding day?
The couple had a brunch the following day, organised independently.
It gave the weekend a quieter continuation after the celebration itself, but the wedding day remained very much centred around Villa Pizzo and the ceremony by the lake.
What did Francesca & Hamish love most?
The ceremony area and the décor in general.
The darsena had been one of the strongest starting points for the visual direction, so it was particularly meaningful that the ceremony setting became one of the elements they loved most.
The lake, the architecture, the flowers and the carefully considered details all came together without competing for attention.
What makes a wedding like this feel effortless?
Often, it is the restraint behind it.
There were several visual and cultural references in Francesca and Hamish’s story, but the wedding never tried to express all of them at once. The setting remained central, the palette stayed soft, and the details were allowed to speak through the overall composition.
For Blanc, this is an important part of the work: understanding what a couple brings to a wedding, what a place already gives you, and where those two things can meet naturally.
Here, it happened around a lake that already meant something to Francesca, with a Scottish tradition arriving at the ceremony, a baby-pink stationery suite designed by the bride herself, and a day that found its character somewhere between timeless romance and contemporary simplicity.