Some weddings stick with you long after you've packed the cameras away, and Justine and Emily's wedding at Abbazia San Pietro in Valle is absolutely one of those for me.
I originally got the booking through a friend, and there was actually a nice connection to home because Justine had lived locally to me before eventually moving to Dubai with Emily. I've since seen him again as he was best man at another wedding I filmed back in Dorset.
But this time we were quite a long way from Dorset.
We were in Umbria, surrounded by mountains, incredible Italian countryside and one of the most spectacular wedding venues I've ever had the opportunity to film.
I've travelled to some beautiful places through this job, but Abbazia San Pietro in Valle genuinely remains one of my favourites.
And the wedding itself?
Absolute chaos in the best possible way.
The energy was at about 110% from beginning to end.
We headed over the day before the wedding for their pizza party.
I always love having the opportunity to do this at destination weddings because it gives me a chance to meet everyone without the pressure of the wedding-day timeline. It also means I can wander around with the cameras, capture establishing shots and work out how I'm going to approach the venue the following day.
The atmosphere was already brilliant.
Everyone had travelled to Italy, the drinks were flowing and you could tell immediately that this wasn't going to be a particularly quiet wedding.
Having that extra evening also gave me time to properly appreciate where we were.
Abbazia San Pietro in Valle sits in the Umbrian landscape surrounded by mountains and greenery, with a Romanesque cloister and panoramic gardens forming part of the estate.
It's one of those places where you arrive and immediately start thinking about shots.
Wedding morning was considerably more hectic.
The preparation room wasn't huge, there were plenty of people moving around and the light wasn't the easiest I've ever worked with.
But that's weddings.
You make it work.
I actually quite like mornings like this because they're real. People are everywhere, things are happening and there's an energy building as everyone realises the ceremony is getting closer.
My job isn't to stop all of that and manufacture a perfect room.
It's to find the moments within it.
Then came the ceremony.
And this was special.
The beautiful church sits directly adjacent to Abbazia San Pietro in Valle and can be used for religious wedding ceremonies. The venue describes it as having been recently restored, while the wider abbey complex retains its Romanesque character.
Walking from the energy of the morning into that setting completely changed the atmosphere.
It was quiet, historic and incredibly intimate.
There are certain ceremony locations where I find myself looking around before everything starts and thinking this is going to look ridiculous on film.
This was definitely one of them.
After the ceremony we took Justine and Emily for a walk around the grounds.
And honestly, we didn't have to do much.
The landscape did most of the work for us.
With mountains rising behind the abbey and views stretching out around the property, pretty much every direction gave us something completely different.
I never want couple portraits to take over a wedding day, so we kept things relaxed and allowed them to walk, talk and enjoy actually being there.
When you've travelled all the way to Umbria to get married somewhere like this, you really don't need to manufacture much.
Put two people who have just got married in front of that landscape and point a camera at them.
And then things escalated. 😂
There was incredible Italian food, cocktails, multiple free bars around the venue and a brilliant Italian band keeping everyone going throughout the celebration.
And this group absolutely did not need much encouragement.
People were dancing on chairs.
Everyone was involved.
The energy never seemed to drop.
Justine and Emily had clearly invested heavily in creating an incredible experience for everybody who had travelled to celebrate with them, and it showed in everything — the food, entertainment, venue and suppliers.
Then, to finish things off, they'd flown an incredible singer over from America to perform a live set.
I can't share who it was, but they had previously appeared on America's Got Talent, and they were absolutely phenomenal.
By that point the place was going off.
This is still one of my favourite destination weddings I've ever filmed.
The landscape was incredible.
The venue was ridiculous.
The weather played ball.
And most importantly, Justine, Emily and their guests brought an unbelievable amount of energy.
It's exactly the kind of wedding that reminds me how lucky I am that occasionally my job involves getting on a plane with some cameras and ending up somewhere like this.
If you're planning your own wedding in Umbria or elsewhere in Italy, you can find out more about my approach as an Italy wedding videographer here.
You can also explore more of my destination wedding films across Europe.
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