This article is published in issue 26/27 of Vanity Fair on newsstands until July 5, 2022
He only needs the headset to suggest, word for word, the speech to the wedding witnesses, like Jennifer Lopez inunforgotten romcom Sooner or later I get married. And, perhaps, she also did. Enzo Miccio elevated the organization of weddings to a science, when “people couldn’t pronounce wedding planners,” he says, while conducting the orchestra of florists, hostesses, electricians and waiters less than an hour from ceremony of Prince Boateng and Valentina Fradegrada. More elegant than the future husband, with a blue suit and a reassuring smile, does not break down even when the wind for the umpteenth time drops the sculpture-vases that accompany the arbor of the promises. Calm as a dowry, obsession with detail as a condemnation: he is the perfect host whatever the location and you would entrust him with everything, especially your most beautiful day. He started by chance, though the cult of hospitality both of the family: «From my parents, a San Giuseppe Vesuviano (about half an hour from Naplesed) there was always the door open, a chair to add to the table and an occasion to celebrate ».
However, she quickly left there.
“Thirty-three years ago and I was 18. I wanted to escape, to be free and autonomous. The mother and especially the father did not take it well: they felt a little betrayed. Then, they got a reason. But at the time Milan sounded so far away ».
The most vivid memories of that period?
“In my 40 square meter studio I have organized unforgettable parties. There was only one sofa, but people sat on the floor, on the Pompeian red carpet ».
When is the first marriage?
“Someone asked me to help you organize your daughter’s.”
And then?
“I struggled to get off the ground, some consulting, some freelance work. I loaded the car with my collection of glass risers – now I have more than 400 collections around the world – and off to set up. At one point I rented a small atelier in via San Maurilio, which was then a street of art galleries and antique dealers: two floors and a shop window where I indulge myself in displaying flowers, cakes, set tables. People would come in and say, “I want to buy this and that.” Go explain that I wasn’t selling anything and that I was planning weddings! Up until that time, the wedding planner par excellence was the bride’s mother. And this was also my philosophy: to become her best ally ».
When did television arrive?
“Five or six years later. Discovery was looking for a host for the Wedding Planners show and approached me. At first I refused: I was not aware of the power of the medium, and I certainly did not want to share the secrets of a profession that I had invented and that anyone could have copied. Which, in fact, has happened ».
On TV he led another hit program: What the hell are you wearing?!. What are the worst style mistakes at weddings?
“Let’s start with men, who, when they make a mistake, slip much bigger than women: from broken shirts to printed shirts, from light-colored stockings to brown shoes. The classic is better: black lace-ups, a blue suit and a white shirt. Banal? Whoever has personality plays with the tie, the clutch bag, the cufflinks or the gilet that is back in vogue ».
And do you invite them?
“The long dress was not created for wedding ceremonies, yet in recent years, with a greater variety of locations, it is admitted and granted: the important thing is that it is cocktail-style, slipped, light, printed, not embroidered … precious fabrics, duchesse and taffeta, which immediately make Prima della Scala are banned ».
In the movie Sooner or later I get marriedJennifer Lopez in the role of wedding planner Mary Fiore has a radar for couples with a short married life: for example, those who choose as a love song I Honestly Love You from Olivia Newton-John. Or “gangrene green” for the bridesmaids’ outfit. How do you understand this?
«I don’t know, but I perceive it at the first chat, often at first sight, that they won’t last a Christmas and a Boxing Day, that’s what they say in my part of the world. In any case, the engagement does not have to be long: it is okay to know each other for three or four years, maximum five, because the most beautiful are to be shared under the same roof. This is said by someone who has never had the good fortune to live with his partner, for logistical and distance reasons ».
Would you organize your wedding or would you leave this arduous task to others?
«Getting married is a thought that doesn’t touch me, perhaps precisely because I can’t live the crucial phase of living together. However, as my grandmother and perhaps her grandmother used to repeat, never say never ».
There is more?
“I can say that I have sacrificed my personal, sentimental and family life for my business”.
Are you repentant?
“No I am tired. Physically tired, due to the fast pace, the constant pressure, the responsibility of about sixty people at the ceremony. I remember reading in an American magazine that brokers and wedding planners are the most stressful jobs. I don’t know what it means to buy and sell shares on the stock market, but I know that brides can be ruthless, ready to do anything for the most beautiful wedding, there are no schedules, illnesses, excuses … And that’s right, because otherwise they wouldn’t come to me or by anyone with conscience and professionalism “.
How many have them, besides the physique du rôle?
«I have been training since 2009, not counting the aspiring wedding planners who have passed by my studio. The 2, 3, 5 percent if I want to exaggerate, resists at certain levels. This job is not about making beautiful bouquets of peonies: it is managing a construction site where everyone wants to know something from you, from the anchoring plinths of the tensile structure to the moving headlights for the lights ».
The worst unexpected to date?
“The tiered cake that falls before my eyes just before I let it out of the kitchen: the pastry chef panics, I grab a bucket containing olives, I empty it, I put it upside down on what remains of the wedding cake and I order to cover it with cream and flowers. Inedible, but the highlight for the photos is safe ».
The location never again?
«The Brown castle of Portofino: to carry tables, chairs, sofas, kitchens, decorations up there on our shoulders … we made a human chain».
But who knows the satisfaction!
“All time. It’s a bit like getting married every time. “
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Source: Vanity Fair
