A wedding in Valsugana, overlooking Lake Levico, surrounded by nature, genuine emotions, and a photographic story that, in some moments, also chose to reveal what usually remains behind the scenes.
Paola and Mattia chose Prime Rose, on Lake Levico, for their wedding on July 11.
A venue surrounded by the greenery of Valsugana, in Trentino, where the lake and the natural landscape become an integral part of the day and of the photographic story.
But what I remember most about this wedding is not simply the location.
It is them.
An incredibly close, ironic and spontaneous couple, with the kind of connection that is built mainly through small everyday gestures.
For me, this wedding also had a very special meaning: Mattia is a photographer, videographer and director of photography who works on high-level advertising campaigns.
Photographing the wedding of someone who works with images every day is always something special.
On the one hand, you know you are working with someone who has a deep visual sensitivity. On the other, precisely because of that, you feel an even greater responsibility to create something that is not simply beautiful, but that also has a strong identity.
It is always a great honour when professionals from the industry choose to trust me with the story of one of the most important days of their lives.
In their pre-wedding questionnaire, they described their love with one very simple phrase:
“Two intertwined souls.”
It is probably also the best definition of what I saw throughout their wedding day.
Their story is full of romance, but also of beautiful everyday normality.
Their first date, for example, was supposed to be a day of climbing.
In the end, they simply ended up in a bar.
And perhaps this is one of the things I love most about the couples I photograph: very often, it is not the big events that truly tell the story of a relationship.
It is the little things.
Paola says she loves Mattia’s angelic face, but most of all the way he takes care of her through the small details of everyday life.
They even have their own kind of ritual made of workouts, love and scrambled eggs.
Then there is “Topolino”, their nickname.
There is Mattia, who tends to analyse practically everything.
There are the red roses he once had delivered to her when Paola was sad and angry.
Seemingly tiny details that, when put together, tell you much more about a couple than any carefully constructed pose ever could.
Their proposal also perfectly reflects their story.
Mattia had organised everything to surprise Paola on her birthday.
She had absolutely no idea.
The result?
Tears.
Lots of them.
And not only from her.
One of those moments in which something carefully planned suddenly becomes completely uncontrollable from an emotional point of view.
And that same spontaneity was exactly what Paola and Mattia wanted to experience during their wedding.
In their questionnaire, they clearly described the atmosphere they imagined for the day:
happy, joyful and carefree.
And that is exactly what I tried to capture.
When the person in front of you works professionally with imagery, photography and cinema, something inevitably changes.
Not in the way I work.
But in the level of awareness.
Mattia understands light.
He understands composition.
He understands camera movement, how a scene is constructed, and everything that normally remains invisible to the final viewer.
For this reason, during the wedding I decided, in some moments, to make a particular choice.
Not to hide the backstage.
Normally, in wedding photography we try to remove everything related to the production from the frame: photographers, videographers, equipment, and people working behind the scenes.
In some photographs of Paola and Mattia, I deliberately did the exact opposite.
I chose to incorporate the behind-the-scenes elements directly into the image.
Because in this case, they were part of the story.
It was almost a small tribute to Mattia’s professional world and, at the same time, a different way of showing what it really means to create certain photographs during a wedding.
An image can simultaneously be the final photograph and the story of how that photograph is being created.
For couples planning a wedding in Valsugana, Lake Levico offers a particularly interesting setting from a photographic point of view.
Unlike venues where the landscape simply becomes a backdrop, here nature can become an active part of the visual story.
The greenery, the water, the mountains and the changing light throughout the day make it possible to create very different photographs without having to spend long periods away from the guests.
And this is something I consider extremely important.
During a wedding, I do not like turning the couple session into an endless photoshoot.
I prefer to work quickly, search for the best light, create what I need, and then let the couple return to their guests and enjoy the celebration.
With a venue such as Prime Rose on Lake Levico, one of the greatest advantages is precisely the possibility of incorporating the Valsugana landscape into the story without losing touch with everything that is happening during the wedding day.
For me, couple portraits should not simply show where the bride and groom were.
They should show, above all, how they were together.
With Paola and Mattia, this meant looking for movement, conversations, laughter, hugs and all those small gestures of affection that had already emerged from their questionnaire.
Of course, Lake Levico provides a spectacular setting.
But a beautiful landscape alone is never enough.
A wedding photograph should still have value even if we mentally removed the place where it was taken.
The landscape adds something.
The light adds something.
The composition adds something.
But at the centre there are always two people.
That is why I alternate wider photographs, where the couple becomes part of the Valsugana landscape, with extremely intimate images: hands, glances, expressions and small details.
They are two different visual languages that, together, create a more complete story.
One of the most beautiful things about weddings is that, no matter how carefully the day is planned, at some point something will inevitably escape your control.
And that is often where some of my favourite photographs begin.
With Paola and Mattia, I already knew from their questionnaire that a second personality of Mattia might emerge once the party started.
Because apparently, when he drinks and the celebration really gets going, Mattia turns into what they themselves describe as:
“a dinosaur.”
From a photographic point of view, knowing this before the wedding is definitely useful.
But above all, it perfectly shows how much humour is part of their relationship.
My job in these moments is not to create something.
It is simply to be there.
To anticipate what is about to happen.
And photograph it before it disappears.
Planning a wedding in Valsugana means having access to one of the most beautiful landscapes in Trentino while still enjoying a more intimate atmosphere compared to some of the better-known Alpine wedding destinations.
Lake Levico also offers many different natural elements within a relatively compact area: water, vegetation, mountains and light that constantly changes throughout the day.
From a photographic perspective, this makes it possible to create a very diverse wedding gallery.
However, the advice I always give couples is not to organise their wedding exclusively around the photographs.
Choose a venue where you would genuinely love to spend the day with the people you care about.
Then let the photographer find the images.
That is exactly what I try to do during every wedding.
Observe.
Understand the couple.
Study what is happening.
Step in when necessary.
And completely let go when reality is already more interesting than anything I could ever create.
Paola and Mattia’s wedding at Prime Rose on Lake Levico was exactly that.
A continuous transition between carefully created images and completely spontaneous situations.
Between landscape and people.
Between photography and backstage.
Between elegant moments and others that were far less controlled.
And perhaps this is exactly why I love photographing weddings so much.
Because in the end, we are not simply creating beautiful photographs.
We are creating a visual memory of people who, for one day, have brought together in the same place almost everything that truly matters to them.
For Paola and Mattia, that place was Lake Levico, in the heart of Valsugana.
And the way they described themselves still feels perfect when I look back at the photographs from their day:
two intertwined souls.
If you are planning a wedding at Prime Rose, on Lake Levico, or more generally in Valsugana and Trentino, my approach always begins with the same idea: creating artistic photographs without turning your wedding into a photoshoot.
Reportage, light, landscape and a small amount of direction whenever it is genuinely needed.
Because the location matters.
But what will truly make those photographs yours will always be the people, the relationships and everything that happens without being planned.
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