Nikis Resort Wedding Videographer
Alice and Craig came from England to marry at Nikis Resort, in Umbria, in April — and it rained. Not a passing shower: a long, steady rain that ran through the whole morning, through getting ready, and right up to a ceremony that had been planned outdoors and could no longer happen outdoors.
As their Nikis Resort wedding videographer, what I filmed that day was not the day they had planned. Neither of them lost their smile for a second — and somewhere in the middle of the ceremony, the rain stopped.
An April Wedding at Nikis Resort, Umbria
The rain was already falling when I arrived, and it stayed through the whole of getting ready. It was still falling when the decision had to be made: the ceremony had been planned outside, and it was not going to happen outside.
That is usually the moment a wedding day tightens. This one did not. Alice and Craig moved indoors without losing an ounce of their good humour, and the room they married in ended up doing something an open lawn cannot — it put everyone close together in one enclosed space, with the rain audible outside. They exchanged private vows there, and the intimacy of it was not in spite of the weather. It came from it.
Then, during the ceremony, the rain stopped.
Aperitivo outside, dinner in
The break was enough. Aperitivo moved out onto the grounds, and there was time for photographs in the open before the evening set in.
The light after the rain
And then the sky gave back everything it had held onto all day. The golden hour that followed was extraordinary — low, warm, and clean in the way air only becomes after hours of rain, running right across the hills behind the resort. It is where Alice and Craig’s film finds its emotional peak, and not one second of it could have been planned or staged.
If there is an argument for keeping a wet wedding day loose instead of rigid, this is it. A day that stays grey gives you nothing. A day that breaks gives you light no sunny afternoon can match.
Dinner was indoors — and it would have been indoors regardless of the rain, because an April evening in Umbria is genuinely cool once the sun drops. That is worth knowing if you are planning a spring wedding here: the outdoor part of your day is the ceremony and the aperitivo, not the meal. Speeches came during dinner, and a DJ took the room afterwards.
What to Know if It Rains at Nikis Resort
Rain is the single thing couples ask me about most when they are planning a destination wedding in Italy. Alice and Craig’s day is the answer I give them now.
Nikis Resort has an indoor space that can take a ceremony at short notice. That is not a small thing. Plenty of venues in the Italian countryside are built entirely around the assumption of sun, and when the weather turns, the day gets improvised badly. Here the alternative already existed and was ready, and the switch cost the couple nothing but a change of plan.
Two things I would tell any couple looking at April in Umbria. First, make the indoor decision early instead of holding out for a break in the sky — Alice and Craig committed, and got a calm ceremony instead of an anxious one. Second, keep the schedule loose enough to take a gap when it comes. The rain stopped during their ceremony, and because nothing was locked to the minute, that gap became an outdoor aperitivo and a set of photographs in the open air.
And it is worth saying plainly: the best light of Alice and Craig’s entire day arrived because it had rained. For a film, weather like this is not something to hide. Rain against the windows, umbrellas crossing a courtyard, the particular light that arrives after a long grey morning — a sunny day simply does not give you any of it.
Destination Wedding Videographer in Umbria
Umbria is the quieter half of central Italy: the same hills and stone villages as Tuscany, with far fewer people in them. Couples who choose it are usually after something less discovered, and the region rewards that. The landscape is generous, the distances between places are short, and a wedding here rarely feels like it is sharing the view with anyone else.
As an Umbria wedding videographer my approach is to stay out of the way. I do not direct, I do not stage, and I never ask anyone to do anything twice. I follow the day as it happens and let the real moments carry the film — which is exactly why a day like Alice and Craig’s works. When the plan changes, the film changes with it, and what you are left with is what actually happened.
I work throughout Umbria and across central Italy, and I am equally at home filming in Tuscany or anywhere else in the country.
The team behind the day
Venue @nikisresort · Photography @stefanocassaro_photography · Music @paolofabbrimusic · Flowers @leandroflowers · Hair & make-up @giulia_acconciature_sposa · Film @ivancaiazzafilms
The Property, and the Numbers That Shape a Wedding Here
Nikis Resort is a restored medieval hamlet between Gubbio and Umbertide, six buildings and fourteen rooms sleeping around fifty-five people, with two swimming pools and a spa. Perugia airport is roughly thirty kilometres away, about half an hour by road; Perugia itself is forty. That combination — a whole hamlet, private, half an hour from an airport — is the reason couples end up here rather than in Tuscany, and it changes what a wedding film looks like.
- The frescoed church — the building dates to 1137 and the frescoes were painted by a pupil of Giotto. Ceremonies for up to a hundred. It is the single most filmable interior on the property and, being stone and small, the one that needs proper audio most.
- The gardens and pergolas — ceremony, cocktails or a seated dinner for up to a hundred, under cover where the pergolas run.
- The historic interiors — a hundred standing, eighty seated. This is your bad-weather dinner, and unlike a marquee it looks like somewhere you would want to eat.
Exclusive use of the whole hamlet is available and is what most couples take. Because everyone sleeps on site, the wedding does not end when the transfers arrive — which for a film is the difference between an evening and a weekend.
Umbria Instead of Tuscany
Couples arrive at Umbria having looked at Tuscany first, and the honest comparison is this. Umbria is greener, emptier and considerably cheaper, and in April and May it is at its best while Tuscany is still filling up. What you give up is the name recognition and the Val d’Orcia skyline your guests have seen on a screensaver. What you get is a hamlet to yourselves rather than a villa with a road behind it, and a landscape that in the morning fills with mist in a way that photographs and films beautifully and that nobody plans for.
If you are weighing the two regions, wedding videographer in Tuscany gives the other side of the argument honestly.
What You Receive
The film
A cinematic highlights film of the day, cut to music, in full resolution and in a version sized for phones.
The ceremony and the speeches, complete
Delivered separately, in full, with lavalier microphones on both of you and a recorder on the celebrant. In the church this matters more than usual: stone walls, a low ceiling and a hundred people produce reverberation that a camera microphone turns to mush.
Delivery
Sneak peek within three weeks, full delivery between six and twelve weeks depending on the package.
Questions Couples Ask Me About Nikis Resort
How much does a wedding videographer at Nikis Resort cost?
It depends on hours, on whether you are filming across more than one day, and on whether the getting-ready happens in two separate buildings of the hamlet, which is common here and effectively doubles the morning. Send me your date and I will price the actual day.
How many hours of coverage do I need?
Ten for the wedding day. Because guests sleep on the property, weddings at Nikis run later than they do at a venue people drive home from — and because the hamlet is exclusively yours, the welcome dinner the night before is usually worth filming too. Treat it as a separate half-day.
What time should the ceremony start?
For an April or May wedding, between 16:00 and 16:30. Umbria is inland and higher than the coast, and the light drops behind the hills earlier than couples expect. In July and August you can push to 17:30. If the ceremony is inside the church, the time matters less — but the portraits afterwards are the reason to get this right.
When is the best time of year in Umbria?
Late April to early June, and September. Umbria is green in spring in a way Tuscany is not, and the hills hold morning mist that is worth getting up for. July and August are hot and inland heat has nowhere to go. October is beautiful and wet.
Can you fly a drone at Nikis Resort?
Yes, generally — it is open countryside between Gubbio and Umbertide, away from controlled airspace and away from a town, which makes it one of the more straightforward venues for aerials. Italian rules on flying over people still apply, so the shots are built around the guests rather than above them, and I confirm the airspace for your date before the wedding.
How do guests get there?
Perugia airport is about thirty kilometres away, roughly half an hour by road, with Rome Fiumicino and Florence both around two and a half hours. Perugia city centre is forty kilometres. Practically, this is a venue where guests hire cars or you book a coach — there is no walking to a town in the evening.
What happens if it rains?
This is the question to ask about an Umbrian spring wedding, and Nikis answers it better than most. The historic interiors seat eighty and the frescoed church takes a hundred, so neither the ceremony nor the dinner needs a marquee. The decision gets made with your planner by midday, because it is about setup, not about the forecast.
Can we be legally married in the church?
The church is used for both civil and symbolic ceremonies, but whether your ceremony is legally binding depends on the paperwork rather than the building. Most international couples marry legally at home and hold the ceremony here with a celebrant. Confirm the current arrangements with the venue and your planner.
How many guests does it hold?
A hundred for a ceremony in the church or the gardens, eighty seated indoors, and around fifty-five sleeping on site across fourteen rooms. Past a hundred you are busing people in, which undoes the main advantage of the place.
Do you deliver raw footage, and do you bring a second operator?
Raw footage is agreed before the wedding, not after, and is not part of the standard delivery — most couples who ask actually want the ceremony and the speeches in full, which are already included. I film alone by choice, and I will tell you if your day genuinely needs a second operator.
Filming Elsewhere in Central Italy
If you are still choosing a region: Tuscany, Villa Cora in Florence, Tenuta Monaciano near Siena, Castello di Celsa, or the Amalfi Coast if you want the sea instead of the hills.
I am rated 5.0 from 64 couples on WeddingWire and hold a WEVA ItAward and an International Golden Heart Award. Write to me with your date.
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