Steamboat Concordia

Booze Cruise

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Our Wedding

Aisha and Doug met on Instagram in October 2017.&nbsp; Doug's friend Gary invited Aisha to Doug's Halloween party.&nbsp; Doug had no idea who this "crouchingtigerhiddengaisha"&nbsp;was on invite list,&nbsp;so he looked her up&nbsp;on&nbsp;Instagram and his jaw dropped.&nbsp; He messaged her (and begged her) to come to his party, but she no-showed.&nbsp; After a week or two&nbsp;of persistent manning DMs, Aisha finally relented and agreed to go on a date with Doug.&nbsp; The first date went great but due to busy travel plans, they didn't have their second date until January of 2018.&nbsp; After that, things progressed fast.&nbsp;&nbsp;By February of 2018 they were officially dating. By May 2018 Aisha moved in with Doug.&nbsp;&nbsp;By July 2018 they embarked on a 55 day trip together around the world visiting 10 countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia.&nbsp; On August 27, Aisha and Doug &nbsp;got engaged in Cape Town!&nbsp; After an incredible (and lengthy)&nbsp;engagement, they decided to get married in Lake Como Italy, one of their favorite cities they visited on their tour around the world.

How We Met

Our Story

Registry

Honestly, feel zero pressure to purchase any gifts for us.&nbsp; Your presence alone is a gift to us. <a href="https://www.zola.com/registry/douglasandaisha">https://www.zola.com/registry/...</a>

Details

Wedding Party

Photos

Q + A

Cernobbio is located approximately 45 minutes from MXP airport in Milan.&nbsp; There are many direct flights from NYC&nbsp;to Milan although most airlines don't have flight options available yet&nbsp;for Aug 2020.&nbsp; Doug has set up many flight alerts and will send email notifications to the group when cheap flight options become available from NYC,&nbsp;Milwaukee, Chicago, and Orlando.&nbsp; If anyone else wants me to track flight prices for them from their city, feel free to DM me on the side.

The quickest/easiest way to get to Cernobbio from MXP&nbsp;is &nbsp;car service.&nbsp; There are no ubers (that I&nbsp;know of)&nbsp;and taxis are about the same price.&nbsp; I&nbsp;would expect a car service to the hotel to cost around ~150 euros.&nbsp; This is fairly expensive for a short trip, so try carpooling with someone!&nbsp; I'd call the hotel to coordinate car service for you. 

You can take the train from MXP&nbsp;to Como and I&nbsp;think the train tickets cost 15 EUR/person.&nbsp; Train allegedly takes 1.5 hours.&nbsp;&nbsp;I've never done it before but&nbsp;here are instructions for the train:

Malpensa Express to Milano Centrale and Regional Train to Como S. Giovanni. 

Renting a car is another option but I'm not sure if I&nbsp;recommend that.&nbsp; The roads near Lake Como are kinda narrow/twisty and if I&nbsp;attempted to drive around the Lake, I&nbsp;would probably crash.&nbsp; Ben Krejci&nbsp;pulled it off on a trip we did together in May 2018 though so it can be done.

Getting to Cernobbio

This is where Aisha and I are staying. We have a room from Aug18-Aug23. We recommend booking for 3 nights (Aug19-Aug22), but feel free to stay shorter/longer if you'd like. The Hilton has an awesome rooftop pool and the rooms are pretty modern/nice which is rare in Italy. European hotels in general kind of suck when it comes to air conditioning/bedding and it's going to be really hot in August so we opted for an American hotel. We will have shuttle buses running to and from this hotel on the wedding day. We'd love to have people stay here if they can, as it would be super fun to have everyone together hanging out at the pool throughout the weekend. Below is the link to book a hotel room for our wedding at a discounted rate.&nbsp;A single occupancy King should be 365 EUR/night and double occupancy is 380 EUR/night.&nbsp;&nbsp;Please note that these rates include all taxes and breakfast.&nbsp;Please text us if you have any questions but it should be pretty straightforward.&nbsp;See the blurb from the hotel after the link <a href="http://eventsathilton.com/show/60d3579ce91e59aae6390032" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://eventsathilton.com/show/60d3579ce91e59aae6390032</a> The weblink will be available until 12th July&nbsp;2021,&nbsp;based on availability within the room block. Should you wish to extend your stay or explore upgrade option, please reserve your room through this weblink first and then contact&nbsp;<a href="mailto:lakecomo_events@hilton.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">lakecomo_events@hilton.com</a>&nbsp;with your requirements. We will be happy to assist based on hotel availability. If planning to stay extra nights, you can book it without using our block for simplicity, or simply book for the 3 nights using the code and then email them as suggested to add on a few nights.

Hilton Lake Como

We did not block off rooms here, but if you want to splurge, villa d'este is a pretty cool experience. We stayed here for a few nights on our last trip here and while it's on the stuffier side, it's hard to find a more beautiful hotel. The pool is incredible and the grounds are very well maintained. It's consistently voted as one of the top hotels in the world.Be careful when ordering lunch ladies! When Aisha and Doug went there in May 2018, the old school Italians at villa d'este left the prices off Aisha's menu. This led to her ordering a 50eur salad, a 90eur caviar pasta, a 35eur dessert, and a 16eur coffee. Doug winced as she ordered the most expensive item from each category on the menu and after lunch he asked her why she went so nuts ordering the most lavish shit. Only then did he find out that her menu had no prices and that she thought it was simply a prix fixe!!

Villa d'Este

There are many airbnbs as well that you can book in Cernobbio if you would prefer to go that route. One unfortunate thing about Lake Como is there are no Ubers and taxis don't really exist. There are a few black car services that partner with hotels so from a logistical standpoint, hotels are much easier. As the date gets closer, we will provide some car service company numbers here.

Airbnb

Feel free to book any hotel in Cernobbio. Note that Lake Como is very large so make sure the hotel is in Cernobbio near Villa Erba.

Other hotel in Cernobbio

Travel

Renting a boat and spending a day on the Lake is our favorite thing to do in Lake Como.&nbsp; We are going to check out a few boat companies when we visit this spring, but we definitely recommend doing it for a day.

Rent a Boat

Gato Nero - George Clooney's favorite restaurant in Lake Como.&nbsp; We really enjoyed this spot.&nbsp; Get there early for great sunset views.&nbsp; Also request a table near the window to get a good pic!

Villa d'este - it's expensive but the food is pretty great at villa d'este.&nbsp; You probably need to book reservations in advance for dinner.&nbsp; You might have to wear a blazer/tie at dinner.&nbsp;&nbsp;





Trattoria del Glicine - family run spot.&nbsp; Wine was really good I&nbsp;think?&nbsp; We ordered a ton of burrata and pastas.

Restaurants in Cernobbio

Bellagio is about 1.5 hours from Cernobbio and if you have a few extra days in Italy, we definitely recommend spending a few nights there.&nbsp; It's a bit more touristy&nbsp; Boat Rental in Bellagio-Whatsapp Luigi at +39 328 879 7539 to book a private boat rental.&nbsp; The prices are very reasonable (You can do it for as short as 2 hours for 130 EUR) and you can bring food/drinks on the boat with you.&nbsp; &nbsp;They let you drive the boat yourself.&nbsp; I'd message these guys maybe a month or two ahead of time to lock down your date/time.Favorite Restaurants-San Giacomo - small menu but everything is incredible.&nbsp; Family run and super cheap. Highly recommend the jugs of wine!&nbsp; The restaurant opens at 7pm and if you aren't there right at 7, you might be subject to a bit a long wait.&nbsp; There is a wine bar across the street that you can grab a drink at while you wait and they allow you to take your wine to San Giacomo when your reservation is ready.-La Punta - Has nice&nbsp;views of the Lake&nbsp;and a variety of pastas.&nbsp; Aisha has ordered at least 6 pastas each time we have gone and eaten them all.-La Fontana - Food isn't as good but the guy who owns the restaurant is amazing and makes the dinner a lot of fun.&nbsp; You can follow him on instagram @mariopatroniHotels we have stayed at:Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni - Rooms aren't great for the price, but the location is the best and the pool is right on the water and awesome.&nbsp; They have a hilarious band of old guys&nbsp;that play&nbsp;every night which are pretty entertaining.Hotel Belvedere - This hotel has better rooms and the pool is pretty awesome as well, but it's about a 10 minute walk from town.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Douglas & Aisha

Douglas & Aisha

Photos