wedding film
A Castello di Gargonza wedding in Tuscany can extend naturally across several days because the medieval village contains gardens, piazzas, guest rooms, a restaurant, and a pool within the same property. Yasmina and Malek, a Lebanese couple living in Montreal, brought 170 guests there for a June celebration that used each of these spaces at different moments of the weekend.
They had known each other since they were young, with their families already close before they became a couple. Many of the friends and relatives around them had therefore been part of their lives for years, something that came through quietly during the preparations, ceremony, and speeches.
Planned by Tarte Aux Poires, the celebration followed a Western ceremony in English, while the evenings carried a stronger Lebanese influence through music, dancing and the energy of the party. Our team documented the wedding in both film and photography.
Castello di Gargonza Wedding in Tuscany: A Medieval Village for a Three-Day Celebration
Castello di Gargonza is a medieval village built around the castle, with guest rooms, stone houses, gardens, the tower, piazzas, and a restaurant spread across the borgo. The pool sits a short walk beyond the castle walls.
For 170 guests, this layout made it possible to hold the entire celebration within Gargonza while giving each gathering its own setting. The welcome evening took place in the Limonaia Garden; preparations happened inside different parts of the village; the ceremony looked out over the Val di Chiana; aperitivo filled the main piazza; dinner was held at the patio of the restaurant; and the final afternoon moved to the pool.
Most transitions happened on foot, with narrow stone roads connecting shaded gardens, open piazzas, and views across the surrounding countryside. Guests gradually became familiar with the village as they moved through it over the three days.
This is one of the reasons I include Gargonza among the best wedding venues in Tuscany for multi-day destination celebrations.
A Welcome Evening in the Limonaia Garden
The first evening began around sunset in the Limonaia Garden, with aperitivo, spritz and an informal Italian dinner.
A generous buffet included pizza, cold cuts, cheeses, salads, and other local dishes, allowing guests to move freely through the garden. After travelling from different countries, the evening gave everyone time to reconnect and settle into the weekend.
The DJ played outdoors throughout dinner, and more guests moved towards the dance floor as the light faded. The informal food service and garden setting kept the evening loose, even once the dancing continued late into the night.
The Wedding Day Beneath the Trees
Preparations took place inside different buildings of the medieval village. The bride spent the afternoon with her mother, bridesmaids and close friends, while the groom got ready inside the tower.
One of the more personal moments came when the bridesmaids gave the bride a photo album filled with memories from the years they had shared together. It was a small detail, but it suited a wedding where so many of the people present had known each other for a long time.
The interiors at Gargonza give the preparations a very specific visual character. Stone walls, small windows, and darker rooms create strong pockets of directional light, while the age of the buildings is visible in almost every frame.
The ceremony was held beneath large trees in the garden, facing the forest and the Val di Chiana. In June, the shade made the space considerably more comfortable for 170 guests, although it also created a demanding situation for photography and film: the couple and guests can remain quite dark beneath the trees while the Tuscan hills behind them are intensely bright in the late afternoon. Ceremony orientation and timing deserve careful consideration if the view is going to remain visible without sacrificing the people in the foreground.
Even with 170 guests, the setting never felt enclosed. The view remained open, and the surrounding countryside gave the ceremony a sense of space that suited the scale of the wedding.
Music Through the Borgo
After the ceremony, guests walked back through the village towards the main piazza for aperitivo.
Spritz, wine, and food stations were arranged around the square while a live band moved among the guests, playing Italian and international songs. The piazza gave the evening a lively but informal rhythm, with people moving between music, drinks and conversation.
When dinner was ready, the musicians continued playing, and guests followed them down the stone road towards the restaurant, already singing and dancing on the way. The short walk produced one of the liveliest sequences of the evening, with the band moving ahead of the group through the medieval village.
Dinner, Live Music and a Lebanese Party
Dinner was set outdoors in the restaurant courtyard, with speeches taking place during the meal before the live band returned later in the evening. The Lebanese side of the celebration came through more strongly once the music picked up. Guests quickly left their tables, and the courtyard became a dance floor well before the DJ party had officially begun.
The Gargonza restaurant space works well for this kind of progression. The restaurant courtyard accommodates dinner and the first part of the dancing outdoors, while an interior room allows the DJ party to continue later in the night once amplified music needs to move inside.
A Poolside Farewell
The following afternoon brought everyone together again around Gargonza’s pool for a barbecue brunch, open bar, Italian folk music and gelato.
After the intensity of the previous evening, the final gathering felt much looser. Guests moved between the tables, shaded areas, and pool, with plenty of time to swim, dance, eat, talk, and stay together for a few more hours before leaving.
The pool sits beyond the main village, surrounded by countryside and olive trees. With folk musicians playing, guests swimming, and gelato being served through the afternoon, the farewell had the character of an informal summer gathering and gave everyone several unstructured hours together before leaving Gargonza.
Planning a Multi-Day Wedding at Castello di Gargonza
Having worked across Gargonza for all three days, I found the distances between the principal event spaces manageable even with 170 guests. The Limonaia Garden, ceremony garden, piazza, and rooms inside the borgo are connected on foot, while the restaurant and pool sit slightly farther away. For a large wedding, the schedule still needs to allow enough time for a full group to move through the village, particularly when live music or production teams are involved.
Couples coordinating several days of events from abroad may also find my guide on how to plan a destination wedding in Italy useful, particularly for transport, timing, and working with local vendors.
The restaurant provides a useful solution later in the evening because dinner and live music can begin outdoors before the DJ party moves inside. For a celebration continuing well past midnight, this keeps the late part of the night contained within the property.
Filming a Three-Day Wedding at Castello di Gargonza
Three days gave us time to observe the relationships around Yasmina and Malek beyond the formal events of the wedding day. Friends who had known them for years were present during preparations, family remained closely involved throughout the weekend, and the character of the celebration changed noticeably once the Lebanese music and dancing took over later in the evening.
Gargonza also gave the film a consistent sense of place. The same guests appear beneath the trees during the ceremony, gathered in the piazza, following the band through the stone streets, and relaxing around the pool the following afternoon. By then, the village had become familiar to everyone.
Working over several days also gives me more opportunities to observe small interactions that would be easy to miss during a single wedding day. Those details, together with the vows, speeches, music and changing atmosphere of the weekend, give the finished film its structure.
If you are planning a celebration in the region, you can explore more films and information on my Tuscany Wedding Videographer page.
