New York bride Ashtyn Almstead Kjeldsen and her Danish husband wed in an immersive La Dolce Vita weekend on the Amalfi Coast

It all started on Facebook Messenger. The year was 2018 and Christoffer Danneskjold Kjeldsen, the Danish founder and CEO of bedding brand CGK Linens slid into Ashtyn Almstead Kjeldsen’s DMs before sliding into someone’s DMs was even a thing. The message read, simply, “Hey, you in NY? I just got here”. Though Ashtyn was amused, she left Christoffer on read.

As fate would have it, Christoffer, who lived in Florida, and Ashtyn, a prototypical New York girl, crossed paths three years later at the cosy Clearwater home of a mutual friend. It was a night of “flirtatious eye contact”. “We each spent the next couple of weeks setting up plans with each other’s friends hoping that fate – or our friends and matchmakers – would bring each other into the mix,” says Ashtyn, now the creative director at CGK Linens. "Lucky for us, our friends took the hint.”

Following a first date at a local arcade bar, Ashtyn had “lost all chill” and was “head over heels”. Amid the pandemic she did the unthinkable: left New York to live with Christoffer in Florida. The rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward to September of 2022, when the couple was in Italy to celebrate a friend’s wedding. At a cliffside restaurant, Café Wunderbar, in Taormina (yes, just like The White Lotus), after a bottle of wine and with live music playing in the background, Christoffer dropped to his knee and proposed. “A table of Italian Nonnas swarmed around us to inspect and approve the ring and wish us a lifetime of happiness,” says Ashtyn. “Despite having no luggage or plans, we continued to celebrate in our happy place, with only the clothes on our backs and a ripped paper bag full of souvenirs.”

Given the magic of the engagement evening, the couple knew they wanted to have the wedding in Italy. And so, earlier this year, friends and family of the couple gathered at the idyllic Villa Astor in Sorrento to witness their “I dos”. A former summer home of a Roman emperor and recently restored to its former glory, the location took Ashtyn’s breath away the moment she saw it. “The gardens feel like something out of a dream — full of ancient marble sculptures, secret pathways, relics, and the most expansive ocean views.” Christoffer agrees, adding, “I’ve always loved views of the ocean and this was the view. On the Amalfi Coast, with the most incredible scenery I’ve ever seen. Our dinner table was literally set on the edge of a cliff, and it took your breath away.”

When it came time to find a dress, Ashtyn “shopped all over NYC and tried on so many gorgeous dresses”. Still, she didn’t have “the moment” until she visited Danielle Frankel’s studio with her aunt Johanna and her sister. “And then... I put on the dress,” says Ashtyn, noting that the studio associate, Rachel, made her feel “so comfortable and seen”. “As soon as she zipped it up, I felt like a bride. The drop-waist corset and just the right amount of tulle — it was everything. She paired it with the most gorgeous earrings, which we customised to fit me perfectly.” Ashtyn completed the look with classic white satin Manolo Blahniks – the very last pair in her size at the New York boutique.

Working with stylists Anne Banks Easter and Kendall Marsh, Ashtyn pulled together the looks for the rest of her wedding weekend. For the beach day, she wore Ulla Johnson and Dior (“It felt playful but still polished,” she says). Her party dress, meanwhile, was also Danielle Frankel; a “flirty, fun” mini dress ideal for dancing the night away. “It felt so right for the setting and the energy of the night,” she says. Throughout the weekend, her elegant, glow-y makeup was done by Beauty Livery. The entire weekend was captured on video by Les Vaques.

Not to be outdone, Christoffer opted for top-to-toe Brunello Cucinelli for the welcome dinner (“So classic and so him,” says Ashtyn) and, for the ceremony, a Ralph Lauren Purple Label tuxedo, paired with Christian Louboutin shoes. “He looked so handsome,” Ashtyn says.

The three-day weekend, which was realised with the help of wedding planners House of Luce, kicked off with a welcome dinner at local trattoria rebranded by the couple as Trattoria D’Amore. There, guests enjoyed spritzes and regional bites. “During a venue visit a few months before the wedding, we scouted what felt like every possible spot for the welcome dinner, but nothing was clicking with the vision my planner and I had in mind,” says Ashtyn. “Then we stumbled on the perfect little trattoria tucked into the town square.” After some gentle convincing, the owners agreed to allow the couple to take over the space and make it their own. It serves as the perfect way to set the tone for the immersive wedding weekend.

On the day of the wedding, Ashtyn “floated” down the aisle to the tune of “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve and “Peggy-O” by the Grateful Dead. There were “flowers everywhere” (custom created by florists Anthea Studio), cascading from every available place. “It really felt dreamlike. I have never experienced a moment like this in my life, truly. Everything I had ever dreamed of and had been imagining since a little girl was happening,” she says. “I had practiced walking down the aisle probably a hundred times with my childhood best friend and bridesmaid, Addy — since we were three, we’d play “wedding,” and I never let her be the bride. She made sure everyone knew that.”

Seeing Chris at the end of the aisle, her “bestest, truest friend in the world”, everything fell into place. “My parents passed away and I didn’t have them to walk me down the aisle, I thought this would’ve broken me on my big day. It didn’t. I felt them with us,” says Ashtyn, whose grandfather walked her down the aisle. “I had them with me wrapped in my bouquet.” The ribbon that tied her bouquet – her “something blue” – was embroidered with both her wedding date and that of her parents. Ashtyn’s wish is that eventually she will pass it on to her future children, for their wedding days.

Like Ashtyn, Christoffer has lost his mother, and so he walked down the aisle with his sister, Stinne. “As we walked toward the aisle, she cracked a few jokes to calm my nerves, it made the moment feel light and real, and I was grateful for that,” says Christoffer, who just so happened to go cliff-diving steps from where the ceremony took place a couple hours before he walked down the aisle. Seeing Ashtyn come down the aisle “took his breath away”. “I couldn’t stop thinking, I can’t believe I get to marry her,” he says. “I felt so lucky, all I could see was her.” As a personal touch, Ashtyn’s uncle, Michael, officiated the ceremony, imbuing both humour and sincerity into the moment. The couple read their own vows. “I was originally unsure about doing public vows, I’m not usually the guy who wants to bare his soul in front of a crowd, but I am so glad we did,” says Christoffer. “I wanted everyone to know how much I love her and how much she means to me.”

After the ceremony, guests enjoyed an Aperitivo to the tune of an Italian quartet. As guests began to dance in the garden, a local sandal-maker crafted bespoke Italian leather sandals for each guest. Danish elements dotted the day, from the Verner Panton Flowerpot lamps that lit the garden to the pillows and poufs featuring a custom-made monogram by Stationery Storries (in fact, each event over the three-day wedding had its own custom monogram) to the Georg Jensen flasks Christoffer gifted to his groomsmen.

The five-course dinner – the highlight of which was truffle pasta made in a giant parmesan wheel – was catered by Class Eventi. The cliffside dinner table was set with embroidered linen napkins (in lieu of place cards, guests' names were stitched into each one), pink Ginori plates, and bespoke floral arrangements. The table stretched over 30 meters on the edge of the cliff. Dinner was capped off with a classic Italian wedding cake, millefoglie, which Christoffer and Ashtyn assembled live. When the song “Radio” by Lana del Rey came on, fireworks lit up the sky.

Then came the dance party in the villa. “We made sure to include a Danish tradition: Brudgommens sokker bliver klippet — the cutting of the groom’s socks,” says Ashtyn. “Chris’s groomsmen tossed him in the air, cut off one of his socks, and handed it to me to mend as my ‘first task’ as a wife.” Guests danced the night away to tunes spun by a DJ Ashtyn just so happened to meet during her Bachelorette trip in St. Barth. The couple’s first dance was to “Falling in Love” by Cigarettes After Sex. “We danced until 4:30 a.m, and ended the night with all of our remaining guests jumping into the pool at the villa,” she says. "It was everything we dreamed of and more.”

The weekend concluded with a beach day at Conca del Sogno. Guests arrived via yacht ride along the coast and were greeted at the beach with refreshing fresh lemon sorbet. Custom floaties bobbed in the ocean as the couple took their final dives off the cliffs.