A Vow Renewal in Val d’Orcia: couple photos near Pienza
Jessica and Chris stood facing each other among the tall stems of a field near Pienza, holding hands as they read their promises. Behind them, the hills of Val d’Orcia stretched into the distance, with rows of cypress trees tracing the landscape.
It was May 28, and the countryside had that beautiful mix of green and gold that makes late spring in Tuscany so evocative. For Jessica and Chris, it was the setting for a personal celebration of their marriage. For me, it became a session with an unexpected connection to a wedding I had photographed years earlier.
Two trees frame Jessica and Chris against a patchwork of sunlit fields. A quiet portrait beneath the leaves, photographed near Pienza on the afternoon of their vow renewal.
From an Elopement Inquiry to Renewing Their Vows
When Jessica and Chris first contacted me, they described what they had in mind as an elopement. As we talked about their plans, it became clear that they were already married and wanted to exchange their vows again during their time in Tuscany.
Their session brought together couple portraits and a private vow renewal: time to explore the area around Pienza, enjoy being together, and make space for the promises they wanted to share.
They had found my photography through Google and were coming from Vancouver. At that point, none of us realized that this would actually be our second meeting.
Couple Portraits in Pienza
We began in Pienza, where pale stone walls, wooden doorways and narrow streets offered a different setting from the open countryside we would photograph later.
Jessica wore a long white dress, while Chris chose a light beige suit and an open-collar white shirt. Their understated outfits worked beautifully with the warm stone of the town and the soft colors of the surrounding hills.
We made portraits beneath stone arches and beside old doorways, then continued along the edge of town, where the views open onto Val d’Orcia. I alternated closer photographs of the two of them with wider frames that included the landscape, giving both their expressions and the setting room in the story.
The Colors of Val d’Orcia in Late May
On this May afternoon, the fields around Pienza were full of texture. Green slopes gave way to warmer patches of grain, distant hills softened into the haze, and dark cypress trees stood out against the lighter countryside.
We moved through several settings, from vineyard rows and olive trees to the open fields. Each offered a slightly different feeling while keeping the photographs connected through the light and colors of the afternoon.
This is what I particularly loved about their session: the variety within such a consistent atmosphere. The stone streets of Pienza, the silvery olive leaves and the broad curves of the hills all became part of the same visual story.
Vineyard rows lead into the soft contours of Val d’Orcia as Jessica and Chris hold hands near Pienza. A quiet chapter in their May 28 couple portrait session and vow renewal in Tuscany.
A country road leads toward Pienza, while Jessica and Chris become a softly blurred presence in the foreground. An atmospheric portrait from their late-May celebration in Val d’Orcia.
Exchanging Promises in the Fields
For their vows, the focus shifted to the two of them.
With their written promises in hand, Jessica and Chris stood together among the grain. I photographed the wider scene as well as the smaller details: their joined hands, the pages they held, and the way they looked at each other while reading.
Those photographs became the heart of the session. The landscape gives them a strong sense of place, while the closer images bring the story back to the people within it.
Afterward, we continued with portraits beneath leafy trees and along a winding country road bordered by cypresses.
Jessica’s softly blurred silhouette rests within a landscape of green hills and pale grain near Pienza. The selective focus gives this late-May portrait the feeling of a Tuscan daydream.
An embrace becomes the center of a wide landscape, surrounded by grain and the gentle folds of Val d’Orcia. Jessica and Chris photographed near Pienza during their May 28 couple session and vow renewal.
Jessica leans back while holding Chris’s hands, surrounded by tall stems catching the afternoon light. A playful moment within their intimate couple portrait session near Pienza.
Hand in hand, Jessica and Chris move through a field of grain as warm light settles across the hills. A portrait of closeness in the late-May countryside of Val d’Orcia.
Sunlit grain fills the foreground while Jessica and Chris exchange their promises in soft focus. Their private vow renewal unfolds within the green and gold landscape of Val d’Orcia.
With his written vows in one hand and Jessica’s hand in the other, Chris reads his promises in the fields near Pienza. A close view of their May 28 vow renewal in Tuscany.
Pienza rises above the fields while Jessica and Chris appear softly out of focus below it. This portrait places their renewed promises within the landscape that brought them to Tuscany.
A wide view of Jessica and Chris exchanging vows among tall stems, with the hills unfolding behind them. The open countryside near Pienza gives their private celebration a dreamy sense of space.
Jessica and Chris share their written promises as a cypress-lined road curves through the valley behind them. Selective focus brings a gentle, dreamlike quality to this moment of their Tuscan vow renewal.
Their fingertips meet to form a small heart above the sunlit grain. An intimate detail from Jessica and Chris’s couple portraits and vow renewal in the countryside near Pienza.
Beneath a canopy of leaves, Chris carries Jessica beside a quiet country road. The wide frame brings together their playful embrace, the shade of the trees and the open fields of Val d’Orcia.
Seen from behind, Jessica and Chris walk hand in hand into a landscape of grain and layered hills. Their figures become part of the gentle lines of Val d’Orcia in this wide couple portrait.
Jessica’s white dress and Chris’s beige suit echo the pale tones of the fields around them. A relaxed portrait near Pienza, with cypress trees marking the horizon of their late-May Tuscan afternoon.
Jessica and Chris turn toward each other, still holding hands among the grain. A warm, unhurried portrait from their couple session and vow renewal in the hills near Pienza.
An Unexpected Reunion in Tuscany
Toward the end of the session, our conversation brought a surprising realization: we already knew each other.
Years earlier, I had photographed the wedding of very close friends of Jessica and Chris. They had both been witnesses at that wedding.
They had booked me after finding my work on Google, without initially making the connection—and I had not made it either. Only as we talked did we put the pieces together.
It was a lovely discovery to make after spending the afternoon photographing them. Years before, we had met while celebrating their friends’ marriage. Now we were together again in Tuscany, this time to document their own promises.
The world really is small.
If you are planning a couple photo session or a vow renewal in Val d’Orcia, I would love to hear what you have in mind and help you create a photographic story around Pienza and the surrounding countryside.
I’m a specialised Tuscany Wedding and Portrait Photographer based in Florence but operating in Italy and worldwide.
I focus for capturing real, authentic and genuine emotion. I love to capture happy people, their stories, their adventures and I can’t thank them enough when they hires me for this honour and privilege.
When someone books me and order my services, they are inviting me to live and share some of their most intimate and important memories. It is an incredible honor and privilege to be trusted like this, not only to share in the memories but also to have the great opportunity to document them as well.
I really enjoy getting to know my clients and their needs and desires so that I can tell their story through my eyes. I am a storyteller with a mix of portrait, candid and reportage photography style and I love to capture life in all its beauty.
