Villa Balbiano

Villa Balbiano is one of the most iconic wedding venues on Lake Como. With its grand architecture, breathtaking lakefront setting, and luxurious gardens, it offers a truly cinematic backdrop for any celebration. Every time I photograph a wedding here, it feels like stepping into a timeless fairytale.

Villa Balbiano is an absolutely stunning wedding venue! If you’re looking for a location that requires minimal effort to make breathtaking, this is the perfect choice. Not only is the venue itself gorgeous, but the surrounding scenery is just as spectacular!

Amazing must see beautiful place where Star Wars and James Bond was filmed. Easy paved walk up and down hill or go by boat which is amazing to see by water but can also be seen by water by the local ferries. You can buy tickets online ahead of time as they do have limited spots.

For someone involved in wedding photography, this is an ideal place to create timeless photos. Everything is of a very high standard – the location, the ambiance, the surroundings, the view of the lake. All you need is a bit of inspiration, and you'll have photos that look like they belong in fashion magazines… #kristijanweddings

As a wedding photographer, I absolutely recommend Villa Balbiano! It is one of the best venues for your wedding in Lake Como! It offers great views to the lake, amazing gardens for your wedding ceremony, reception and cocktail. The building is perfect for pictures inside during your getting ready. The orientation of the venue is such that you can make the most with the natural light. It's not a coincidence that it is so popular!

As Wedding photographers, we love to work at Villa Balbiano because it offers numerous opportunities to create fairytale Wedding pictures. The villa has incredible views from every angle and beautiful architecture of the Baroque era. Getting ready takes mostly place at the Villa itself or the hotel nearby, like Grand Hotel Tremezzo. You can arrive at the venue by boat. The ceremony can be held behind the Villa with the lake view or in front of the Villa in the French garden. For the dinner, you can choose between a glasshouse (for an extra charge), in the garden or inside the villa (for smaller Wedding societies). The villa has lots of rules and restrictions - as it has lots of original objects of art - so it's recommended to hire professionals (Wedding planners, photographers, florists, videographers, musicians etc.) who already have experience working there. We wish an unforgettable experience to everyone who is getting married there! Mila & Stephan from Vivid Symphony Photography.

When a place boasts to be the most “classy” place in Lake Como and commands a “classy attitude” for its visitors, this place has done something that’s the utmost un-classy. 1. A classic example of contract switch and bait. I booked this entire villa for our August wedding, despite hearing horror stories abt the villa mgmt. When we paid 40,000 euros and signed the contact in fall 2022, the contract stated we have access to the “entire villa”. We went for a site inspection in March 2023, and all the rooms were shown to us and also we were told that they would be open for our use (for photos, no sleeping of course )during the wedding. It’s worth noting that we understood we would only get one bridal suite as day of accommodation, to get ready etc, which is all the way in the third floor as we only booked a one-day rental. To get ready in the highly decorated bridal suite on the second floor would be for an extra charge. But that’s about it regarding extra charges. (Later did we know that guests using bathrooms come at extra charges too! Lol) Time came June 2023, the wedding planner forwarded an email from the villa mgmt, barring us from using 85% of the rooms that were shown —the rooms with beautiful fresco and furnitures—they were crossed off on the PDF floor plan that was forwarded with big red crosses. On the wedding day, with our elderly parents and bridal party, we had to make do with just two couches on the first floor living room area, and there was barely any AC in 96 degrees weather. My family and bridal party had to take turns to sit and they were suffocating. If not for the nice photographers to ask for a couple smaller rooms to be open for bride & groom’ photoshoot, I’d have nothing inside the villa to show in my wedding portraits. And isn’t showcasing the beauty of the villa the whole point of booking it?! Most of the time, my family and I were just standing against the white wall in the first floor hall way for family photos, which completely defeats the point. 2. Everything has to be a fight including disability access. A place that lists “wheelchair access” on its website and google page refused our disability access requests. My mom couldn’t sit, walk or stand for long due to her disability. But normally people can’t tell because she hides it well. When we arrived at the villa, knowing most rooms are blocked, we were still shocked that the mgmt wouldn’t allow us to use the elevator —their reason is: access to the elevator is in the area that’s blocked off to us. Our bridal suite is on the third floor—and these are the big marble steps with two flights each floor. My mom begged the staff to please make an exception for her and they wouldn’t. After several times, our wedding assistant eventually persuaded the on-site manager to allow my mom to use it. Yet it took the manager 30 minutes to arrive to open the door to the lift. ( isn’t it her job to be on-site and stand by in the day of an event!?) And she forbid anyone else to accompany my mother. My mom suffered so much not being able to go the bridal suite to rest and use bathroom that she had to lean on the chair ( seen in the photo here) to alleviate some of her back pain. What kind of nasty behavior is this to treat the people who come to simply adore your beautiful “home” and bring you business? 3. Overall this villa has the attitude that “we know we are pretty and in high demand, so we can do whatever. Take it or leave it” and I can tell you, Villa Balbiano, this is the exact attitude that would send you down the toilet eventually, and probably soon. A reputation is EARNED not GIVEN.

The owners are very difficult, but the place is beautiful. There are better villas around.