Two weeks in Italy. The Amalfi Coast to start: slow mornings, long lunches, sunburnt shoulders. Then north to the Dolomites, where they hiked into the alps for the elopement they’d been dreaming about since their first date.
The day
We left the refuge before sunrise with headlamps on and the Tre Cime still black against the sky. By the time the light hit the towers, Rachel was in her dress, Ned had stopped pretending he wasn’t nervous, and the only other people on the trail were two Italian hikers who clapped when they heard the vows.
What made it theirs
- A ceremony at the base of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo with no officiant but each other.
- Lunch at a rifugio afterward, still in the dress, with the best plate of pasta either of them had ever eaten.
- An evening at Lake Misurina, where the wind finally dropped and the water went glassy for twenty minutes.
Read our Dolomites elopement guide for the seasons, the locations and what this trip actually cost.
