Documentary Wedding Photography in Tuscany — Castello di Celsa, Italy
- Nov 8, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Documentary wedding photography & film | Bojan Petricevic - Castello di Celsa wedding Tuscany
The ladies who run the castle made sure we understood that from the moment we arrived. These aren't decorations — they're centuries-old pieces, each with a story. So when one of the photographers decided to rearrange a decorative ceramic bowl and fill it with lemons for a shot, the reaction was swift and unmistakable.
That moment told me everything I needed to know about this place. Castello di Celsa isn't a wedding venue. It's a living piece of Tuscany that happens to host weddings — and it demands to be treated accordingly.
A and P understood that. Their wedding didn't try to transform the castle into something else. It simply existed within it.
Two days before — Agriturismo Poggio ai Legni
We were staying at Agriturismo Poggio ai Legni — a working farm tucked into the Tuscan hills, olive trees as far as you could see. The kind of place that slows you down whether you want it to or not.
Our hosts spoke no English. No German, no Croatian, nothing but Italian — and smiles. The wifi worked only inside the house. Outside, silence. Real silence, the kind you forget exists.
Every morning, the woman of the house would rise early and lay out breakfast. Pasta, savoury strudel, cured meats, spreads, fresh pastries. A feast. We didn't know she made it all herself — we thought it was store-bought, set out the night before.
We were on a diet. We wanted an omelette. We typed our request into a translation app and carried the phone to her like a note passed in class.
The look on her face when she understood we wouldn't be eating what she'd prepared — quietly devastating.
We ate the strudel. Of course we did. It may have been the best thing I ate all week.
"Tuscany wedding photographer""Tuscany wedding videographer"
The evening before — Antica Trattoria Papei, Siena
From Poggio ai Legni, we drove to Siena the evening before the wedding.
Walking through the city, I heard drums somewhere below — coming from what seemed like a small valley between the buildings. I followed the sound. What I found were young men in medieval costumes, drumming with the kind of seriousness that tells you this isn't a performance for tourists. These were the Contrade — Siena's ancient neighbourhoods, each with its own identity, its own colours, its own centuries-old rivalry. Every Sunday they march through the historic center. They don't do it for visitors. They do it because that's who they are.
I stood there for a while, just watching. Nobody asked me to leave.
Then came the gelato. Siena takes its gelato seriously. Enough said.
After that, dinner at Antica Trattoria Papei, tucked beside Piazza del Mercato — the kind of place that doesn't need to advertise because everyone already knows it's there since 1962. Simple pasta, old recipe. The sort of dish that makes you question every pasta you've eaten before.
What was meant to be a quiet dinner with the couple and their planner Lior slowly transformed — as good dinners in Tuscany tend to do — into dancing, laughter, and the particular joy of people who are exactly where they're supposed to be.
That's when I knew this wedding was going to be something special. Not because of the castle. Because of these people.
The morning of the wedding
The wedding morning moved slowly, the way the best wedding mornings do.
The bride was in the hands of her hair and makeup artist — that particular kind of quiet focus that happens when a woman is becoming the most beautiful version of herself. Outside, chairs were being arranged in the courtyard, the altar taking shape against a backdrop of stone walls that have witnessed centuries.
The groom asked to be left alone to write his vows. That's a moment I always respect — a man with a pen and the weight of words he's about to say out loud for the first time.
The garden was immaculate. The pool caught my eye — slightly out of place stylistically, like a modern thought in an ancient conversation — but everything else felt exactly right.
The ceremony, the cocktail, the night
After the vows, canapes and cocktails in front of the castle. The kind of cocktail hour where nobody checks their phone.
Then a short portrait session in the courtyard — stone, light, two people who had just promised each other everything.
Dinner followed, with speeches. And then, as night fell over Castello di Celsa, a party under the open sky in the castle courtyard.
Some venues are just locations. This one is a character.
If you're planning a wedding in Tuscany and want it documented the way it actually happened — the quiet moments, the unexpected details, the things you'll want to remember in thirty years — get in touch.
We travel across Europe. We don't pose. We witness.
Vendors:Wedding planner: Lior Graetz Precious Events @liorgraetzpreciouseventsFlorist: @i.fiori.di.nadia · @gogo_flowersandmoreHair & makeup: @dua_wedLocation: Castello di Celsa @castellodicelsa
Documentary wedding photography & film — Bojan PetricevicAvailable in Tuscany, Dubrovnik, Vienna, Lake Como, Zurich and beyond
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