Elegant Pre-Wedding Dinner in Italy | Villa Sigurtà, Verona

A pre-wedding dinner in Italy goes by several names – welcome dinner, rehearsal dinner, pre-wedding event. Whatever you call it, the idea is the same: the evening before your destination wedding, you gather the people you love in a beautiful place and just spend time together. No ceremony, no schedule, no pressure. Just the warmth of being surrounded by friends who flew in from different corners of the world, all finally in the same place, in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. For destination weddings in Italy, it’s become almost a ritual. And honestly, having been in a lot of these events, it makes complete sense. If your guests are traveling from the US, the UK, Australia — many of them meeting for the first time — the wedding day itself is not the right moment to break the ice. An informal dinner the night before does what a wedding morning never can.

How to set it up

Italy makes this easy. The climate, the light, the landscape: everything pulls you outdoors. If you want something quite luxurious but genuinely relaxed for your pre-wedding dinner in Italy, a villa lawn works beautifully: like in the photos you’re going to see – taken at Villa Sigurtà, near Verona – the kind of setup where antique sofas and rugs and large cushions sit directly on the grass and are scattered around, guests drifting between the dinner table and a lounge area that feels more like a living room than an event. Elegant without being formal. The kind of atmosphere where people actually talk to each other.
If you want something with more of a classic Italian feel, think of a long table on a terrace overlooking a vineyard on the top of a hill, string lights overhead, the warm glow of a summer evening, and a small Italian band playing classic songs in the background. There’s something about live music and a Chianti sunset that makes even strangers feel like old friends by the end of the first course.
For the food, for a Rehearsal Dinner, I’d rather skip the multi-course formal menu. Go for a traditional regional menu, or even better, a live pizza station with a proper Italian pizzaiolo making each pizza to order; it does something to the vibe that a plated dinner never can. People gather around, they talk, they share. Strangers may become friends over dough and toppings! It’s the oldest Italian trick in the book, and it works every time.
At V. and J.’s welcome dinner at Villa Sigurtà, that’s exactly what happened. An American couple, guests arriving from across the world, an evening in one of the most beautiful gardens near Verona. Pizza made on the spot. Speeches under the stars. The bride, eating a slice in front of a neon “Let’s Party” sign, completely herself. That image tells you everything about how the evening felt.

Why having a photographer there matters

The short version, if you’re in a hurry:

• You get photos of the evening you’ll actually remember most
• I learn the venue before the wedding day — light, spaces, logistics
• You forget I’m there by the end of the night, which changes everything
• I already know your people before the ceremony starts
• The result is a wedding day that looks — and feels — calmer and more like you

I’ll be honest: most couples getting married in Italy add pre-wedding dinner photography coverage as an afterthought. What they don’t realize is that it’s probably the single most valuable thing they can do for their wedding photography – and the reasons have very little to do with the photos themselves.
Here’s what actually happens when I show up the evening before.
I learn the venue, the team, the plan: I walk the spaces, meet the wedding planner and the other vendors, understand how the following day is going to unfold. If the dinner is at the same location as the wedding, I already know where the light falls at six in the evening, which corner of the garden works and which doesn’t. None of that needs to happen on the wedding morning, when there’s no time for it.
You get used to me: this is the big one. I’m going to spend your entire wedding day two feet away from you. If the first time you’ve seen me is when you’re already nervous and rushing through getting ready – that’s a lot to process. The pre-wedding dinner changes that completely. By the end of the evening you’ve forgotten I’m there. That ease carries straight into the wedding day. You already know how I move, when to ignore me, when to catch my eye. It sounds small but it isn’t. And I got to know the two of you. How you connect, together, how you hug, kiss, hold your hands, the small gestures that will make your photos your OWN photos.
I learn your people: every wedding has a cast of characters: the best friend who makes you cry laughing, the grandmother who tears up every time she looks at you, the uncle who will definitely dance too hard later. I find all of them the night before. By the time the wedding starts, I already know the people you care about the most, who to watch, and who’s going to give me something worth photographing. I will not need to figure out all of this while the wedding is unfolding.
The result is a wedding day that feels — and looks in photos — completely different. Calmer. More natural. More like you. Not because everything went perfectly, but because the relationship that can affect your day the most –  yours with your photographer – was already built the evening before, in a relaxed atmosphere that gives us the proper time to catch up.  A night of pizza and speeches and a glass of wine under the stars.
Thinking about adding pre-wedding coverage to your Italian wedding? Feel free to reach out – no pressure, no expectations. 🙂
Love, Fra

Venue: @villasigurta
Planning: @paradewedding
Catering: @brindapino
Pizza: @marcomanzigiotto
Video: @gione.silva

In this circumstance, I had the chance to shoot my first event with the Nikon Z8; let me tell you, it was an incredible experience. The camera is hands-down the best mirrorless camera I have ever tried (and I tried A LOT!), especially for wedding photography. The usual Nikon interface made it extremely easy to use – especially if you’re familiar with the brand – and the ergonomics were the best I’ve ever tested. In the end, taking pictures with the Z8 felt as natural as using the naked eye! If I have to describe it with a few words, it’s like using a D850 under tons of steroids. What I loved a lot was that the colors remained almost constant throughout the ISO range. Considering the event’s atmosphere, this time, I preferred not to use the flash, keeping the warm tones of the light strips. Scroll to the end of the post to see how amazingly well this camera renders in low light (without mentioning the killer AF performance!). I’m not interested in digging deeper into the Nikon Z8 tech specs, but if you want to have a list, I’ll paste them below. What I care about the most is that this camera is definitely the best thing I have ever tried for wedding photography. My only concern is that each battery lasts about 3 hours, so you’ll need 4 to 5 batteries per camera to cover a full wedding day. But this is well known since the world moved from reflex to mirrorless cameras.

“Elegant Pre-Wedding Dinner in Italy” is a post created by Francesco Spighi