Best months to get married in Tuscany

These are the 1991–2020 normals for Florence published by Consorzio LaMMA, Tuscany's regional meteorological consortium. Annual rainfall averages 821 mm.

Florence sits in a river basin and runs warmer than the hills; Chianti, Val d'Orcia and the coast differ. But the shape of the year is the same across the region, and the shape is the point.

Read the table again and the problem appears. The driest months are the hottest ones. July averages 26.2 mm of rain and a mean maximum of 32.2°C. August is drier than September and hotter than anything.

And the months everyone recommends are among the wetter ones. September averages 73.7 mm — more than June, and nearly three times July. October averages 103.7 mm, which is the second-wettest month of the year in Florence after November.

So the choice is not between a good month and a bad one. It is between dry and hot, or comfortable and wetter. Anyone telling you that October is reliably golden is describing the October they attended, not the October in the record.

This does not make October a bad choice. It makes a wet-weather plan a requirement rather than a formality — see the venues guide for what to ask.

May averages 24.5°C by day with 65.9 mm of rain, and early June moves to 29.1°C with rainfall falling to 47.9 mm.

This is the part of the year where the weather is most comfortable for guests in formal clothes standing outdoors, and where the landscape is at its greenest — the countryside has not yet dried to gold. Rain is possible and not unusual; it is simply less likely to be a whole day of it than in autumn.

Early June is, on the numbers, the strongest single compromise in the Tuscan year: warm enough to be outdoors all evening, drier than May, and not yet at July's heat.

If a dry day is the priority above all else, July is the driest month in the record by a wide margin.

The cost is heat. Mean maximum temperatures of 32.2°C in July and 32.5°C in August are averages, not peaks, and a ceremony at four in the afternoon in full sun is a genuinely uncomfortable experience for older guests and small children. Weddings held in these months usually push the ceremony to early evening, and the venue's shade becomes a real selection criterion rather than a nicety.

August carries a second issue that has nothing to do with weather. Italy largely goes on holiday in August, and the period around Ferragosto on 15 August is when much of the country closes. Suppliers may be away, some restaurants and businesses shut for weeks, and the roads and coast are at their busiest. Confirm availability before committing to an August date rather than assuming it.

These remain popular for good reasons: 27.1°C in September and 21.6°C in October are pleasant, the light is softer, the vineyards are in harvest, and the crowds have thinned.

The rainfall figures — 73.7 mm and 103.7 mm — are the price. In practice this means a covered alternative that holds your full guest list seated, a decision point agreed with the venue, and a realistic view that the photographs may be taken indoors.

Harvest is worth knowing about if you are marrying at a working wine estate. Late September and early October are when the estate is busiest with its actual business, which is charming to watch and occasionally competes with your event for space and attention. Ask.

April averages 19.9°C by day and 8.0°C at night, with 67.4 mm of rain. Daytime can be lovely; evenings are cold enough that an outdoor dinner needs a plan, and an outdoor ceremony needs guests to be told to bring a layer.

The attraction is availability and price. The shoulder of the season is where the best venues still have Saturdays and where the comune's cheaper time slots are easier to get. If your guest list is small and adaptable, this is where the value sits.

November through March, weddings do happen — indoors. November is the wettest month in the record at 117.8 mm.

Availability. Peak-season Saturdays at sought-after properties are taken a year or more ahead. A midweek date in a shoulder month is the same venue, the same suppliers and a much shorter queue.

The town hall fee. Comuni charge by day and time, and the differences are published. In Lucca, a non-resident pays €480 for a weekday morning at Palazzo Orsetti and €1,000 for a Saturday afternoon. In Cortona the council chamber is €800 on a weekday morning and €1,000 on a Saturday afternoon. The full table is in our cost guide.

Your guests. School holidays, August closures across Europe, and the cost of flights all move with the calendar. A date that is cheaper for you may be more expensive for forty other people.

Daylight. An October ceremony has meaningfully less evening light than a June one, which changes the running order of the day and what the photographs look like.

If the weather must be dry: July, with the ceremony in the evening and shade as a requirement.

If guests' comfort matters most: May or early June.

If you want the harvest, the light and lower prices, and you will build a real wet-weather plan: September, with October as the version of that choice with more risk and more availability.

If budget is the binding constraint: a weekday in April or October, where the venue, the comune and the suppliers are all cheaper at once.

Whatever you choose, the date has to clear the paperwork. Consular documents have fixed lifespans — an atto notorio lasts 180 days, an Australian nulla osta six months — so the wedding date and the paperwork calendar have to be planned together. Our legal requirements guide and checklist set out the sequence.