All you need to know about the costs of a wedding in Italy and Tuscany
2025/2026 Updated

Table of Contents:

€40.000 for a wedding with 50 guests, no accommodation costs included

People often wonder how much a wedding in Tuscany could cost. As Italian wedding photographers based in Florence, we often get asked this question too.

If you are planning a wedding in Italy (even though of course this applies to any wedding), one crucial thing is to set a budget and try to stick to it as much as possible. A good place to start in order to get this bit right, is to have an actual idea from the beginning of the average costs and prices a wedding in Italy might have. When you set your budget, try to be as realistic as possible and always work hand-in-hand with your suppliers to achieve the result you envisioned and try to avoid those unnecessary costs!

So, first things first: How much is the average cost of a wedding in Italy and in particular in Tuscany?

The average cost of a wedding in Italy is around €40.000, but you should take this number with a pinch of salt as there are so many different factors that might affect it. Please note that this average cost is calculated for a wedding with 50 guests and it does not include the accommodation costs.

Let’s make a breakdown of the costs together and let’s have a look at all the elements that might affect your budget.DAY!

DON’T FORGET TO LOOK OUT FOR OUR GREEN TIPS ACROSS THE ARTICLE AND CELEBRATE SUSTAINABILITY ON YOUR WEDDING DAY!

The second step would then be to choose the Italian region for your destination wedding. Ask yourselves what kind of experience you want to live, are you mountain lovers? Or would you rather get married on the coast, in coastal wedding destinations like Amalfi or Sorrento? Are you more into Tuscany, with its unique vineyards and historical cities? As we were saying before, researching for the right destination is very important as some areas might affect your wallet in different ways.

One amazing thing about weddings in Italy though, is that our country can really offer any kind of experience, landscape and style for any kind of budget! It is just a matter of finding someone you trust (like your Italian photographer or planner) and see what alternative destinations they will suggest to you.

Prices of wedding venues in Italy range between an average of €12.000 per day. Of course this cost very much depends on the kind of venue you are thinking of renting. A farmhouse would cost considerably less than a luxury villa.

When renting a venue for your wedding in Italy, you can either opt for a day rental or you can decide to stay at the venue for a few nights.

The average cost for a wedding venue day rental in Italy is €12.000.

The average cost for a 3 night stay is between €20.000 and €25.000.

The weddings we photograph the most are in this latter option: most of our couples rent a farmhouse or a villa in the countryside. When you choose this option, you can have a group of 20 – 30 guests to stay there with you. As we photograph mostly intimate weddings, this is usually the whole wedding party, but if you are planning to invite a bigger number of guests, make sure you provide them with a list of alternative accommodations in the area they can choose from. In this case you will also need to think about transport costs to and from the venue.

Remember that if you are planning to rent a venue for a few nights, you can ask your guests to share some of the accommodation costs with you, which will of course impact less on your budget.

Do not overlook practicality. When it comes to destination weddings, being practical will be essential. Think about transports, airports, how easy are these venues to reach?

Tuscany is not simply a unique beautiful region in Italy. It is its practicality that makes Tuscany the ideal place for a destination wedding.

There are two international airports in Tuscany.

Galileo Galilei International Airport in Pisa.

Amerigo Vespucci Airport, also known as Peretola, in Florence.

If you are travelling from the UK, you will find loads of flights to and from Pisa with EasyJet and Ryanair.

People might not know it, but Tuscany is also very easy to reach from Bologna’s airport, Guglielmo Marconi Airport. Another way to widen your options.

In site restaurant: average €120 per person

External catering: average €180 – €200 per person

If you choose to get married in Italy, chances are that you LOVE great food!

Usually wedding venues in Italy do not have in site restaurants. If they do, quotes will usually be around €100 – €120 per person. If you need to hire an external catering, the cost per person will be an average of €180 per person. Remember that you will have to add VAT to all your quotes. The quotes usually include an aperitivo, the meal with 3 courses, water and wine. They also include the waiting staff and all the costs connected to rental (e.g. cutlery, chairs, linen..).

However, they do not include the costs of a bar service, which you will have to add to your budget (average of €4000 extra).

One little extra on this: weddings should not be the excuse to create unnecessary waste! There is nothing more painful to see at weddings, loads and loads of food being wasted. Plates that go away half full (if not FULL). People love eating well at weddings, but this doesn’t mean that they want to roll home after the party. Think about your wedding food in a conscious and sustainable way, it will save the planet and your wallet!

Between €300 to €5.000

When getting married in Italy you can decide to have:

– A church ceremony
– A civil ceremony
– A symbolic ceremony (our favourite!)

Italy recognises civil and religious weddings. There are no legal residency requirements. You will have to have your paperwork ready on the day of the wedding and you will need two witnesses. You will need an official translator if you do not speak Italian.

The cost of a wedding photographer ranges from €2.000 to €15.000
The average spent is between €4.000 and €6.000

When it comes to a destination wedding, you have two options with your photography. You can choose to fly your photographer from your home country, or you can hire a local photographer.

There are pros and cons in both cases (as in most things). The pro of having a local photographer is definitely that they will know the area well. By area we mean that they will know when is the best time to get pictures. They will know exactly how the sun will behave in specific seasons. They will know the language and how to interact with all your other Italian providers. They will be the experts, going above and beyond to help you have te best experience with your wedding in Italy.

On the other hand, when hiring a local photographer, one of the main concerns couples usually have is the language barrier which you wouldn’t have with a photographer from your home country. Building up a good relationship with your photographer is quintessential to create wonderful images of your wedding day. So being able to communicate fluently with your photographer is definitely an important aspect.

This is why we specialise in destination weddings: we are a team of two Italian sisters who are based in the UK and in Tuscany. After having lived for more than 10 years in the UK, English has become our second language. So not only don’t we have language barriers with our couples coming from abroad, but we also communicate perfectly with all the Italian vendors you will hire on your wedding day.

Our packages start at €4.800 and they include full day coverage and a team of two photographers for the whole day. To request our detailed wedding brochure, feel free to get in touch:

Packages are on average €6.000 for full wedding planning

When you are thinking of having a wedding abroad, hiring a wedding planner will most likely be the best choice you will ever make! Budgeting for a planner is what we recommend the most to our couples. Planning a wedding in a foreign country could be stressful and they will surely have you covered no matter what! The cost of a wedding planner varies on the kind of service and coordination you will require (from merely coordination on the actual day, to location scouting, to taking care of all legalities and vendors, to full planning from day one..). The average cost of FULL planning for a wedding in Italy is usually around €6.000.

Over the years we have had the absolute pleasure to work alongside some of the best wedding planners in Italy and we will happily provide you with a list of our beloved recommended ones.

The cost for a team of videographers is on average of €4.000 – €6.000

This is a cost that is usually left as one of the last ones to budget, but in our opinion it is a cost that should be included whenever possible. Having a video of your wedding day is something you will treasure forever. The cost of a team of videographers is between €4.000 and €10.000. Again, we have a few amazing videographers whose work we love and that we would happily recommend.

Average spent €2.000

If you are not having an intimate wedding where all of your 20 – 30 guests are staying at your same farmhouse/villa, you will have to arrange transport to and from your venue for your other guests. As we were mentioning earlier, it is always a good thing to let them have a good list of potential accommodations that are easy to reach from where the wedding will take place. Transport doesn’t come for free, so the closer your guests are staying, the better (Shuttle bus prices are between €800 to €1.000 per bus).

We cannot stress enough how much thinking in advance will help you save money BUT ALSO will help you keep your wedding as socially conscious as possible.

Driving your guests around or having a wedding in multiple locations is not only much more expensive, but it is also the least environmentally friendly option possible. In order to save some money that you could spend on other (maybe more satisfying) details and to have a low impact wedding, try to focus on venues that are as close as possible to other accommodations and that can host your ceremony as well as your reception.

Average spent €10.000

Probably one of the most fun bits of the whole wedding planning journey (it would definitely be for us!) and this is when having saved on other aspects of the wedding will definitely come in hand! When you think about decor, you should think about many different aspects: bridal bouquet, buttonholes for groom and groomsmen, table decor, potential flowers for your ceremony, lighting..

Average cost for flowers is usually around €8.000 – €10.000

Cost for lights is usually around €3.000 – €4.000

When it comes to the decor, it is again another chance to think about sustainability. Try to choose flowers that are as seasonable and as local as possible, opt for foam free floral arrangements, potted plants are also a beautiful and extremely sustainable option. You can also look into hiring them, maybe as a complementary bit of other floral arrangements.

Starting at €450

A Makeup Artist in Italy costs on average €650 for a bridal makeup and hairstyle with a trial included. When you are planning a wedding in Italy you will fly over the country on a couple of occasions (at least one) to finalise a couple of details, like for example, the menu for the day. It is on this occasion that usually you get most things done, like having your hair and makeup trials alongside other things, like for example, your pre-wedding session with your photographer.

Makeup and hairstyle with no trial is usually €450. If you want to add this service to your bridal party too, it is usually an extra €70 per person.

Some Makeup artists are now offering grooming options too, which are greatly appreciated by lots of our grooms!

There is nothing more personal than your taste in music! Whether it is classical music or pop music, or a rock and roll band, or a string quartet or a DJ, the options are truly endless! And therefore the costs vary so much depending on what you decide to go for on your wedding day. Most of our couples choose to have a subtle music for their ceremony, which will also be there during the aperitivo moment and they will then opt for a music band that most of the time offers a DJ set too for the night.

The average fee of a live musician is usually around €1.500 (costs varies between €500- €2.500)

While the average fee of a band is around €10.000 (costs varies between €5.000 – €20.000)

Starting at €5.000

Dealing with the rain on your wedding day is a state of mind! No one is saying that the rain will not affect the wedding, but it is also true that the way you react to it will totally change the way you will live and remember your day. Having said that, having a plan B in case of rain is always something you should take into account, especially if you want to avoid overstressing in the lead up to the day.

You can deal with the “rain issue” in the very first stages of the planning, when you start researching for your venue. If you choose a venue that already offers a plan B option in case of rain, then you are sorted. Otherwise you will need to budget for a ti-pi or a marquee tent and potentially a couple of heaters (if your wedding is in late September, beginning of October and you are under a marquee on a wet day, you want to make sure your guests are not freezing).

For a plan B, you are looking at an extra cost of roughly €5.000.

If you have always dreamt of getting married abroad and you fell in love with the Italian beauty but you feel like the expenses would be just too much, then read through our few tips to plan a wedding in Italy on a budget. A destination wedding doesn’t necessarily have to be a huge wedding, there are a few smart tweaks that can be put into place to still plan a beautiful destination wedding without necessarily breaking the bank!

This is the nature of a destination wedding. When you decide to get married abroad, your guest list can be shorter. With a shorter guest list, your costs on catering will go shorter too.

When planning a destination wedding, try to focus on the people that are important to you. Remember, you are choosing to go in a non-traditional way, to opt for your own, unique way of doing things. Do not listen to what other people might expect from your wedding, it is you two that will get to decide and no one else!

An average destination wedding in Italy will have around 70 guests but most of the weddings we photograph in Italy are intimate weddings, with an average number of 20 to 40 guests.

Take your destination wedding in Italy as the perfect occasion to create an intimate and very personal experience with your dearest ones. But also, celebrate sustainability on your wedding day!

When you decide to plan an intimate small wedding in Italy, by no means are you compromising or downgrading to a lesser package. In fact, you are investing so much more on the quality of what you will be experiencing, rather than on the quantity.

Focus on experiences rather than stuff, this is always our motto!

Have a look at the a real intimate wedding linked below to see for yourselves what amazing days you can still have without going huge:

Shannon & Adam’s intimate wedding at l’Antica Fattoria di Paterno

Do you want to create a unique experience somewhere incredibly beautiful but you don’t want to go through the stress of planning a wedding abroad? Do you want to be as sustainable as possible on your wedding day? You want to save a little bit of money and you don’t want to give up on the idea of getting married somewhere in Europe?

Then, elope to Italy!

We are a Italian elopement planners and photographers who specialise in elopements all across Italy.

We offer all-inclusive elopement packages to help you plan the elopement of your dreams!

CHECK IT OUT HERE:

and browse through our Elopement Resources on our blog:

Elope in Tuscany
Elope in Lake Como
Elope in the Italian Alps
Elope in the Amalfi Coast
Elope in Italy – A comprehensive guide

The 10 Best Wedding Venues in Tuscany
13 Ideas to plan a Sustainable Wedding

If you are planning a wedding in Italy and looking for a photographer to document your day and help you on this exciting journey, then feel free to get in touch!

We would love to have a chat with you and help you create the day you dream of!

We are a team of two wedding photographers based in Florence, Tuscany and we specialise in outdoor, destination weddings.

Email us at info@bennicarolphotography.com or fill up our CONTACT FORM.

PIN THIS POST