Straight From the Heart

Christel Ruckdeschel and Paolo Francesco Sarno

Married in Volterra, Italy on July 16, 2011

Location: Villa di Ulignano, Volterra, Italy; Cake: Vivoli, Florence, Italy; Caterer: Galateo Ricevimenti, Florence, Italy; Event Planner: Monica Balli Weddings, Tuscany, Italy; Florist: Dario Benvenuti Living, Tuscany, Italy, Tuscany Flowers, Florence, Italy; Lighting: Omikfron; DJ: Sam Karlson; Invitations: Pillowgift Company; Tuxedo: Jean-Jacques Cérémonie, Paris, France; Shoes: Jimmy Choo; Hair: Armilla; Makeup: Elena Joseph; Wedding Gown and Veil: Delphine Manivet, Paris, France; Photography: Ryan Joseph Photographs, Tampa, FL

Couples are set up all the time, but little did Christel Ruckdeschel and Paolo Sarno know, their boss’s innocent initiative to get Paolo to better his German would lead them to the altar. They met 10 years ago at the Bank of Munich while Christel was doing a traineeship and Paolo was there for a summer internship. “My boss asked me to keep my English skills a secret,” says Christel, explaining how she and Paolo would be sent out “for lunches and errands together.”

Christel and Paolo dated for a year and a half, but decided that they “were too young and it was getting too serious,” recalls Paolo. A five year break followed where they kept in touch, but gave each other space. “We spent many hours (and nights) on the phone; whenever something important would happen, we would immediately let the other person know,” shares Paolo. “We never managed to forget about each other,” Christel agrees. And when Paolo purchased a flat in Paris, fate and renovations brought Christel back into his life permanently—“She came and never left,” smiles Paolo.

Paolo planned an elaborate desert proposal in Morocco, “but suddenly the sun was setting and the desert was nowhere in sight,” he remembers. After eight hours of driving through the Atlas Mountains, he abruptly stopped the car. Christel thought he was car sick, but Paolo had other impromptu plans: they would walk up a little hill to a ruin and he would ask Christel to marry him. “With the sun setting behind us, he dropped to one knee,” recalls Christel.

With friends and family from all over the world (22 countries to be exact), Christel and Paolo knew that no matter where they chose to have their wedding that their loved ones would have to travel, so they agreed on a spot they both love in Paolo’s native Italy. “Tuscany was our choice,” reveals Christel. “It was important to us to find a magical place for our wedding and to make our family and friends discover a new corner of the world through our eyes.”

With a mutual belief that life is a bit of a circus, Christel and Paolo wanted their wedding day “to feel like a spectacle with a surprise waiting around every corner,”
describes Christel, who wasn’t excluded when her planner surprised her by opening “the doors to the church just a crack,” so that she and Paolo could see each other. “I will always remember the intensity of our love in that moment,” says Christel.

The couple made their way from the church to the reception via a Fiat 500, stopping by an olive tree field on the way with their photographer for a mini photo shoot. At the villa, Christel harnessed her years of dance training for their first Foxtrot as husband and wife to Frank Sinatra’s “Love and Marriage.” Other memorable moments include Paolo’s speech—“He spoke without notes straight from the heart and made everyone laugh a lot and cry a little,” remembers Christel.

The duo embarked on a three-week honeymoon: “First to Corsica, where we spent half a week on a yacht lent to us by friends and the other half in the lovely Grand Hôtel de Cala Rossa tree house suite,” says Christel. Afterwards they headed to Thailand to visit Christel’s father who couldn’t make it to the wedding due to health reasons.

> Written by Jessica Latimer

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