Villa di Ulignano Wedding Photographer: Amber & James in October
By Milos Dokmanović, Principal Photographer at FunkyBird Photography · 250+ weddings across Italy since 2012
Amber and James were married at Villa di Ulignano on the first Saturday of October, in front of 60 guests who had travelled out from across the UK for a three-day Tuscan wedding weekend. The ceremony took place on the open grass in front of the pool, with the Volterra hills falling away behind a meadow-style floral wall in soft pink, blush, peach, butter yellow and cornflower blue. Dinner was a single long table set in front of the villa, lit by tapered candles and six crystal chandeliers suspended above the wood. As a Villa di Ulignano wedding photographer, I've shot here in every season, and the early-October light on this particular evening was as good as I've seen it.
This is the full story of their day, the photographic windows that defined it, and what makes Villa di Ulignano work the way it does for a UK wedding in Tuscany.
The couple, and why they chose Tuscany
Amber and James came to Italy from the UK with 60 of their closest friends and family. Their five bridesmaids and five groomsmen, a balanced wedding party of ten, gave the day a structured, elegant rhythm without ever feeling stiff. They wanted something that was distinctly British in its emotional pacing but distinctly Italian in its setting: late afternoon light, food that mattered, and a long table where everyone could see everyone.
Villa di Ulignano was the right answer to that brief. The venue sits on a quiet hilltop near Volterra, in the part of Tuscany that most US and UK couples never fully discover. Far enough west of the Chianti tourist corridor that you feel like you have the landscape to yourselves, close enough to Florence (about an hour and a half by car) that guests can travel easily. The estate is built around a single 17th-century villa with multiple outdoor areas (front of villa, pool zone, back garden) which gives a planning team room to move ceremony, aperitivo and dinner across different parts of the property without ever repeating the same view twice in a day. For 60 guests, that layout flexibility is what separates a good day from a great one.
The ceremony, and the frames around it
Amber and James chose a symbolic ceremony rather than a legal one, which is what most UK couples marrying at Villa di Ulignano do. The venue hosts symbolic ceremonies on its grounds; legal civil ceremonies are conducted at the town hall in Volterra (about fifteen minutes away). Most British couples register legally back home and treat the Italian ceremony as the meaningful one. Their officiant was a family member, which is something I've been seeing more often in recent years. There's a different quality to a ceremony when the person leading it knows both halves of the couple personally. The readings land differently, the pauses mean something, the laughter is real laughter rather than performed warmth.
The ceremony was set on the grass in front of the pool, facing out toward the open Volterra countryside. From a photographer's perspective this is the strongest of the three ceremony locations the venue offers, because there's nothing between the couple and the hills behind them except a long horizon and whatever florals the design team builds there. For Amber and James, the design choice was striking: a meadow-style floral wall instead of a traditional arch, with two tall standing arrangements flanking the aisle entrance and a long, low installation spanning the full width behind where the couple stood.
The ceremony ran about 35 minutes. The family officiant's reading was the moment everyone in the front rows turned to wipe their eyes at the same time, which is the kind of thing you can't direct or stage and which photographs itself if you're paying attention. The recessional was the frame that captured the day's emotional pivot: Amber and James walking back through the aisle hand in hand, hands raised, faces caught mid-laugh as guests threw petals from both sides. It was shot in the clean diffused light of mid-afternoon, before golden hour had fully arrived, and the colour palette is different from the portraits we made an hour later. That's part of why I like it as a frame. It anchors the ceremony in its own moment of light rather than borrowing the warmth that came later.
The first week of October: what the light actually does
For couples researching when to get married in Tuscany, the first week of October is one of the most underrated windows in the calendar. After photographing 250+ weddings across the region, I'd put it in my top five weeks of the year, and the day Amber and James were married is exactly why.
Early-October weather in central Tuscany typically sits around 22–24°C in the afternoon and drops to about 12–14°C overnight. Rain is still rare in the first ten days. The landscape is in transition: vines beginning to turn but not yet fully reddened, trees still mostly green with the first hints of amber. Light-wise, with daylight saving still in effect until the last Sunday of October, sunset in Volterra falls around 6:55 PM in the first week of the month. Golden hour runs roughly from 5:55 PM to 6:55 PM, a full hour of warm, low, soft light. Blue hour follows, holding usable ambient light until around 7:25 PM.
For Amber and James, this timing meant the wedding photographed itself, in a sense. Ceremony at 4:00 PM, recessional and group photos completed by around 5:15 PM, drinks reception with guests through to 6:00 PM, and a 30-minute dedicated portrait session with the couple between 6:00 and 6:30 PM landing fully inside the strongest segment of golden hour. By the time guests sat down at 6:30 PM, the chandeliers above the dinner table were just beginning to glow against the deepening sky.
This is the sequence that makes a first-week-of-October wedding at Villa di Ulignano photograph the way it does. It is not luck. It's a venue, a month, and an hour working together.
| Month | Daytime weather | Golden hour | Landscape | Photographer's notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Late May | 22°C / 72°F | 7:30–8:30 PM | Peak green, wildflowers | Best balance of green landscape, manageable heat, long days |
| June | 27°C / 81°F | 7:45–8:55 PM | Warm green, early summer | Longest days of the year, near-90-minute golden hour, very flexible timeline |
| Mid-SeptemberMy pick | 26°C / 79°F | 6:30–7:25 PM | Late summer, beginning to soften | The softest light of the year |
| Early October | 22–24°C / 72–75°F | 5:55–6:55 PM | Transitioning to amber, still mostly green | Warm-but-comfortable, hour-long golden hour, shoulder pricing |
Late July and August are best avoided here unless guest heat tolerance is high. Inland Tuscan temperatures in those weeks regularly exceed 35°C / 95°F, and the venue's outdoor exposure becomes uncomfortable for formally-dressed guests.
The portrait session
The 30-minute couple's portrait session was the section of the day I had been planning around for weeks. With light this good, every minute counts, and the difference between a portrait shot at 6:00 PM and one shot at 6:30 PM is significant in October. I worked Amber and James through three locations on the property in that window: the open landscape just below the ceremony zone (warm side light from the west), the front gravel terrace of the villa with the building's facade as a backdrop (architectural framing), and finally the front stairs of the villa itself.
The villa stairs are one of the most underused features of this venue. Every time I shoot here, I bring couples back to the stairs at some point during the evening because the architecture frames a couple in a way no other spot on the property quite matches. For Amber and James, the stairs ended up producing what I think will be the single image they hang in their home.
The dinner
Dinner started at 6:30 PM with everyone seated at a single long table running parallel to the villa's facade. The table itself was built on bare wooden planks, no tablecloth, the grain showing through. Above it, six crystal chandeliers hung at staggered heights. The chandeliers were the lighting design (no string lights, which I appreciate as a photographer because string lights tend to flatten the visual hierarchy of an outdoor dinner setup). The chandeliers concentrate the light where it matters most, on faces and on the table itself, and let the surrounding garden recede into evening.
The floral runner was a continuation of the ceremony palette, designed by Sonja de Graaf of FunkyBird Weddings, but lower and more grounded for the table. Pale pink garden roses, peach calla lilies, butter-yellow tulips, soft pink dahlias, white feverfew daisies, and cream lisianthus, set in a mix of clear ribbed bud vases and small fluted glass pillars. Tapered candles in cream and dusty pink ran the length of the table at varying heights.
The detail I keep coming back to is the place setting. Layered pink-and-yellow napkins, half a fresh lemon with the leaf still attached holding the napkin folds in place, a miniature bottle of limoncello beside each setting as a take-home gift. For a photographer, it's the kind of detail that produces strong vertical detail shots almost regardless of how you frame them. I shot eight different versions of the place setting in around three minutes.
The reception, and what 60 guests feels like at this venue
Sixty is a number worth addressing directly, because it's the guest count question I get asked more than any other from couples considering Villa di Ulignano: "is the venue right for our size?"
Sixty to eighty is the sweet spot here. At 40 the venue feels intimate but slightly lost across the front terrace; at 60 to 80 you can run a single uninterrupted long table in front of the villa (which is the strongest visual setup the venue offers). Above 90 outdoor still works, you just need multiple long tables in front of the villa rather than one. Indoor dinner caps at 90 in the ballroom on the first floor, so beyond that number outdoor is essentially the only option. The venue can comfortably handle weddings up to about 120 guests, and the official outdoor capacity goes higher. Guest accommodation on-site sleeps roughly 35 to 40, with options for additional walkable accommodation nearby for larger guest counts.
For Amber and James, the night went late. Dinner ran into speeches, speeches into dancing, dancing into a long sparkler exit just before midnight. Their DJ had flown in from the UK, a personal choice that gave the music a distinctly British wedding energy I find harder to replicate when the music is sourced locally. There's no judgment either way, but if you're a UK couple wondering whether to bring your own DJ versus hiring an Italian one, the honest answer is: bring your own if music is central to your wedding identity. Amber and James got that decision right.
Planning notes from a Villa di Ulignano wedding photographer
A few practical observations from photographing weddings here multiple times, distilled for couples in the research phase.
Ceremony timing. For first-half-of-October weddings, target a 3:30–4:00 PM ceremony. For the second half of October, push earlier to 3:00–3:30 PM as light shortens (and DST ends on the last Sunday of October, shifting clocks back an hour). For July and August weddings, push later to 4:30–5:30 PM.
Ceremony location. The pool grass is the most photogenic, but it's also the most exposed to wind. On still days, take it. On windy days, the sheltered grass area to the side of the pool is the safer call.
Dinner placement. The front-of-villa long table is the venue's strongest visual setup. Use it unless guest count forces a different layout.
Indoor backup. Villa di Ulignano can host up to 90 guests indoors for dinner in the ballroom, which gives you genuine weather flexibility. For October weddings specifically, this is reassuring. The first week tends to be reliably warm, but the second and third weeks can shift.
Photographer's note. The villa's stairs are one of the most underused features of the venue. Every time I shoot here, I bring couples back to the front stairs at some point during the evening. If you book the venue, ask your photographer to plan one frame there.
For more on the venue's full layout, ceremony options, and capacity, see the dedicated Villa di Ulignano wedding venue guide.
A note on October weddings in Tuscany
If Amber and James's day appeals to you, the formula is repeatable. First-week-of-October weddings in Tuscany give you four things you cannot easily get any other time of year: warm but comfortable temperatures (no guest sweating through linen suits), the year's softest golden hour, a landscape beginning to turn amber without losing its leaves, and shoulder-season venue pricing at most properties. For a fuller breakdown of how October compares to other months, see my photographer's guide to the best months to get married in Tuscany.
Frequently asked questions about Villa di Ulignano weddings
Can you have a wedding at Villa di Ulignano?
Yes. Villa di Ulignano hosts symbolic wedding ceremonies on its grounds throughout the season. Legal civil ceremonies must be conducted at the town hall in Volterra (about 15 minutes away). Religious blessings can be arranged on-site. The venue is privately bookable, meaning you have exclusive use of the property for your wedding.
How many guests can Villa di Ulignano accommodate?
Villa di Ulignano comfortably hosts weddings up to around 120 guests outdoors, with a sweet spot of 60 to 80 guests for the single long-table dinner setup in front of the villa. The indoor ballroom on the first floor seats up to 90 for dinner. On-site accommodation sleeps approximately 35 to 40 guests, with additional walkable accommodation available nearby for larger guest lists.
Can you have a legal wedding at Villa di Ulignano?
No. The venue hosts symbolic ceremonies only. Legal civil ceremonies for couples wanting to marry in the area are conducted at the town hall in Volterra. Most UK and US couples choose to have a symbolic ceremony at Villa di Ulignano and register their marriage legally back home, which is what Amber and James did.
Is Villa di Ulignano good for an outdoor ceremony?
Yes, and it's one of the venue's strengths. There are three outdoor ceremony locations: the open grass in front of the pool with countryside views (which is what Amber and James used), the sheltered grass area beside the pool, and directly in front of the villa for a more architectural setting. The pool-grass setup is the most cinematic for photography because the landscape behind the couple is uninterrupted.
What's the best month to get married at Villa di Ulignano?
Late May, June, mid-September, and the first week of October are the strongest windows at this venue. Late May gives you peak greenery and wildflowers; June gives you the year's longest days and most flexible timeline; mid-September gives you the softest light of the year; first week of October gives you warm-but-comfortable weather and a roughly one-hour golden hour from around 5:55 PM. Avoid late July through mid-August unless heat tolerance is genuinely not a concern for your guests.
How much does a wedding at Villa di Ulignano cost?
Venue fees at Villa di Ulignano sit in the mid-to-upper range for premium Tuscan villa weddings, typically representing one of the larger single line items in an overall €80,000+ wedding budget for 60 guests. The villa is rented exclusively (typically a three-night minimum, weekly in July and August) which means accommodation for the closest 35 to 40 guests is bundled into the venue cost. Total wedding costs vary widely based on guest count, catering choices, and floral scope.
Is Villa di Ulignano good for UK couples?
Yes, particularly so. The venue has hosted UK, US, Australian and Northern European couples consistently for years. Staff communicate fluently in English, and the venue is well set up to handle the British wedding day pacing (longer drinks reception, late-running speeches, late dinner) which differs from typical Italian wedding norms. Airport access works well from the UK via Pisa (about an hour from the venue) or Florence (about an hour and a half).
A final thought
The weddings I remember years later are the ones where the couple knew exactly what they wanted the day to feel like and then trusted the right people to deliver it. Amber and James knew. They wanted a UK wedding in a Tuscan setting, not a UK wedding shoehorned into Italy and not an Italian wedding with British accents, but something that genuinely lived in both places. The combination of an early-October date, a venue that photographs the way Villa di Ulignano does, and a couple who chose substance over spectacle is the kind of combination that produces a portfolio I'm still going back to months later.
If you're considering Villa di Ulignano for your wedding, or considering the first week of October as your date, get in touch. I'm happy to share more frames from this day, talk through how the venue photographs in different months, or simply answer the practical questions that don't show up in a brochure.
Vendor credits
Venue:Villa di Ulignano
Photography:FunkyBird Photography
Florals: Sonja de Graaf of FunkyBird Weddings
Wedding planning:Trouwen in Toscane
Hair & Makeup:Karina Beauty
Catering:Novelle Cousine
About the author
Milos Dokmanović is the principal photographer at FunkyBird Photography, a destination wedding photographer in Tuscany based in Florence, Italy. Since 2012, Milos has photographed more than 250 weddings across Tuscany, with a particular focus on Florence, Chianti, Siena, and Val d'Orcia. His work has been featured in Style Me Pretty, The Knot, WeddingWire, and more.
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