The couple chose Villa Valguarnera almost immediately after seeing it. “Spending time there with its owner, Princess Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, made the decision even more personal,” Cait explains. “We were captivated by her stories and her extraordinary eye for art. We became so enamored with her that her image appeared playfully on some of our gifts, and we transformed her dressing room into the late-night dance party location.”
When guests arrived for cocktails, there was classical music and food presented at different stations. Cait changed into an archival Elie Saab couture gown for this portion of the evening. “I saw the dress on a mannequin and could not stop thinking about it,” Cait says. “It felt as though it belonged in a period film and connected naturally to the world of the Italian novel Il Gattopardo and the villa.”
The dinner menu was conceived as an old-world Sicilian feast, inspired by the house and the book, and each table featured vintage embroidered lace linens collected from flea markets throughout Italy. For the seated meal, Cait changed into a Valentino spring 2005 look with Jimmy Choo shoes.
During dinner, Mario had a surprise for Cait. One of his trusted chefs traveled from New York to work with Chef Fulvio Pierangelini’s team on a large batch of Major Food Group’s spicy rigatoni. Mario had hidden an apron beneath his chair, and when the pasta appeared, he removed his jacket, put on the apron, and served it himself.
After dinner, Chef Corrado Assenza offered up a dessert spread of Italian specialities, like cassata, cannoli, and baba, along with a simple summer fruit-and-cream cake.
Following dinner, Cait made one final change into a Prada spring 2010 look that served as her “something borrowed.” Her friend Caroline Grosso, the editor-in-chief at L’Officiel, had shown her references from the collection and insisted that its spirit was exactly right for the party.
After months of searching, Cait asked her friend Carmine Spena, whom she met during his years at Prada, how she could find one of the rare runway pieces. He smiled and told her he happened to know a collector: himself. Carmine had purchased the runway look years earlier and lent it to Cait from his personal archive. The dress had iridescent crystals that, under the right light, alternated colors. “It was absolutely perfect for the after-party,” Cait says. She paired it with wedding shoes gifted to her by her friend Amina Muaddi. “Wearing something connected to two friends made the look even more meaningful,” she says.
Eventually, the celebration moved to the back of the villa, overlooking the water, where there was a larger dance floor and more performers. DJ Pee.Wee, Anderson .Paak’s vinyl-spinning DJ alter ego, changed the energy as people quickly filled the dance floor. Mind Enterprises, an Italian duo Mario had found, played next, before Tucker Halpern of Sofi Tukker carried the party through until sunrise. Around 30 friends remained on the dance floor until the very end, including all of Cait’s siblings.
Looking back a little over a month later, Cait wishes they could do it all over again. “We’re so grateful for every person who poured so much care into the weekend or had a hand in helping create it,” she says. “We only wish we could relive it a hundred more times.”
