About Nadia Fraqair

Portrait of Nadia Fraqair, Lake Como photographer, filmmaker and FRAQAIR couture designer, in Milan

I'm Nadia Fraqair, a photographer, filmmaker and couture designer based in Milan. On Lake Como I photograph and film proposals, engagements and destination weddings, and I create Lake Como Diary, a series of real proposal films. I also design dresses: FRAQAIR, my made-to-measure couture atelier, works between Milan and the Tremezzina, on the lake's western shore.

I have photographed more than 1,000 couples, and they come to me for one reason. They want the most important day of their lives to look like a film, and to feel completely real.

Lake Como is personal for me, too. My husband and I married here, and today we work together. We know what this day means, because we have lived it on the same shores.

  • More than 1,000 couples photographed
  • Fashion designer with work shown at New York, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks
  • Fashion design graduate of Istituto Marangoni, Milan
  • Photographer, filmmaker, stylist and art director: I create every image from start to finish
  • A husband-and-wife team, married on Lake Como ourselves
  • Based in Milan, about an hour from Lake Como

A Designer's Eye Behind the Camera

I graduated in fashion design from Istituto Marangoni in Milan, and as a designer I have shown my work at New York, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks. Fashion taught me how light falls on fabric, how a silhouette moves in the wind, and how one colour can change an entire picture. It also taught me to think like an image maker: I style, direct and photograph my own productions, from the first idea to the final frame.

Behind the camera on Lake Como, I bring that same luxury vision to real couples. Photography has taught me that the most beautiful images are never forced.

So my style is editorial and quietly luxurious: real emotion, beautiful light, nothing staged and nothing overdone. I am not there to pose your moment, only to keep it.

"Lake Como gives you the setting. My work is to give you the light, the timing and the story."

Nadia Fraqair

How I Work

  • A small, personal team. My husband and I work together, so every couple is looked after personally, from the first message to the final film.
  • One vision, from the dress to the film. I plan the place, the timing and the light with you, and I can style the whole day, down to a FRAQAIR dress made for it.
  • Photography and film together. I capture both, so your photographs and your film tell one story, in one style.
  • Discretion for surprises. For a surprise proposal I plan only with the person proposing, arrive before you, and stay at a distance until after the yes.
  • The light first. On Lake Como the light changes from village to village and from hour to hour. I plan every day around it, on land and on the water.

Nadia Fraqair photographing an engaged couple in the private loggia of Villa Monastero, Varenna, Lake Como

Lake Como Diary

Lake Como Diary is my series of real proposal films: one couple, one question, one place on the lake. We create every episode ourselves, and each one comes with the story behind it, so that other couples can watch it, feel it and plan their own.

Start with How He Kept the Ring a Secret, a surprise proposal at Villa Melzi, or a private boat proposal at Villa del Balbianello, then watch all the episodes.

Couple kissing at the wheel of a classic wooden boat on Lake Como, with Varenna behind them, photographed by Nadia Fraqair

FRAQAIR

FRAQAIR is my couture atelier for made-to-measure dresses: wedding gowns, evening dresses and silk, designed for women who come to Lake Como for the most important days of their lives. The idea behind it is simple: the dress that travels with you.

For a proposal or an engagement shoot, the proposal dress package includes a FRAQAIR evening dress. Discover FRAQAIR →

Bride in a white FRAQAIR gown with a long silk scarf, beside her groom in a lakeside garden on Lake Como

Where I Work

I am based in Milan, about an hour from the lake, and I work across all of Lake Como: Bellagio and Villa Melzi, Varenna and Villa Monastero, the Tremezzina with Villa del Balbianello and Villa Balbiano, Como and Cernobbio, and out on the water on private boats.

Proposal season on the lake runs mainly from April to October, and the quiet days of the off-season can be just as beautiful. For ideas on where and when, read the Lake Como proposal guide.

Work With Me

Every day I photograph is planned around your dates, the season and the light, and my calendar is limited. Check your date with me →

Follow the diary on Instagram and YouTube, and discover my fashion and image work at nadiafraqair.com.