A starry-eyed Wedding at Villa Vignamaggio

Wedding at Villa Vignamaggio

The first time I met Deborah and Federico it was 2017, on the wedding day of a friend of them, one of my lovely brides, at a wedding venue in the Siena Countryside.

I remember Deborah bright eyes while she was talking me about the idea of getting married in Italy. She is from Switzerland and the groom, Federico, is Italian – Canadian. Federico’s Family is from Piedmont, so at the beginning they were a bit undecided if getting married in Piedmont or Tuscany. Probably a wedding party in Piedmont would have been easier for Italian guests, but the beauty of Tuscany kidnapped their eyes and hearts.

Few weeks after their friends’ wedding they came to Tuscany to visit some wedding venues.

We drove all over Tuscany and they immediately fall in love with Villa Vignamaggio. 

After 5 minutes they were already day dreaming of their wedding at Villa Vignamaggio.

Villa Vignamaggio is an amazing Renaissance Villa, well- know to be the former Villa of the Gioconda’s family, situated just outside the medieval village of Greve in Chianti, in the Chianti area.

It has been one of the most famous wedding venues in Tuscany in the last 20 years, easily recognizable thanks to its pink/peach façade. 

It is also known for being the villa where the movie “Much ado about nothing” by Kenneth Branagh was filmed in 1992.

Vignamaggio is also a wine farm from over 700 years, it covers around 400 hectares of Chianti hills, including 5000 olive trees, 70 hectars of vineyards, forests.  

It was built by the Gherardini Family, the family of the famous Monna Lisa, or Gioconda, painted by Leonardo da Vinci. 

Since 2014 Vignamaggio is owned by Patrice Tavarella, a french-italiana architect that together with his business partner started an important project of environmental conservation, using a more agricultural approach to respect the land, the plants and of course people, to turn the Villa in to a farm hotel with its own biological crops.

I worked one year with Deb and Fed to plan their wedding at Villa Vignamaggio and it was a real pleasure to work with them and make their dream come true.

Welcome dinner at Villa Vignamaggio

The day before the wedding the couple wanted to host a Pool party followed by a Welcome dinner in the Vignamaggio estate. 

The Pool party started in the early afternoon and all the guests were invited to join the pool and the amazing view from this area. In the pool area we set up an Ice cream car, to be more precise a 500 Fiat ice cream car, plus an Ape Piaggio with Beer and Prosecco. The guests enjoyed the afternoon swimming in the pool, eating Italian Gelato and drinking Beer and Prosecco. During sunset they moved to Vignamaggio terrace where they found an amazing long imperial table, decorated by the florist designer Giulia Pulcri from Floricanto. She used Lemons ad Herbs to create a rustic chic Italian atmosphere. 

An Italian band played folk music during the dinner and bridesmaids and bestmen showed a movie with photos of the couple. 

Wedding at Villa Vignamaggio

The wedding day started early, with the wedding party getting ready. 

Bride and Bridesmaids got ready in the Monnalisa suite, with the Make up artist Ilaria….. and her staff. Groom and groomsmen got ready in Leonardo suite at the first floor of the Villa. 

The Catholic ceremony was celebrated in the Church of San Leolino, an amazing church between Greve and Chianti and Panzano in Chianti. It was a very emotional atmosphere and all the guests were impressed by the church an by the Tuscan hills landscape.

Right after the ceremony the guests moved back to Villa Vignamaggio, where an Italian Aperitivo was waiting for them. The buffet included Tuscan cold meats, cheese and canapes. Guests spent 2 hours eating and drinking on the Monnalisa terrace before moving to the Lecci Garden to start the wedding dinner.

Lecci Garden was lighted by a fairy light sky, and 2 long tables were situated under the marroquine tent. The tables were decorated with a touch of colorful flowers and green and blue candles. 

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen did some emotional speeches, that more than once made newlyweds eyes move to tears.

A traditional Italian millefoglie wedding cake was cut under a superb candelabra.

After the cake all the guests were invited to dance and drink at the open bar in the wine cellar, where Cool Vibes band played their fantastic playlist.

Look at the creative photoshoot by Kristina Assenova of this fantastic wedding at Villa Vignamaggio

Wedding at Villa Vignamaggio Dream Team:

Wedding Planning and Design: Italian Wedding Designer

Venue: Villa Vignamaggio

Photographer: Kristina Assenova

Make up Artist: Ilaria Lanini

Florist: Floricanto

Lights: Central House

Welcome dinner Band: Just FM Dixie

Wedding Band: Cool Vibes

Welcome dinner Bridal dress: Editions de Robe   Designer: Ulla Johnson

Wedding day Bridal dress: Oscar de la Renta

Bridesmaids crowns: Mimoki