Rohan Thakkar and Mackenna Wilsey approached their wedding in Italy by deciding what needed to be built first, and then building it themselves. Before they had confirmed a venue, they had already secured their caterer, photographer, DJ and graphic designer. At one point, they whiteboarded the entire weekend “as if we were starting a company, mapping out our vision, priorities, and non-negotiables,” Wilsey says. Thakkar took on logistics, budgets and vendor communication, while Wilsey led guest experience, food and design.
“We wanted it to feel like inviting friends and family into our home, just set in Italy,” she adds.
They booked La Posta Vecchia, a former Getty family estate on the Tyrrhenian coast in Ladispoli, sight unseen. The draw was scale without sprawl. Enough rooms for close family to stay on the property, with the rest of the guest list split between nearby hotels and Rome, and multiple spaces that allowed each event to shift with the moods of their ceremonies.
They met in 2014 at a small Italian café in Orange County. “Quick run-ins led to casual conversation, but for months, we never exchanged contacts,” says Wilsey. It took one last overlap for Thakkar to hand her a folded note with his number. Eleven years later, he brought her back to that same café for the proposal, renting it out and placing actors at the tables so nothing felt staged. When he proposed, the room cleared. “It was emotional, and incredibly personal; about meaning, family and starting the next chapter exactly where our story first began,” she says.
They set the guest list at 130 and designed their wedding in Italy around how those people would move through it. “We were very intentional about the layout and flow of events, making sure that our guests felt involved and included throughout,” says Thakkar. That thinking carried into the structure of each function.
The welcome dinner took place across the terrace and interiors of La Posta Vecchia. Guests moved between spaces rather than staying in one room, fresh pasta in the dining room, cocktails in the piano lounge and a gelato cart set up in the foyer. Wilsey wore a Savannah Morrow dress with Italian architectural motifs and a mermaid silhouette that nodded to the seaside setting. Thakkar chose a dusty purple-grey suit by Mitch Purgason made with Zegna fabric, paired with a Sabyasachi shirt that brought in a silk mandarin collar and colour.
