Lilly Red Creative

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Lilly Red Creative

Ciao, I'm Lilly! award winning, destination wedding photographer for fashionable couple Photographer based in Como Lake, Italy and San Francisco, California

09/08/2026

A Polaroid sneak peek, part of me going deeper into analog 😉

For the longest time I shot what I thought I was supposed to shoot. Editorial, flash, whatever was doing well on socials. There are plenty of photographers on Lake Como doing that and doing it beautifully and I told myself that’s what you have to be to work here.

But that’s not me, it never was. I just got caught in the comparison game.

Film is slower and it doesn’t let you check the back of the screen. You have to look first, and wait, and be patient with yourself and with whoever is in front of you. That’s much closer to how I actually see, and it took me a long time to work that out.

So if it’s quiet right now and you think it’s because you’re not editorial enough, think again.

Chasing a trend is where you lose every time, because you end up competing with people who genuinely want to shoot it. You’re also late. By the time a style is obviously working, the couples who wanted it already booked someone who’s been doing it for three years.

This was Marita and Erik’s wedding. Small, and they wanted to actually experience the place rather than just get married in it. So I gave them a few of my favorites and we built the days around those. That’s the one advantage of being born here. I don’t have to research it.

They trusted me completely. That’s the only reason any of this exists.

PS. It’s an arrivederci, not a goodbye ♥️

Photographer: LILLY RED • Italy Photographer & Educator
Wedding planner: LAKE COMO PROPOSALS • ELOPEMENTS • WEDDINGS • EVENT PLANNER
Wedding gown: Lee Petra Grebenau
Videographer: Italy Wedding Videographer
MUAH: THE STUDIO
Flower decor: White Pepper Studio
Boats: Como Classic Boats CADENAZZI BOATS
Wedding cake: Cake art by Lisa Weinberg
Cocktail hour: Bellagio Boat Service
Music: Nick MacVicar Scottish Piper Italy
Dinner venue: Dispensa 63

09/03/2026

Only for bathroom lovers. On film.

I love photographing places that aren’t trying to be something for everyone. This one is loud and completely confident itself and somebody made every decision in here on purpose.

We’re all taught to blend in. Don’t be too much, don’t draw attention. It’s the same instinct that tells you to wear that “safe” outfit instead of something the really feels deeply and uniquely you.

I remember talking to Monika Frias a while ago about the programming society puts on us and what changes when you decide to it switch off. That’s the thing that has to go before anything interesting comes out of you. Because too often we’re just repeating what’s already been done and said and being afraid to take our own point of view.

Nothing good has ever come from trying to look like everyone else.

Creative Director/Host: Cara Mia for EARTH
Stylist: Kennedy
Dress Designer: Seline Meisler
Model: ✨Hannah T. | Utah Model✨

09/01/2026

What a vibe, shot on film 😉
This was the moment I decided to go all in on film.

This was hosted by my super friend Cara Mia . It was a content shoot, never meant to be a real wedding, which meant no rules and nothing to protect. Just a chance for us to play and be creative 🤩

I loved the romance of analog for years and never committed to it. I was too scared...what if I missed something. What if it didn’t come back.

So for this one, I left every piece of digital gear at home. We flew from Italy to Las Vegas with Alma, six months old at the time, and one camera in my bag.
My Contax T2, which is a very needed upgrade from my Olympus mju ii (I still love that one).

No back up. No screen to check. Just look, wait, press. And GO.

Some of those shots came back wrong. That was always going to happen and it’s fine. The good part is that you’re still learning something and you only get that if you give yourself room to be bad at it for a while.

We keep waiting to feel ready before we change anything and ready never shows up.

YOU COMMIT FIRST AND THE CONFIDENCE TURNS UP AFTERWARD.

Creative Director/Host: Cara Mia for EARTH
Stylist: Kennedy
Dress Designer: Seline Meisler
Model: sadie Andrea Calvetti

08/28/2026

A vintage couch is all I need 🤩
All shot on film with Portra 400, using my Canon 1V and my Contax T2.

This wedding came from a past couple who became friends. They introduced me and the new couple booked on their word before they’d really looked at anything.

I’m grateful for that kind of trust. When a couple lets you work instead of watching you, you end up in rooms and moments that nobody else gets close to. You’re not the vendor in the corner, you’re just a trusted friend who is just there ♥️

That’s the part nobody plans for. You can’t ask for it. It only happens when somebody had a good enough time that they want to talk about you and they only do that if you did what you said you’d do and then a bit more. That’s what a great referral is, trust 🤩

Most of us are so focused on getting found that we forget the couples we already have are the shortest route to the next one.

The 10K+ couples almost never arrive cold.

Planning: ItalianAllegria

08/25/2026

I love shooting film. It’s the way I remember things.

There’s no screen to check so you don’t click and move on. You have to actually look first and wait.
That’s the part that gets me.

The colors are great. But it’s that film makes you slow down enough to see the moment before you take it.

This wasn’t a wedding or a shoot. These are past clients who turned into friends.

We were in Camogli, one of my favorite towns in Liguria. Small, romantic, and a real gem if you ever have the time.

and Mirko Ciccone and us both had babies around the same time so I love that the two of them get to grow up knowing each other.

That’s the part of this job nobody talks about. You meet people who see things the way you do
and some of them stay.

It’s also the reason I stopped taking every wedding that came in. The couples worth working for are usually the ones you’d want to know and hang out with anyway.

08/23/2026

I’ve been patiently waiting to photograph here since 2019. I finally decided to make it happen.

One day photoshoot here.
Bold, eclectic, vintage, always stylish.

If you want to be part of this, comment MADONNA to get the info. This one will be a small group, only 8 photogs total.

p.s. only 6 spots are left
p.p.s. Dec 2, 2026 at the Madonna Inn, San Luis Obispo, CA

Address

San Francisco, CA

Website

http://www.lillyred.it/

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