How to chose a Tuscan wedding venue

As a destination wedding planner I get to see lots of wonderful (and not so wonderful) venues that Tuscany has to offer. If they make it on to the my hot list it's because I would be happy to hold my wedding there and so feel confident in offering these venue as suggestions for couples that want to marry in Tuscany.

When considering a venue you should think about the following things:

• Do they have rooms with a great view that are tastefully furnished?
• Are the beds comfortable? If possible book a night at your Fav venue to see what it's really like when you come for a visit.
• Are there lots of areas that you could use for your wedding?
• Does it have an inside/outside option? Although it's generally sunny here it can rain even in summer and you need a cunning plan B just in case it does.
• Will there be lots of great photo opportunities around the property or will you be stuck with the same backdrop for all the wedding photos?
• And most importantly of all does it have the WOW! factor you were hoping for?
• You should also consider the staff too, are they friendly would they go the extra mile for your special day or are you just a big or small group that is bringing in the Euros?
• Or even worse do they want to tell you how your day will be?
• Will your family and friends who you really want to share your special day with be willing to spend their hard earned money to stay there, if not then is there accommodation close by that fits all budgets, remember you're asking your guests a lot to come to a destination wedding.

As you'll know from my website I love to speak to clients about their hopes and dreams for their wedding, do you want a fairytale castle, a beautiful villa, country hotel or wine resort, or something more rustic and homely? Have you visited the area before and fallen in love with a certain place? Did your FH2B propose to you under the Tuscan sun? Or do you want a quite wedding with dinner in a restaurant after the wedding ceremony? Small & intimate or big and lively? I'm sure that if you're planning your wedding in Tuscany you've already answered most of those!

By speaking to brides and grooms I can get a good idea of what they're looking for and unlike a lot of wedding planners I'll send them the websites so they can have a look and get a feel for the place. It also helps couples when narrowing down their list of must sees for when they come out for a visit, after all when you come for a weekend and want to maximize your time you don't want to waste it seeing places that you only know as villa X and that you might have ruled out completely had you had the chance to see the real thing first.

I always associate choosing a venue to rather like buying a house, how many of you have been to view houses and as soon as the door is opened you want to run a hundred miles?? You just know when you've found that special place you feel comfortable, you can imagine yourselves and your friends and family hanging round the pool, drinking wine under the pergola, and you can envisage enjoying your wedding aperitivo in a certain place and the dinner in another, your imagination starts to run wild about how you can decorate it and make it your own.

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it's surprising (or maybe not) that when couples come out to view venues how well I have interpreted their wishes and the difficult thing for them is making the final choice for their wedding.

Last week I spent a day and a half  with Jerry and Lucia showing them around venues and churches for their 2012 wedding, we bounced around the countryside looking at potential venues all very different and all equally lovely and great venues for weddings as we saw the second one I just knew that they had found their ideal venue but as is only fair they needed to look at them all and then sleep on it to make sure that they were 100% sure that that was the place for them, they liked them all but there was something special about the place that they chose which made it even more special than the others, and that's what counts after all it's the most important day of your lives so the venue should be right, you shouldn't have any regrets about it.

Once the difficult choice has been made the rest as they say is easy and you can start thinking about colour schemes, flowers, cars, food and wine oh and don't forget the dress!

So what is your dream venue? If you need some help making your Tuscan wedding become a sensational reality then please drop me a line.