Villa San Crispolto Wedding Photography

I did my first Villa San Crispolto wedding in 2009 and was completely blown away with how beautiful the villa was. Set in the hills on the border of Tuscany and Umbria, it has panoramic views across Lake Trasimeno which makes it a perfect wedding location. That was the reason for me going there all those years ago, I photographed my friends wedding at Villa San Crispolto, Marco saw my wedding photos and asked me to be one of his recommended photographers- the rest as they say, is history!

To say I have extensive knowledge of not only Villa San Crispolto, but also Romantic Italian Weddings by Marco Bernasconi and of course his other wedding venue Villa Baroncino is saying something. I am one of Marco’s most requested wedding photographers and I hear so many wedding couples say to me “Is it as good as it looks online”, this makes me laugh because the answer is a simple “No- It is even better!”. The villa is a 13th Century building complex that has been lovingly renovated to very high standard whilst maintaining all the timber beams, terracotta tiles that you would expect from a Tuscan farmhouse. Modern living standards such as air conditioning, wifi, fridges have been added without detracting from the charm of the traditional values of the interiors like fresco paintings and luxurious Tuscan chandeliers. 

Get married in the grounds of Villa San Crispolto

Villa San Crispolto is set high up in the hills on the Tuscany and Umbria border. It is surrounded by olive groves and mountain views to the rear then a panoramic view over Lake Trasimeno from the front. As the sun sets over the lake it gives the best sunsets that any wedding photographer could ask for. The villa has acres of its own private grounds with its own olive groves, pool area and wedding area where the wedding ceremony can take place. There is also a terrace in front of the villa with stunning views over the lake, this is the perfect area to enjoy food with your family and friends or just look out over the lake with a glass of wine and watch the sun go down.

Wedding organisation by Romantic Italian Weddings

Initially Villa San Crispolto was the family home of Marco Bernasconi the man behind Romantic Italian Weddings. As things moved on for him he wanted to find a new purpose for Villa San Crispolto and came up with the idea of organising weddings for couples from all over the world to come to Italy and get married in the villa. He started Romantic Italian Weddings by Marco Bernasconi with a pride of planning amazing weddings and for him to be there for the couple to help guide and support them through what can be a daunting legal process of getting married in Italy. Marco also created an 8 Step Plan which is a process he takes each couple through to organise their wedding, this would include, caterer, florist, photographer, videographer, transport, hair and make up- everything you could possibly think of he has planned it out. The other benefit of the 8 Step Plan is that any wedding couple at the enquiry stage can get a guide price for their wedding, so at a very early stage you can get an approximate budget for your wedding day at Villa San Crispolto. I have worked with many wedding planners across Italy and Romantic Italian Weddings are quite unique in that they give you the villa for a full week and you would get married on one of those days in that week. It is more normal for you to have access to a wedding villa for either one or two days so you move into the villa, get married then you are out. Romantic Italian Weddings don’t do that and this is quite unique, you have the villa for the full week. This allows you and your guests to travel in from further distances, it is quite common for me to photograph weddings for couples who are either from or have family and friends coming from Australia and New Zealand, Dubai, Canada and America. This is something for you to consider when looking for a wedding venue in Italy. 

How many people can Villa San Crispolto accommodate?

Villa San Crispolto is split up into the main wedding suite for the wedding couple and many other rooms, some of which that are joined closely together with a communal area such as kitchen or lounge area. This makes it perfect for families and friends who are coming together for a wedding as they can chat and get to know new people, share some food and wine, this is the traditional Italian lifestyle. On the main Villa San Crispolto website it states  the villa can sleep up to 32 guests which is true, however some consideration should be given to the combination of people in rooms. Some rooms may be family rooms, for example one double bed and one sofa bed for example which is a perfect combination for a family with children but may not work if you have two separate couples who looking for a romantic time away! A full breakdown of the room layouts can be seen on the website for Villa San Crispolto. Other accommodation can be found in the local village of Passignano and slightly further away in Tuoro, one hotel is Hotel Lido in Passignano which is popular and well appointed. There are plenty of other small villas available to rent in and around Passignano from Airbnb and Booking Some guests like to be in the town of Passignano as it has many shops, bars and restaurants and I think this is part of the thought process of planning a wedding is deciding who would enjoy the peace and tranquility of a private villa and who would prefer to be in the town area. 

Wedding Planner for Romantic Italian Weddings

During your stay you will have Marco and his team there to support you during your stay. This support is there for you for the whole week and not just on the day of your wedding. Marco will have a meeting with you on the Sunday, this meeting is detailed but he will go through every step of his 8 Step Plan to ensure your wedding day will be the best it can possibly be. You can get married in the villa gardens which is now the most popular choice, or there are two options if you wanted to get married more formally in the ancient town of Cortona. Cortona has a stunning cathedral which is the perfect location for a religious wedding ceremony, or the Italian Town Hall is another beautiful venues with frescos on the walls and steeped in Italian traditional history. The team at Romantic Italian Weddings can organise your wedding in Cortona, they sort out all the legal aspects, transport to and from Cortona for all the guests, everything is taken care of. Normally weddings are planned to happen on a Tuesday and Thursday, I have heard people say they prefer the Tuesday because it gives them time after the wedding to relax by the pool and enjoy the time with family and friends. The wedding week at the villa will be from Saturday to Saturday so if you get married on the Thursday it gives you more time leading up to the wedding but you leave soon after- I can see benefits for both options but it would be great for you to leave a comment at the bottom of this blog to let me know your thoughts. 

Things to do at Villa San Crispolto

Passignano is the local town for Villa San Crispolto and is about one mile away, it has a large selection of cafes, bars and restaurants and has a really nice relaxed vibe to the town. It is also a perfect place to pick up the ferry for a trip around the lake. The ferry does a circular route from Passignano to the island on the lake called Isola Maggiore, this is a small island with some lovely lakeside restaurants and shops. You can walk up to the church on the top of the island which has scenic views across the lake. The next stop for the ferry is Castiglione del Lago which is an ancient fortress town surrounded by sandstone walls. Inside the walls is a lovely town which is well worth a visit and has some great places to visit and some lovely places to eat and drink. I did have one bride once who booked a minibus to take her guests over to Castiglione del Lago and they went by a vintage Riva styled speedboat from Trasimeno Boats and we turned that into a mini photo shoot. Once at Castiglione del Lago they met at the Squad Restaurant which had one long table for all their guests and we ate and drank wine as the sun went down with views over the lake. 

Other trips that you can do from Villa San Crispolto would be trips on the trains to places like Rome for the day and Florence which are all within about two hours of the villa on the fast trains. To get the fast trains you need to go from the nearby mainline train station at Terrantola, and train travel in Italy is cheap, reliable and very good. In my previous trips I have gone to Florence and Rome for around 40 euros return which make a day trip affordable, easy and a fun day out. Your guests could also extend their trip after the wedding by train, going south from Rome it is easy to then head towards Naples and beyond to the Amalfi Coast. Going north from Florence you could branch off to Pisa, Milan, Lake Como, Lake Garda and Venice, this opens up so many options and the ability of a multi centre stay for those willing to do something different.

Romantic Italian Weddings themselves can also plan events for you at the villa such as barbecues, wine tasting and pool parties. These can be fun things to do on the day before or day after the wedding. I think the day before the wedding can be good as it gives people the chance to meet and greet people ahead of the day leaving the day after the wedding just to relax by the pool and sleep off any possible hangovers! I have also attended some great pool parties at other villas where a DJ has been offered to play chilled music by the pool just to keep that relaxed vibe, added with some inflatable toys in the pool and some great food it can be a party to remember.

Wedding photography at Villa San Crispolto

So Villa San Crispolto truly is an amazing backdrop for your wedding photography. It has panoramic views across Lake Trasimeno and gives amazing sunsets with views over the lake at sunset. When you know the grounds of the villa like I do I have found some amazing locations tucked away that give a stylish look to your photos. It is so important to use the backdrop of the villa, the Cyprus trees on the drive and the olive groves to bring out the Italian feel to the wedding photos, all these are in abundance within the villa grounds. In the past I have also taken the wedding couple down onto the pier at Passignano for a lakeside walk at sunset, this is always possible but it does remove you from your family and friends for at least thirty minutes which may not be what you want to do. We have everything that we need within the grounds of the villa to make beautiful wedding photos so I prefer to have a gentle walk through the grounds and take some relaxed informal photos. We can do that in around ten minutes which is perfect timing between one of the dinner courses and it keeps you with your guests so you can mingle and chat more.

Booking me for your wedding photography I only give full day coverage rather than the usual 3, 6 or 8 hour packages the local photographers give. This is because I am a destination wedding photographer so to fly me out from the UK for three hours to me would seem crazy! Also I am so passionate about providing you with amazing photography, if I did only a few hours of coverage I would feel like I was only doing half a job. This is why with me you get full bridal preparation photos, full coverage through the day but I also stay on longer into the evening to capture all the fun on the dance floor. This ensures you have a lasting memory of your day with photos that will make you smile forever. 

If you are getting married at Villa San Crispolto and you would like to know more about my work, I only shoot twenty weddings a year so I get booked up very early. Marco typically opens up his 8 Step Plan for his weddings in the November before your wedding. It is typical that by the time he opens those steps I will already be full of bookings. It breaks my heart every year when I get a message to say “Mark, we have been watching your work all year and our steps have opened- can I book you”, when I have to say no to that it is disappointing. For this reason I strongly recommend you make an enquiry ahead of Marco opening your 8 Step Plan, let’s have a Zoom call and if you want to book me you can, we have a contract directly between us then when you reach Stage 4 of the 8 Step Plan you simply just tick me as your chosen wedding photographer. Doing this will ensure you can have me for your wedding day and will avoid any disappointment. To set up a Zoom call contact me and I would love to hear more about your day.