Panta Rhei Wedding is a wedding design and planning studio in Catania, Sicily, founded on 13 February 2006 by Luca Melilli and Franco Cannata. Luca, a wedding designer who studied tourism business economics, leads client relationships and organisation. Franco is the floral designer and scenographer who gives each project its look. They describe the studio as an exchange between a communicator and a free-spirited artist.
Every project starts with listening to the couple. Ideas, drawings and scenography follow, then the choice of flowers, fabrics, materials, lighting and furnishings. The studio looks after the whole event, from the first meeting through execution to logistics, and its own creative hub in Sicily holds a warehouse of antique pieces, candelabra, fabrics, design objects and original handmade items that appear in its tables and settings.
The work is Sicilian in setting and cinematic in mood. Past events include long candlelit tables in historic tonnaras, ceremonies on the beach with draped canopies, lawn receptions under festoon lights in Taormina, castle dinners with red linens and receptions in frescoed baroque rooms. Palettes range from lemon and white to deep red, orange and black, always built around flowers and light.
Beyond weddings, the studio designs private parties, corporate events and television projects across Italy, and has worked with fashion and automotive brands as well as institutions. It set up the gala dinners held in Taormina during the G7 summit of 26 and 27 May 2017, and designed the 2019 birthday party of television presenter Diletta Leotta.
Panta Rhei also teaches. Its Wedding Design Course, run by Luca Melilli and Franco Cannata, brings aspiring designers and wedding professionals to Catania for practical and theoretical training, and the 2024 edition took place from 22 to 26 October. The pair also present the behind-the-scenes series Tutto Esaudito, which has been broadcast on Real Time.
