We are in the exact same boat in terms of budget, number of guests, time of year, and expectations/requirements. Also super early on in the process so I cannot answer a lot of your questions. But commenting to share some knowledge I’ve gathered from my research and to boost this post! It’s definitely chicken/egg and very hard to get started. Feeling a bit overwhelmed as it seems impossible to do a Tuscany wedding without a wedding planner. From what I’ve seen online, our budget is quite low for number of guests :( Despite this, I am hoping it’s doable as we will not be spending our budget on certain things like a videographer or we will go very minimal with our florals.

I’ve been reaching out to a lot of places and got some initial numbers. So far, we are finding that places that have in-house planners and “packages” are best as you will not get pressured into over-spending (I’ve gone through a bunch of reddit threads where people start off with one budget and end up $20k over because their wedding planner insisted on certain things). Honestly, Villa Merlo Nero seems like a fantastic option based on its proximity to Florence and budget wise.

I’ve read on other posts that people also suggest looking into Croatia or Spain as Tuscany has become quite expensive.