Oh how lovely it was to head back to the Abbey of San Galgano. This was where my Husband and I got married in 2022 which you can see on our wedding day. We were super lucky with having a glorious week of sunshine. The week before it was touch and go but luckily it cleared up. Amanda and Adrian had quite a lot of storms in the lead up to their day, and it did rain before during and after their ceremony. But we managed to get so many amazing spots outside in between the showers. As the Abbey of San Galgano and the surrounding areas are so stunning that you have so many options. Let me take you through their day!
Getting married at San Galgano Abbey
The Abey of San Galgano sits within Chiusdino, where the local town hall with prepare the paperwork for you to marry. If you are from the UK, you will need to have given notice and had your documents stamped by the Apostle before they can then go to Italy and be translated. Here I would advise working with your local venue where you are having your wedding reception to then work with the Abbey and Town hall to make sure all of your paperwork in order. Amanda and Adrian had their wedding at Villa Podernovo who organised their wedding day and also had a staff member present to translate the ceremony. We had our reception at Tenuta di Papena where Gini also handled our paperwork which took that pressure off. You are not able to have a religious ceremony or a symbolic ceremony at the abbey. You can only have a legal civil ceremony where an officiant from the town hall with be present to conduct the service. You are able to have the Abbey hire for 1 hour and take photos after with friends and family as well as couple photos.
Getting ready at Villa Podernovo
Amanda and Adrian came all the way with their friends and family from Australia- making this quite the trip for them. They have Italian heritage and considered doing honeymoon in Italy but decided in the end to have their whole wedding and trip here. It is amazing having everything on one site for a wedding day. So it allowed myself and video to capture getting ready, cocktail hour and reception all on site. With plenty of photo spots for getting ready and later in the day it is a perfect venue spot. I adored the light and shadows in the bridal makeup room. Amanda kept is simple with minimal details and her dress did all of the talking with those gorgeous sleeves.
Wedding at San Galgano Abbey
The morning flew by and it was suddenly time for the ceremony. We had been watching the weather all morning- it was sunny but about 40 minute’s before the ceremony it started raining very heavy. So the decision was made to bring the ceremony indoors. I know Amanda was naturally quite sad that it was inside- but the inside venue really is stunning. We managed to get some stunning angles for the ceremony and family photos. Before the sun came out again to get some couple photos in the outside section of the Abbey. They also had a old fiat 500 that they then headed off to the wedding reception in.
Wedding photos at San Galgano Abbey
When the clouds cleared and the sun came out we made a dash for it and started on couple photos. It was perfect to see these guys so in love and able to get the phots they wanted in the main section of the Abbey. And we also headed back into the ceremony room where there was some gorgeous light and shadows to play with as well as the main doors.
Villa Podernovo wedding reception
Once we had done our couple photos it was time to head back to Villa Podernovo for Amanda and Adrian to join their family and friends for drinks and the amazing Italian food. Due to the weather things were running a little later than planned but everyone pulled together to make sure that the day was enjoyable and it was easy to delay dinner a little to extend the reception. Here it was time to get some lovely natural photos before everyone headed into dinner.
San Galgano Party
No one can party like the Australians in Italy! So it was fabulous to see the cake cutting happen outdoors and then dancing the night away! Are you considering getting married at the abbey of San Galgano? As a San Galgano Abbey wedding photographer I would love to help you plan and photography your day.
