Villa Erba Wedding Photographer on Lake Como: A Timeless Celebration in Cernobbio

Villa Erba is a big place, and the best photographs there come from knowing which corner works at which hour. After a full June day with Renee & Tino, these are the notes we share with every couple who asks us to be their Villa Erba wedding photographer.

The places we plan around

• The historic rooms on the lake side. Parquet floors, gilded frescoes and tall windows that keep the light soft for most of the day. Ask your planner early which rooms you can use for getting ready.
• The lawn and the jetty. The ceremony faces the water and the mountains on the opposite shore, and the jetty is where the boat leaves from.
• The gardens and the old plane trees. Open shade for a first look, or for family photographs while your guests enjoy the aperitivo.
• The grand staircase. Lined with candles in the evening, and best photographed from the landing above.
• The frescoed halls. Dinner beneath Murano chandeliers, where we work with the light that is already in the room.

The light on the western shore

Villa Erba sits on the western shore of Lake Como and looks east across the water. In the late afternoon the sun drops behind the hills above Cernobbio, so the lawn and the jetty fall into soft, even shade while the opposite shore still glows. That is the hour we keep for portraits by the lake. In June the sun sets after nine, so an early-evening ceremony gives you softer faces and a lake that turns silver instead of white.

A sample photography timeline for a June wedding

• 2:30 pm. Getting ready in the historic rooms, by window light.
• 5:00 pm. First look in the gardens, in the shade of the plane trees.
• 6:00 pm. Ceremony on the lawn by the lake.
• 6:45 pm. Twenty minutes on a classic wooden boat, photographed from the jetty and from the air.
• 7:15 pm. Aperitivo in the gardens and family photographs.
• 8:30 pm. Portraits by the water, in the soft shade of the evening.
• 9:15 pm. Dinner in the frescoed halls, then the candlelit staircase, the first dance and fireworks over the lake.

Every wedding is different, and we build the real timeline with your planner and the villa, but this is the rhythm that worked best for us at Villa Erba.

Drone and FPV over the lake

Aerial images on Lake Como need an authorization, and the villa has to agree too, so we sort out the paperwork with your planner weeks ahead, never on the morning. Where it is allowed, we can also fly an FPV drone through the gardens: see our guide to FPV drone wedding videos in Italy.

For the venue itself, from the rooms to the boat and the best months, read our notes on getting married at Villa Erba, and for budgets around the lake see what a Lake Como wedding costs.