Real Wedding: Destination Wedding in Tuscany

Destination Wedding in Tuscany: From Cambridge to Italy

Some couples carry the logistics of a destination wedding without hesitation because they already know that the photographs — the vine-covered hillsides, the tall cypress avenues, the terracotta and stone of a farmhouse that has stood in the same valley since the 15th century — will justify every complication. Kate and Lorenzo were that couple.

Kate grew up in Cambridge; Lorenzo grew up outside Siena. They spent three years between the two cities and then chose a venue that was, geographically, halfway between: a restored farmhouse in the hills southwest of Siena, set in its own olive grove and vineyard, with views across the Crete Senesi all the way to Monte Amiata on the horizon.

The Landscape

The Crete Senesi — the undulating clay hills south of Siena — are the Tuscany of the paintings and the imagination. The rolling bare hills, the isolated farmhouses, the long cypress avenue approaches, the silver-green of the olive trees in the late afternoon sun. Photographically, everything works here. The landscape is too beautiful to take a bad picture in.

The challenge — and it is a good problem to have — is choosing what to include. Everything is beautiful. The discipline is finding the specific image: the couple beneath the cypress avenue with the Crete behind them; the detail of the terracotta roof tiles against a blue sky; the olive grove light at 6pm; the view from the terrace at the magic hour.

The Ceremony and the Farmhouse

The ceremony was conducted by an Italian civil registrar in the courtyard of the farmhouse — stone walls, a pergola of climbing roses, and fifty guests seated on wooden chairs that a local rental company had delivered the previous day. The ceremony was bilingual: Italian from the registrar, English from the vows Kate and Lorenzo had written themselves.

The reception ran until midnight under a clear Tuscan sky — long tables on the terrace, local wine, a meal that lasted three hours, a band that played Pino Daniele and eighties pop with equal enthusiasm.

Travelling for the Wedding

Travelling to photograph a destination wedding requires additional planning: equipment travel cases, drone permissions (Italian airspace regulations), insurance that covers the specific location, and a thorough scout of the venue before the wedding day. The results make every complication worthwhile.