Jessica and Matthew’s Wedding at Casa Cornacchi, Tuscany
Jessica and Matthew travelled from Los Angeles to celebrate their wedding at Casa Cornacchi, surrounded by the friends and family who had witnessed the many chapters of their relationship. I joined them in Tuscany for two days, beginning with their rehearsal dinner and returning the following morning for the wedding itself. The photographs in this story move between both celebrations: the relaxed anticipation of the evening before and the fuller rhythm of the wedding day.
Set in the Tuscan countryside, the two days unfolded beneath the bright end-of-June sun, among olive trees, cypresses and old stone buildings, with open windows, long outdoor tables and the beautiful disorder that comes with everyone getting ready and celebrating together.
From Rome to a Wedding in Tuscany
I first met Jessica and Matthew a year earlier in Rome.
We wandered through the city together, taking photographs and talking as we moved from one street to the next. There was an ease between them that made the afternoon feel less like an engagement photoshoot and more like spending time with two people I had known for much longer.
A year later, they invited me to photograph their wedding at Casa Cornacchi in Tuscany.
Meeting them again in such a different setting felt like returning to a story that had already begun. This time, they were surrounded by the people who knew them best and who had travelled a very long way to celebrate with them.
A Two-Day Wedding Celebration at Casa Cornacchi
The rehearsal dinner set the tone for everything that followed.
Long tables were arranged outdoors beside the old stone buildings, with simple flowers, bottles of wine and food being passed from one end of the table to the other. Live musicians moved among the guests as the evening softened around the cypress trees.
What I loved most was how quickly the evening stopped feeling formal. Speeches turned into laughter, people began waving napkins, and Jessica and Matthew moved easily between their guests rather than remaining at the centre of attention.
It felt less like a scheduled event and more like everyone gradually settling into the weekend together.
The following day had that same looseness, only with more emotion layered into it.
Jessica laughed with her friends as they helped her get ready. There were dresses hanging in the room, hands fastening the back of her gown, windows open to the summer light and moments when the preparations became their own kind of celebration.
At one point, her friends lifted her into the air.
Matthew’s morning had much the same energy. He walked along the country road with his friends, looking composed until someone said something that made them all forget about the camera. Not long after, they had him up in the air too.
A veil moved in the breeze. Parasols appeared beneath the afternoon sun and, eventually, became part of the fun themselves. Guests photographed and filmed the day from their own perspectives. People embraced, shouted, laughed and moved towards one another without much concern for how any of it might look in a photograph.
That is usually when the photographs become interesting.
Matthew’s father became one of my favourite recurring characters of the weekend. He often had a Fujifilm camera in his hands, documenting what was happening around him. I found myself photographing him photographing everyone else, and I am still genuinely curious to see the wedding through his eyes.
The ceremony unfolded outdoors, followed by long tables, dinner, live music and a celebration that became increasingly unfiltered as the evening went on.
These apparently simple moments gradually became the story of the weekend. There was no need to manufacture energy or direct every interaction. The people, the setting and the emotion were already enough.
Natural Wedding Photography on Digital and 35mm Film
I photographed Jessica and Matthew’s rehearsal dinner and wedding day using both digital and 35mm film cameras.
The intention was never to create two separate versions of the celebration, but to let the different formats complement one another.
Digital photography gave me the freedom to follow quick changes in expression, movement and light, especially during the faster and more chaotic parts of the day. Film brought something different: grain, softness, movement and a certain unpredictability that suited the atmosphere of the weekend.
Some of the 35mm photographs were made with my Contax G2, and I especially like how film held onto the less polished parts of the celebration: the movement inside a frame, imperfect gestures, fabric shifting in the wind and people caught somewhere between expressions.
What stayed with me most, though, was the way Jessica and Matthew communicated without needing to say very much.
Their affection never felt performed for the photographs. It appeared in glances, small gestures and the instinctive way they moved towards one another throughout both days.
This is what I look for when photographing a wedding in Tuscany. Beyond the landscape and the beauty of the venue, I want the photographs to preserve how the celebration felt to the people who were actually there.
Documentary Wedding Photography in Tuscany
What I remember most about Jessica and Matthew’s wedding is not one single photograph or one perfectly arranged scene.
It is the rhythm of the two days: the anticipation of the rehearsal dinner, the long tables and speeches, the noise of friends getting ready together, the ceremony under the Tuscan sun, the live music, the laughter and the way the celebration became more and more unfiltered as the evening went on.
Rather than turning the rehearsal dinner and wedding day into one long photoshoot, I documented both as they naturally unfolded. I offered gentle direction when it was useful, then allowed Jessica and Matthew to return to their guests and experience the weekend without constantly thinking about the camera.
That is also why photographing the celebration on both digital and 35mm film felt so appropriate. Digital followed the speed of everything happening around me, while film held onto the texture, movement and small imperfections that made the weekend feel alive.
Jessica and Matthew, thank you for allowing me to meet you first in Rome and find you again in Tuscany, surrounded by everyone you love.
Planning your own celebration in the Tuscan countryside? Discover more about my candid, documentary approach as a Tuscany wedding photographer on Instagram.
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