Weddings at Villa Ardore
Villa Ardore provides a spectacular backdrop for your destination wedding in Tuscany; ideally suited for an intimate small wedding with family or hosting a buddymoon bash with your closest friends. With an expansive pool deck and party pavilion for a magical pre-wedding celebration or cocktail reception, a large center terrace suitable for a catered function up to 60 guests and, an idyllic lower terrace lawn for a sun filled garden ceremony, you and your guests will fall in love with everything about Villa Ardore.
Italian for “loving passion”, Ardore is the feeling evoked throughout our property and what our guests experience from the moment they arrive. Our passion is indeed palpable. It is seen in the hand laid stones you walk on; breathed in from blossom-ladened lemon trees adorning the terrace; and felt in the custom tufted beds that cocoon you in Yves Delorme French cotton sheets at night.
Villa Ardore also offers unparalleled amenities that brides and grooms will appreciate, like its serene and inviting on-site Roman spa—available exclusively for the use of guests staying at the villa—offering a 10-person whirlpool, dry sauna, sensory shower, and Turkish steam bath for a little pre or post ceremony indulgence. Our team can arrange for a variety of treatments that will make you feel, in all respects, the main character in your personal fairy tale.
Wedding planners will appreciate that Villa Ardore provides a full catering kitchen for use by private chefs and caterers preparing their wedding day feasts. There is also a studio suite with separate entrance and spacious ensuite that serves as an ideal place for bridal parties to prepare for the big day.
Destination Wedding
One of the first decisions in planning your destination wedding should be location, and Villa Ardore’s is ideal in every regard. Located in the heart of the Chianti in Tuscany, Italy’s preeminent wine producing region, Villa Ardore is situated within lush woodland and boasts picture-perfect views of rolling hills and vineyards; and a landscape dotted with the medieval towers of San Gimignano in the distance. Hosting a wedding at our 15th century villa promises countless photo opportunities to help capture the day’s excitement for years to come.
For your guests, there are 8 inviting bedrooms sleeping up to 16 guests, each with private en suite and individually controlled heating and air conditioning. The studio suite can also serve as a 9th bedroom, sleeping 2 additional guests via an innerspring sleeper sofa. For larger wedding parties and groups of visiting family and friends, we partner with area hotel and villa colleagues to provide any additional accommodations that are needed.
Planning a destination wedding can be filled with stress if not facilitated by caring hands. It is our desire at Villa Ardore to fulfill and exceed your expectations for this most memorable of occasions by putting our passion to work for you and your big day. Our team can assist in organizing and arranging every detail, from officiant to florist, hair & makeup provider to photographer and DJ to caterer. We will work with your wedding planner to facilitate your vision or, we can put you in touch with our preferred Italy-based wedding planner to ensure that your special day is all that you dream it to be. For high profile weddings that require discreet security and special handling, Villa Ardore delivers privacy and competency.
Villa Ardore’s catering partners allow you to customize menus to fit every taste, whether Tuscan traditional or modern Italian fine dining. An intimate breakfast on the loggia, a lunch or multi-course dinner on the center terrace or a cocktail reception at the poolside bar, our caterers are simply extraordinary at what they do.
Situated only fifty minutes from Florence’s Peretola International Airport, 45 minutes from the center of Florence and 35 minutes from Siena, Villa Ardore easily accommodates guests from near and far with car and van services for group travel.
Whatever your vision, Villa Ardore promises a superior group travel experience, ensuring nothing less than carefree perfection for your big day.
Intimate Wedding & Buddymoon
With an exclusive atmosphere and fairytale location, Villa Ardore provides you and your guests the intimacy of a luxurious private residence to call your own in the days leading up to your wedding. A place to spend time in the company of those who are dearest to you, uninterrupted by tourists and city noises, “far from the maddening crowd”.
If it is your vision to host a small wedding in a private ceremony where you and your special someone are kept center stage, you need look no further than Villa Ardore. Its dreamlike backdrop of warm Tuscan stone and flower-filled gardens set against a vivid green landscape and brilliant blue skies, paints a quintessentially Tuscan picture, while offering every modern amenity your guests expect in a luxury stay.
For the bridal couple’s honeymoon suite, Villa Ardore offers two ideal choices. The King Suite in our Spa Suites is separated from the main villa farmhouse and features an enormous bathroom with double showerheads as well as a Manhattan style kitchen, with dishwasher, refrigerator, 2-burner stove and Nespresso machine for early morning coffee. The King Suite sits above the villa spa offering easy access to late-night dips in the whirlpool or taking a private steam together. On the second floor of the Villa’s Farmhouse another King bedded bedroom serves as a honeymoon suite alternative. It features a large bath with clawfoot tub and separate, oversized shower as well as a private balcony with 180 degree views of the Tuscan countryside.
When you are ready to join your family and friends for wedding parties or buddymoon get-togethers, there are comfortable areas throughout Villa Ardore for groups to gather. You can unwind and relax with your guests at the infinity pool and poolside bar, lounging under the Tuscan sun with views overlooking vineyards or, if a chilly night, gather around the firepit on the center terrace. The villa’s grand salon with adjacent bar is ideal for a late night Vin Santo and cantucci by the fireplace and the loggia, with adjacent pizza oven and seating for 20, provides an entertaining spot for spring and summer evening meals.
For larger groups of more than 18 guests, Villa Ardore partners with local area accommodations. Your family or “ride or die” besties can stay with you at the villa, while our partner accommodations will facilitate the rest of your group’s needs without losing the personal intimacy Villa Ardore is known for.
Turn your honeymoon into a “buddymoon” by taking advantage of our Italian honeymoon package. We take care of your pre- and post- wedding day festivities and experiences. From cocktail receptions by the infinity pool and poolside bar, to DJ hosted pool parties and spa days, private VIP wine-tastings and guided tours of the countryside and medieval towns and villages, we can curate a magical stay. For foodies, we can bring Michelin rated chefs to the villa to prepare a memorable meal for you and your guests or host a pizza party with our pizzaiolo Gianluca who will show you how to make the authentic wood-fired classics. We can arrange for a shopping concierge to host a day out in Florence sipping prosecco and shopping the latest designer fashions. For a cherry-on-top experience, Villa Ardore will arrange for the happy couple to depart by Ferrari or vintage Fiat!
Same Sex and Inclusive Weddings
Inclusivity is the hallmark of Villa Ardore, a place where all who love are embraced for their commitment to each other, without reservations for who they wish to marry. We organize same sex legal ceremonies, same sex blessings, same sex vow renewals and same sex symbolic blessings, and we pour every ounce of our passion into those events.
Together for over 25 years, it was not possible for the villa’s proprietors Christian and Stephen to get married when they fell in love. And due to the then-shifting legal status of gay marriage in California, when they finally had that right, they had to quickly get married to be sure to retain that right pending a ballot initiative that eventually stalled the right to marry for same sex Californians for several years. Thus, these two Italian American men were deprived of their big gay Italian wedding. So when the couple created Villa Ardore, they were determined to offer a welcoming and inclusive space for same sex weddings and LGBTQ+ weddings and ceremonies, where everyone has the freedom to be who they are and love who they love.
With their connection to the local LGBTQ+ community, same sex weddings and LGBTQ+ inclusive weddings take on an additional element of fun. At Villa Ardore, we have hosted events with gay opera singer and fitness model, Gianluca Margheri. We have hosted pool parties with local bartenders and famous LGBTQ+ DJs from Roma to Ibiza. We know and support many of the LGBTQ+ owned and operated establishments and seek to support them, introducing our guests to the local LGBTQ+ community, and providing a unique experience while they immerse themselves in the art, food, wine, history and culture of Tuscany for their special day.
As with all brides and grooms, we will work with your local or foreign wedding planner ensure that you have your perfect day in our perfect location.