What should I wear to a summer wedding in Lake Como?
A fluid, ankle-length silk or fine-cotton dress in a saturated colour — not pastel, not black — with a flat or block-heeled sandal you can walk a cobbled lakefront in.
Como weddings are almost always three events pretending to be one: a boat transfer, a garden ceremony on gravel or grass, and a long dinner that runs past midnight on a terrace where the temperature drops ten degrees. Dress for the transitions, not the photographs.
The register is festive but not resort. Guests over-correct in two directions — the beach-holiday maxi and the black cocktail dress imported from a city wedding. Neither reads right against a lake in July.
The edit
A column dress in silk crepe de chine, jewel-toned
Deep coral, bottle green, cobalt. It photographs against water without competing with it, and crepe de chine doesn't crease on a boat the way linen will.
A block-heeled or flat leather sandal, already broken in
The stiletto is the single most common Como mistake. Gravel, lawns, and a jetty are involved, and no one admires a guest walking on tiptoe.
A fine cashmere or silk-blend wrap in a neutral
Not a pashmina souvenir — something you'd wear on its own. The terrace gets cold at eleven, and the alternative is a borrowed jacket in every photo.
One considered piece of jewellery, not three
Good earrings, nothing else, is more confident than a full set. Daytime Italian weddings reward restraint.
The skip
Skip white, off-white, and anything within a shade of it — this is non-negotiable in Italy. Skip a large structured handbag; a small pouch travels between boat, church, and dinner. And skip a new pair of shoes.
If the invitation says 'cocktail' and the venue is a villa, treat it as a notch dressier than you would at home. Italian guests will be immaculate, and the kind thing is to match the effort your hosts have made.