Weddingbee Blog

I last left you at the moment when Mr. Caro and I had to make a very tough decision: play it safe and bite the bullet, or risk it all and do it our way.

As you probably imagined, we decided to risk it all and do it our way.

But we were feeling so anxious and nervous about it! We were in Italy at the time and had only a handful of days of our vacation left. When would we find the time to look for a new place? How many of them would already be booked? Would we need to change any of our other plans because of the reception-location change?

And then, it happened: we were driving through the town of Garda, and I noticed a sign for the Ristorante ai Beati (which could mean either Restaurant of the Blessed or of the Blissful—you choose your favorite). In the space of a second I remembered noticing the restaurant during my wedding searches but dismissing it since we already had a reception place. I excitedly told Mr. Caro that we should go check it out!

The restaurant was located on top of the hills overlooking the lake and was built in a renovated 14th century mill. As soon as I saw the topiary trees covered with string lights at the main entrance, I thought we’d found our place. (I love topiary trees.)

Source for above photos; personal photo of fish appetizer (really yummy, BTW)

We were overwhelmed by how much we liked the place. The main reasons were:

• The surroundings (a beautiful garden with olive trees, an amazing lake view)
• The covered terrace, which in case of rain would still enable us to have the aperitif and dessert outdoors
• The beautiful decor details
• The careful selection of ingredients and the mouthwatering menu

We spoke with Pierfrancesco, the owner, and were happy to discover that our date was still free. We also were quite impressed by his professionalism, his attention to detail, and his evident passion for his job.

After having an amazing dinner at the restaurant and a brief session of pros and cons, we decided to go for it. We signed a contract and, as Pierfrancesco has owned the place for the last seven years, we don’t expect him to go anywhere anytime soon!

However, there are some cons:

• The indoor option is split into smaller rooms.
• The cost (but quality as well) is higher.
• In my mother’s opinion the food is not enough. (We have the welcome buffet appetizer plus five courses.) While it’s true that normally there are six or more courses for an Italian wedding dinner, many of our guests are not Italian so I don’t think they’ll notice…and I truly believe the food will be more than enough!

We are very excited about our decision and can’t wait to have our official tasting and define our menu!!

PS: If there’s a lesson here, it’s that things DO WORK OUT, so don’t be afraid of change!