A senior Tuscany villa wedding planner sat with us on April 28, walking through her 2026 book of 18 events. The realistic band runs 220,000 to 1.4 million euros all-in for an 80 to 220 guest wedding across two to four days. Her standard lock-in is 22 months. The Saturday slots at the top six estates in May, June, and September are already gone for 2027. Three estates sit on her refuse list for full takeovers. One transport line item she will not pad. The piece below is the rate band, the calendar, the estate roster (with the three we have moved off our recommend column), the supplier triangle, the marquee question, the deposit structure, and the line item the planner names as the most under-budgeted.
By The Villas For Kings desk
The Tuscany villa wedding is the most over-quoted line in destination weddings. Two-thirds of the inbound briefs the planner sees in 2026 underprice the production by between 28 and 44 percent. The planner who closes 18 events a year cannot afford the inbound clients who believe the band is 90,000 to 180,000 euros all-in. The 90,000 euro number buys a single-night dinner at a small Chianti estate with 40 guests and no welcome night. It does not buy the wedding most clients describe in the first call. The walkthrough below is the planner's own framing of her 2026 production, with our rate audit on the lines we have verified across her last 14 events.
The senior name we sat with has been producing villa weddings since 2009. The agency carries two senior leads, four producers, and a permanent technical crew of nine. She closes the 18 events with three days off the calendar between the four-day takeovers in peak.
The 220,000 euro entry buys a 80 to 100 guest wedding across two days at a Chianti or Val d'Orcia estate, with the Friday welcome dinner at the same property, one band, one floral install, a half-board planner, and a coach line for guest transfer from a single Florence or Siena hotel. The 1.4 million euro top end buys a 200 to 220 guest wedding across four days at one of the top six estates, full takeover, a marquee build with a structural sub-contractor, three meals daily, three music acts including one international name, a four-camera film crew, a full transport program from Florence airport on day one through to departures on day four, and a senior planner with two on-site leads for the four days. The middle of the band is 480,000 to 620,000 euros, which is where most of her 2026 book sits. It buys a three-day wedding, full takeover, 140 guests, a senior planner with one on-site lead, and a strong band but not the international headline.
The 22 months is for the estates, not the planner. The Saturday slots at the top six estates in May, June, and September are released 24 months in advance and clear within four to six weeks. The planner's book closes when the estates close. Inside 18 months the planner can still close a Friday or Sunday event, or a less-named estate Saturday. Inside 12 months the planner will quote, but the food, music, and floral rosters are the residual. The two-night welcome plus reception model adds a Thursday dinner pressure on the estate, which extends the calendar requirement by a further three to five months. A four-day takeover at one of the top six estates requires a 26-month lead in 2026.
The top six estates the planner books against are Borgo Pignano (web-verified, San Gimignano), Villa Cetinale (web-verified, Sovicille), Castello di Vicarello (web-verified, Cinigiano), Castello di Reschio (web-verified, Lisciano Niccone, technically Umbria but on the Tuscany planner's roster for Lake Trasimeno-adjacent clients), Castello Banfi (web-verified, Montalcino), and a sixth estate in the Lucca hills. The three on our refuse list for full takeovers are: one Lucca-area villa with a parking shortfall under 22 cars for a 140-guest event; one Chianti estate where the access road bottlenecks at 3.2 metres, refusing the standard 3.4 metre catering truck; and one Val d'Orcia property where the kitchen cannot service a 180-person plated dinner without a full external production kitchen on the lawn, which the property does not permit. We have moved all three off our recommend column for full takeovers. Ceremony-only or 60-person dinner-only events still work at the first two.
Food, music, and flowers in that order. The food line is locked at 14 to 16 months out. The kitchen sub-contractor needs the menu and the head count for the equipment build. Two Italian off-premise caterers carry most of the planner's 2026 book. One is a Tuscan house operating since the late 1990s. One is a Roman house with a Tuscan satellite. The Roman house is preferred for plated dinners over 160. The Tuscan house holds the family-style and tasting-menu work below 140. The music line is locked 12 to 18 months out depending on the headline. The international names are placed 18 months in advance. The band roster runs at 18,000 to 42,000 euros for the regional names, 65,000 to 140,000 euros for the international headline. The floral line is locked at 12 months for a senior name and at 16 weeks for a smaller atelier. The senior floral names run 80,000 to 220,000 euros on a full estate install.
The marquee is mandatory above 160 guests on most estates the planner books. The exception is Borgo Pignano, where the loggia and inner courtyard absorb up to 180 plated covers without a structure. The marquee build runs 48,000 to 140,000 euros depending on the span, the floor build, the climate control, and the lining. The 48,000 euro number is a 12 by 24 metre clear-span with timber floor and no climate control. The 140,000 euro number is a 22 by 38 metre clear-span with full climate control, glass walls on three sides, a chandelier hang from the structural truss, and a separate kitchen tent. The marquee question is the single biggest planning fork. Skipping the marquee on a wedding over 160 guests pushes the dinner indoors at most estates, which kills the photograph the client booked for. The planner will not run a wedding over 180 indoors without the courtyard solve at Pignano.
Twenty percent at lock-in. Thirty percent 12 months out. Thirty percent 90 days out. The balance 14 days before. The 20 percent is non-refundable inside 18 months. The 30 percent twelve-month tranche is non-refundable inside 12 months. The 90-day tranche is non-refundable on the date of payment. The 14-day tranche is non-refundable. Force majeure is named at the planner level, with the estate, caterer, music, and floral sub-contractors carrying their own clauses. The single most common dispute on Tuscany wedding contracts in 2025 was the post-COVID definition of force majeure narrowing inside the supplier contracts. The planner's 2026 standard contract names the supplier-level force majeure separately so the client can read the worst case on each line.
The transport line is the one line the planner does not mark up. Coaches, cars, and the occasional boat are billed at supplier cost, with the supplier invoices attached to the final reconciliation. Every other line carries a 12 to 18 percent planner margin. The transport line carries zero. The reasoning the planner gives is that the transport line is the most opaque to the client, the most variable on the day, and the one line where a margin would erode the trust required for the rest of the bill to read fairly. We have audited the transport reconciliations on four of her events. The supplier invoices attached match the line items. We have not found a transport margin. The other lines carry margin, which the contract names. The transport one does not, which the contract also names.
The Thursday or Friday welcome dinner is the most under-budgeted line on the inbound brief. Clients land expecting it to run 30 to 40 percent of the Saturday number. The realistic share is 55 to 70 percent because the food, music, floral, and transport lines do not scale linearly. A 140-guest welcome at a second property runs 90,000 to 160,000 euros on a 480,000 euro Saturday. The planner's recommendation is to host the welcome dinner at the same estate the Saturday wedding will be held, on a smaller footprint, which compresses the floral install, the transport, and the venue rental into a single line and saves 28,000 to 44,000 euros. Clients resist this because the photograph reads the same on both nights. The planner's response is that the bill does not.
Three lines on the first call. The realistic band, written down. The estate shortlist, with two off-roster alternatives the planner can swap in if the top six are gone. The headline music position, which sets the music budget. Three lines on the second call. The transport program, the marquee position, and the welcome dinner location. Three lines on the third call. The food register, the floral register, and the photography position. Nine lines across three calls and the planner can quote within five percent. Twenty-two months is the calendar, not the spend. The spend is set on the second call. Our work on the best wedding villas in Tuscany covers the estate shortlist directly. Our piece on the Puglia villa florist covers the floral line in the adjacent regional market.
What does the bill run? 220,000 to 1.4 million euros all-in. The middle of the band is 480,000 to 620,000.
How early do I lock in? Twenty-two months for the top six estates in May, June, and September.
What is on the refuse list? One Lucca villa, one Chianti estate, one Val d'Orcia property. Parking, access, and kitchen capacity.
What is the deposit structure? 20, 30, 30, 20 percent across lock-in, 12 months, 90 days, and 14 days. The early tranches are non-refundable on date.
Which line will the planner not pad? Transport. Billed at supplier cost with invoices attached.
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Last updated 2026-03. We have not adjusted our editorial for the commission rate. See how-we-make-money for the full disclosure.