Umbria Weddings and Events

Umbria is the one Italian region with no coast and no international border, so it never became a stop on the tourist route and was never priced like Tuscany. Fatima Palomares, who is Spanish, founded her agency here in 2014 because the region had no destination wedding specialist. She holds a degree in International Business and worked in tourism agencies and for Prada and Louis Vuitton in the United Kingdom, Dubai and France before settling in Italy.

She works two regions rather than the whole peninsula, Umbria and, over the border, Tuscany. Her venues include the twelfth century Benedictine abbey of San Pietro in Valle, whose cloister takes a full seated dinner, La Badia di Orvieto with its marble mosaic floors and twelfth century tower, and Castello di Petrata above Assisi, begun in 1340. Villa Monaciano near Siena, where Killing Eve was filmed, and an eighteenth century villa near Florence lie across the Tuscan border.

The work starts with a consultation, in person or by video, followed by a written proposal that breaks down costs and timelines. She visits venues before recommending them and presents a shortlist rather than a catalogue, then selects vendors from suppliers she has already vetted. Planning typically runs for twelve to eighteen months and ends with her team on site directing the day.

She arranges symbolic ceremonies, prepares the documents for a civil union and liaises with an English-speaking priest for religious weddings. Two of her venues can host a legal civil ceremony on site. Guest experiences are built in on purpose, among them pizza evenings, pasta lessons, olive oil tastings, folk music and gelato served from a traditional ape car.

Her portfolio includes weddings for two American brides at La Badia di Orvieto and two grooms at a villa near Siena. A wedding she planned at the abbey of San Pietro in Valle was featured in Style Me Pretty.