Greetings Daizies,
There are moments in your life that you grow up daydreaming about so intently that you almost feel like you’re in it like imagining what its like to walk the stage at graduation, what it’ll be like to fall in love, to get married, and what exactly it’ll feel like to have your first child. For the last 17 months since getting engaged, the day I got married was one of those moments I visualized over and over again with all of the planning that was involved in bringing this special day to life. And honestly, the reality of getting married on April 26, 2026 was better than any dream I could’ve created in my mind. It was so much more magical, romantic, emotional and FUN. It was truly the best first day to our forever.
Here’s our story from planning to “I do”.
Planning Our Intimate Villa Magia Wedding
I didn’t know anyone who’d done a destination elopement before so planning our special day was a journey of it’s own. It was important to start out with the big things like the venue and photography to capture the moments.
Choosing Villa Magia as Our Positano Wedding Venue
When people ask why we chose Italy for our elopement, the answer is quite simple: It’s beautiful. When I thought of the type of backdrop I wanted I could easily picture water for sure, sun, a coastal location, and vibrant colors. That pointed me to the beautiful Amalfi Coast with my searches set on a wedding venue in Positano. Villa Magia caught my eye right away with the specific spot on the terrace I could just picture us saying our vows. It was first on our list and I couldn’t wait to reserve the date.
Planning a Destination Elopement from Abroad
Contrary to what some may believe, planning an elopement does not automatically make you a stress-free bride. And boyyyy was I stressing! Especially the month leading up to the big day. Even with an intimate Positano wedding, I still found myself thinking through every single detail: How exactly would I wear my hair? What if my nail broke? Did I pick the right floral palette? How can I find wedding shoes that are actually cute and comfortable? Did I build enough breaks into the timeline? Would the day feel magical? At the same time, we had just moved to New York City, I was adjusting to a new environment, and work was in a demanding season. It was hectic. But through it all, my very planning-oriented fiancé, now husband, kept reminding me that everything would come together.
My biggest advice: visualize your day from start to finish. Know where each vendor needs to be, when they need to arrive, and what details need to be confirmed ahead of time. Do not assume everything will naturally fall into place — clarity creates calm.
I found many of our vendors through social media, wedding blogs, and venue recommendations. More details on how we planned our Positano elopement are coming soon, but the biggest lesson was this: plan carefully, trust your decisions, and then let the day unfold.
The Night Before Our Positano Elopement
Alas, after all of the planning, journaling and counting down the days we had finally made it to the night before our Postionao elopement in Italy. It was such an exciting, surreal and slightly jittery feeling like “AHHH it’s here it’s really here okay let me calm down”. But at the same time the view of the water and the city was breathtaking. The spring weather was the perfect mid-60s, the atmosphere felt light and joyful, which minute by minute help shed off my post hustle and bustle NYC dash to the airport. We finally stepped onto the Villa Magia property for the first time and after nearly a year of email planning and ironing out the fine details.
The spring weather was perfectly mild, the atmosphere felt light and joyful, and we were finally stepping onto the Villa Magia property after nearly a year of email planning. Meeting the villa coordinator face-to-face after what felt like a 30-message email chain was such a full-circle moment.
Included in our timeline was a walkthrough of the property and they key ceremony spaces and afterwards we walked around Positano, enjoyed some lemoncellos and had some yummy pizza. It was tasty and all but in the back of my mind I kept thinking…”I still need to finish my vows and make the broom we’re jumping over and omg I have to wake up super early!” Now I had STARTED my vows with some bullet points over the last few months, but even then writing the final version felt like the biggest writing assignment of my life. Like these were about to be apart of our history.
I started drafting my official vows around 4:30 pm., and before I knew it, the sun had set. By almost 8 pm, I was still trying to trim ten minutes of vows into something ceremony-friendly while also pulling out a hot glue gun for the broom we would jump over. I had always imagined including that tradition in our wedding day so no matter how much I was scrambling, it was a must have.
At this point I was just focused on locking in and finishing the remaining tasks so I could get some rest. I finished my shower routine, took some Stress Free gummies, some magnesium glycinate and called it a day around 10:30pm determined to get at least 7 hours of sleep. My body clock had other plans and I felt my full body and mind wide awake probably around 3am. I was alert and very aware that it was my literal wedding day. It was an anticipatory feeling but more on the positive side. I was finally awake on the day that would be historical for my life and my story. I really was looking at this day as the moment we were going to express our true vows to one another that would bond us for life. This was a union and the day I’d remember forever.
The Morning of Our Wedding in Positano
Starting the Day with Yoga, Breakfast, and Prayer
We both were awake long before our alarms went off and started our morning together with a 2 minute breathing exercise on the Calm app, 5 minutes of positive affirmations, and 5 minutes of visualization – a routine we’d been doing together for quite some time now. We ordered breakfast and I began my routine of yoga. I was feeling peaceful and overall like let’s do this!
Getting Ready as a Bride in Italy
My getting ready experience started out with makeup. Getting my makeup done was like a little facial at first so I definitely was feeling super relaxed. I never see the behind the scenes of the getting ready moments of an elopement so I didn’t know exactly what to expect but I was feeling at peace and just really positive. With booking beauty vendors internationally it can be a risk especially if you’re not planning to travel to the country to do a trial makeup appointment first, so I was a little nervous. It’s important to speak up though, each step just to make sure you actually like it. Another common misconception is that you’re more likely to stay on time, if its an elopement, versus a larger wedding and boy was that wrong lol. I went from peacefully listening to my playlist getting my skin prep to ripping and running getting my lashes figured out, hurrying up to finish writing my vows into the physical vow book and all types of stuff! It was literally time to put my dress on and style my hair… the ceremony was like…now.
Natural Bridal Beauty and Being a Black Bride in Italy
Choosing a Bridal Look That Felt Like Me
The dress. This was the most important dress moment of my life and I was soooooo happy I had found the dress of my dreams at Lotus Bridal in NYC. I had actually found it by myself and it was the first dress the consultant picked out. I had tried on dresses before in Seattle with my friends and family, and didn’t find a dress that I just felt like was “the one”. But THIS dress. This dress gave me that feeling. I knew I wanted it to be form fitting, I wanted a long train and veil, I wanted it to feel like me and have some glamour, some uniqueness. And this dress was IT. I rocked the beautiful Kittychen Solana dress for my big day with the matching veil and it was gorgeous. I was so excited to finally reveal my dress to LC.
Wearing Natural Hair for My Wedding Day
Wearing a natural hairstyle for my wedding day was always something I knew I wanted to do. Exactly what style I wanted to was still a question for me up until the last few months of our wedding. LC was always a fan of me rocking my voluptuous afro crochet look that had become my staple look over the years. But I felt like I should wear a style I don’t wear in my day to do. However, when searching for natural hair bridal inspiration, I was always attracted to the very hairstyle I was trying to steer away from. I knew I’d likely already had my answer even though the answer was so simple. After wearing my crochet hair to my bachelorette and to try on my dress for the final fitting, I KNEW the hairstyle that was right for me so I went with it. For $40 and with me as a stylist, I rocked the most stunning, vivacious, and beautiful afro crochet hair as my wedding day hairstyle. I loved that it looked like me. It was me on my big day. My favorite hairstyle.
Walking Down the Aisle
Even before I knew who I would marry, I always wondered what this exact moment would be like. This was THEE moment.
I tried to do one of those “moments before the aisle” videos, but I couldn’t keep it together long enough to stop myself from bawling my eyes out. I saw LC walk toward his position, heard his voice, got butterflies, and immediately wanted to cry. We had finally made it to Italy. He was finally about to see me as a bride in my full dress and veil, and we were about to profess our love to each other.
Then I got the go-ahead to proceed through the doors and begin my walk toward marriage. The violin started playing my aisle song, “Dangerously in Love” by Beyoncé, and there I saw LC at the end of the aisle with a big smile. I was smiling too, thinking, Oh my God, I’m here. The weather was mild and crisp — not too hot, not too cold — with a gentle breeze and soft sun. I could feel the air on my skin, and everything smelled so fresh outside.
I began walking slowly and intentionally. After a few steps, I felt my veil get stuck on something and thought it might rip, but somehow it became unstuck. With my eyes glued to LC, I noticed something: he was crying. It touched my heart. In my head, I thought, Awww, he’s crying. Okay, let me walk even slower.
I had never seen LC cry tears of joy before. It was beautiful. I thought, Wow, he’s really crying seeing me walk down the aisle. When I finally reached him, the moment felt so deliberate. Each second felt present. I felt deeply connected, completely grounded, and fully in the moment. My entire world was being there with him, completely engulfed in where my feet were.He said, “You look amazing,” and we were both just cheesing up there. I saw nothing but love and sincerity in his eyes.
Our celebrant began the ceremony by telling us to look at the hands we were holding. We looked at each other’s hands from every angle and truly felt them. Then she told the story of our love, using the details we had shared with her just weeks before. I loved hearing our story spoken back to us. It felt like proof that I was living inside the romance story I had always wanted and desired.
In that moment, I felt so much gratitude, joy, and thanks to God for directing my steps to this moment and to the person I was marrying. I thought about all of the experiences we had shared, how we got to know each other, and how deeply we loved each other. I took it all in — every memory that had led us there, the divine connection of us meeting, and the relationship we had built. I was in awe of the love story I was living and was about to make official through marriage.
I had been most nervous about how I would get through saying my own vows. But what surprised me most was how emotional I became hearing LC’s vows to me. They were so beautiful and touching that I felt like I wanted to cry on my knees. I felt cherished, deeply loved, and truly known. The small details, the larger parts of my personality, and the future I am excited for were all expressed to me in the most sincere way possible. By the end of his vows, I was sobbing.
Then it was my turn. For the longest time while planning our wedding, my eyes would water just thinking about saying my vows out loud. I am terrible at talking through tears, and I had worried about how I would make it through. But somehow, I found the strength to say everything to LC that I had planned — words that came straight from my heart and soul — without fully crying and snotting at the nose, haha. That part came from listening to what he had to say to me.
I loved seeing his face and his eyes as he heard what I truly felt and the vows I was making to him. He loved them so much that he almost kissed me before we were officially pronounced husband and wife haha!
It became official and we jumped the broom and were finally pronounced husband and wife. I felt like I was on top of the world, so jubilant, joyful, and free.
A Vintage Alfa Romeo Ride Through Positano
One of the things I loved about this day was that it was a true representation of us as a couple and what we enjoy doing together: experiencing life through adventure and quality time. And soon after we said “I Do” we let the adventure begin!
Following our ceremony, we had a joyride through Positano in a fancy red Alfa Romeo convertible. We booked this adventure with Positano Vintage which took us through the iconic rolling hills of the town with picturesque stops along the way. Our photography and videography crew travelled behind us during the tour as they captured our traverse through the city. At this point it was like we were the stars of the city, all throughout our drive people from the sidewalks would cheer “Auguri!” which means congratulations in Italian! There were cars honking everywhere, smiles, people excited to take photos and wish us well. It felt like we were in a movie. We were both smiling ear to ear, I was waving my bouquet in the air, I felt the breeze of the wind flowing on my face and everything felt so vibrant and celebratory. I remember thinking “wow this is an amazing day!”
Pizza, Portraits, and Newlywed Moments at Villa Magia
I was SO relieved to have a bite to eat. After all of the prep for the morning and first activity complete its true bride’s sometimes forget to eat but there was no way I could forget because my stomach and dwindling energy would never let me do it. So we stopped by a restaurant near Villa Magia for some yummy pizza on the terrace. It was a great break to just eat and talk.
We then took our couple’s portraits at Villa Magia. The photos turned out amazing. Like wow look at this!
Our Amalfi Coast Yacht Ride After the Ceremony
From our joyride adventure on land we were finally ready for our exploration on sea. Again it felt like we were in the most joyful movie as we walked down the staircases through the city. There was a point where people came out form all of the shops surrounding the stairs to cheer us on and congratulate us. Bells were ringing and people were clapping everywhere. It was beautiful!
The wind felt so pleasant on my skin as we relaxed on the yacht. . The water was a deep piercing blue and once we finally got balanced on top of the yacht, it was quiet relaxing. I loved the movie that we were in. It was just so beautiful.
Cake Cutting, First Dance, and Dinner Under the Stars
As we made it back to the Villa it was time for our cake cutting and first dance. The cake was gorgeous and Villa Magia made it an exact replica of the inspiration I had shared from Pinterest and it was tasty too! Our first song was Die With a Smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga and this was the last time I cried that day as we held each other in our arms dancing. We danced to a few more songs before we bid our goodbyes to our camera crew that we were with the past 10 hours. We were now alone for our private dinner on the terrace as the first stars in the sky started to peak out and we could see the beautiful moon. We had a multi-course dinner that ended with a decadent homemade type of ravioli, it was delicious! By this point LC and I were enjoying our first dinner as husband and wife and relishing in all of the key moments of the day so fulfilled and content with how everything came together.
Ending Our Wedding Night at Music on the Rocks
But the night wasn’t over! We kept our outfits on and walked down to Music on the Rocks to end off our wedding night at the club! I was determined to get as many hours in my dress as I could! We had a ball! Dancing in the same way we had first met just 4 years ago in Seattle.
It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t have a little cardio adventure to end the night so after an hour or so or dancing we hiked up 14 minutes of steep inclined stairs all the way back to Villa Magia. It was a beautiful day spent together reveling in the presence of one another with the backdrop of Italy, a town that showered us with congratulations and best wishes, and a day where we started our marriage with our values of being present, adventure, and joy.
What Our Positano Elopement Taught Me
Our Positano elopement taught me that the most meaningful wedding day is not always the one that goes perfectly, but the one that feels true. It reminded me to trust my decisions, stay present through the unexpected moments, and choose a celebration that reflects who we are. More than anything, it showed me that starting our marriage with faith, adventure, joy, and each other was more beautiful than any version I could have planned.
As always,
Take things step by step and DaibyDai
