Bridesmaids in Every Colour: Polly & Kyle's Wedding at Castello di Montalto, Tuscany

Polly and Kyle got married on 1 July 2026 at Castello di Montalto, a medieval castle in the hills east of Siena, with their families and closest friends around them. We filmed the whole day, and the short film at the top of this page is the result. This is the story of their Castello di Montalto wedding: the castle itself, how the day ran from getting ready to the last dance, and what the place gave us as filmmakers.

The wedding at a glance

Date: Wednesday, 1 July 2026. Venue: Castello di Montalto, Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the province of Siena. Planning: TL Weddings and Events. Ceremony: outdoors, in the castle garden, in the late afternoon. Dinner: long tables in the castle courtyard. The palette: a white satin dress, warm browns and creams for the men and a run of bright colours for the bridesmaids and the flowers.

What we liked most about this wedding was that it never felt staged. The bridal party laughed through the whole day, the families mixed easily, and late at night even the bartenders joined the party photos.

Castello di Montalto: a thousand years above the Ambra valley

Castello di Montalto stands on a wooded hill above the upper Ambra valley, in the part of Chianti called the Berardenga. The venue describes it as more than ten centuries old. Its tower is thought to date from the Lombard period, and the area takes its name from Berard, son of Winigis, the first count of Siena under the Franks, whose descendants built the castle.

For centuries Montalto was a border fortress between Siena and Florence. Florence took it in 1208, and it was burned again in 1553 during the war that ended the Republic of Siena. The Palmieri family restored it in the 1570s and added the Renaissance loggia that still runs along the courtyard. A neo-Gothic restoration followed in the nineteenth century. In 1970 the estate passed to the Coda Nunziante family, who opened it to guests as an agriturismo in 1980, and the four siblings who run it today still live in part of the castle.

The estate covers about 270 hectares of certified organic land, most of it woodland, with olive groves, fields, a pool, gardens and a small chapel inside the walls. You can read more on the official Castello di Montalto website.

Getting ready in the loggia

Polly got ready with her bridesmaids in the castle rooms that open onto a covered loggia with brick arches and a view over the hills. Hair and make-up were by Anna Kos.

The bridesmaids did not match, and that was the point. Each wore a long satin or silk dress in her own colour: cornflower blue, olive green, burnt orange and a deep magenta with tiered ruffles. Next to them Polly wore a simple white satin slip dress with a scoop neckline and no lace or beading, with her hair up. In the film you see them toast with white wine in the loggia, and a few minutes later Polly opens a bottle of champagne herself while her friends cheer.

Kyle wore a brown double-breasted suit with an open-collar white shirt and a small flower on the lapel. His groomsmen were in cream and sand-coloured suits, so the men looked like one group and the bridesmaids like a bunch of flowers. The groomsmen got ready in one of the old rooms with dark wooden furniture, and their big group hug is one of our favourite moments in the film.

A quiet moment in the castle lanes

During the day Polly and Kyle had some time alone in the stone lanes inside the walls. Castello di Montalto is more of a small fortified village than a single building: cobbled paths, old brick staircases, heavy wooden doors under stone arches and climbing plants on every wall. We hardly had to move to find a new background.

The ceremony in the garden

The ceremony took place on the lawn of the castle garden, with the tower and the crenellated walls behind the couple and tall cypresses on one side. Polly and Kyle stood in front of an arch cut into a clipped hedge, with flowers by Criluflower at its base in the same bright colours as the bridesmaids' dresses. Guests sat on white chairs on the grass on either side of the aisle.

From the drone you see how the garden sits on the hillside: a long strip of lawn between olive trees, the castle above it and the Tuscan hills rolling away in every direction. The ceremony was in the late afternoon, when the July sun was already lower and softer on faces.

After the vows the couple walked back down the aisle to applause, Polly holding a bouquet of mixed summer flowers.

Petals, a dip and family photos

On the gravel path below the castle the bridal party showered the couple with petals. Kyle dipped Polly backwards in the middle of the gravel path while the groomsmen threw petals in the air, and the whole group burst out laughing. We then had a few minutes for family photos in front of the castle, with parents, sisters and cousins lined up against the green hedges.

The portraits came next, in golden hour. We walked with Polly and Kyle along the hedges and back into the courtyards, where the low sun turned the old stone warm yellow. There were no posed sequences, only a walk, a few words and some time to be together after the ceremony.

Dinner in the castle courtyard

Dinner was set in the main courtyard, under the crenellated walls and the stone arches around it. The tables ran in one long line around a tree in the middle, covered in lime-green cloths with wooden cross-back chairs. Instead of tall centrepieces there were small vases with single stems and short bunches in orange, pink, purple and yellow, so guests could see and talk to each other across the table. Strings of lights hung from the tree and the walls, ready for the evening.

The courtyard works well for a summer dinner. It is enclosed by the castle buildings, so it feels like a private room open to the sky. Montalto says the courtyard takes 100 guests or more in summer, and the large hall inside is the backup for the same number if the weather turns.

The party under the string lights

After dinner the bar opened next to the ivy-covered wall: a long table of Italian spirits, ice buckets and glasses, run by bartenders in white shirts and black ties who joined in the party photos with Polly and Kyle. Kyle, still in his brown suit, made the rounds with a drink in hand.

The dancing took over the courtyard under the string lights, with the bridesmaids in the middle of it. By then the stone walls were dark and the only light came from the bulbs and candles, which gives the end of the film its warm, grainy look.

How Castello di Montalto looks on film

For a filmmaker, Montalto gives you three different looks in one place. In the morning it is rooms with brick arches and views of the hills. In the afternoon there are the garden, the hedges and the olive trees with the castle above them. At night the courtyard becomes almost a different venue, with string lights against dark stone.

The drone works especially well here, because the castle stands alone on a hill surrounded by forest, with no modern buildings or roads in the frame. The last shot of the film rises above the woods until Montalto is a small group of stone towers in a sea of green. As with every wedding, we checked the airspace map for the date before flying.

Planning a wedding at Castello di Montalto

If you are thinking about the same venue, these are the main facts from the venue's event page and what we saw on the day.

Guests: up to 100 seated in the large hall, and 100 or more in the open courtyard in summer. Ceremonies: symbolic ceremonies in the garden, Christian ceremonies in the chapel inside the walls (40 to 50 seated), and civil ceremonies in the castle garden or, off site, at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena or the town hall of Castelnuovo Berardenga. If you want a legally binding ceremony, our guide on how to get married in Italy explains the paperwork.

Where guests stay: the estate has ten self-catering houses and apartments, including a wing of the castle, for up to 45 adults in 22 bedrooms. Wedding groups usually book a minimum stay of two to four nights, depending on the month, which suits couples who want a whole wedding weekend rather than one day.

Getting there: Florence airport is under an hour and a half by car, Pisa about two hours and Rome three. Castelnuovo Berardenga is 10 km away. You need a car or a transfer, since there is no public transport to the castle.

When to marry: July gave us long, warm evenings and dry weather, which is what you want for a courtyard dinner. In high summer plan the ceremony for the late afternoon, as Polly and Kyle did, so guests are not sitting in the midday sun. For guests packing for a Tuscan summer wedding, we wrote a guide on what to wear to a wedding in Italy.

Wedding team

Venue: Castello di Montalto, Siena

Wedding planner: TL Weddings and Events

Videographers: YASIROV Films

Photographer: Emma Murphy

Hair & make-up: Anna Kos

Flowers: Criluflower

FAQ

Where is Castello di Montalto?

In the countryside of Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the province of Siena, Tuscany, on a hill above the upper Ambra valley. The address is Strada di Montalto 16. The village of Castelnuovo Berardenga is 10 km away and Florence airport is under an hour and a half by car.

How many guests can Castello di Montalto host for a wedding?

Up to 100 seated in the large hall, and 100 or more in the castle courtyard in summer. That makes it a good size for a destination wedding with family and close friends, like Polly and Kyle's.

Can you have a ceremony in the chapel at Castello di Montalto?

Yes, for Christian ceremonies. The chapel inside the walls seats 40 to 50 guests, with standing room at the back. Symbolic ceremonies take place in the garden, as Polly and Kyle's did.

Can guests stay at Castello di Montalto?

Yes. The estate has ten houses and apartments, including a wing of the castle, for up to 45 adults. Wedding groups usually book two to four nights, and larger groups add hotels or agriturismi nearby.

Can you fly a drone at Castello di Montalto?

We flew a drone at Polly and Kyle's wedding after checking the airspace map for the date. The castle stands alone in the forest, so the aerial shots are some of the best in the film.

What does a wedding film at Castello di Montalto cost?

Our wedding films start from €4,500, and travel within Italy is included. Send us your date and we will reply with the details.

Planning a wedding in Tuscany? Send us your date, see more of our weddings on the work page, or compare castles and villas in our guide to the top Tuscany wedding venues. All our Tuscany stories are on the Tuscany page.