Ester Chianelli Weddings & Events

Bespoke planning and design, the length of Italy.

Naples, Campania, Italy

She publishes the fee, the payment schedule and the commission policy.

Ten per cent of the wedding budget. Forty per cent on signature, sixty per cent thirty days before. No commission taken from suppliers, and discounts negotiated for the couple instead. Fifteen couples a year, stated as a ceiling. All of it is on her own website, in an FAQ, before anybody has spoken to anybody. In a market that treats the first conversation as a qualification round, that is the most unusual thing about the agency, and it is entirely to the couple's advantage.

Ester Chianelli

Born in Naples in 1982. A degree in Marine Biology, then a period as a television correspondent that took her through more than thirty countries and left her fluent in the practical part of moving between languages and time zones. She left the science at twenty three, went into events through her first employer, and built the agency out of the network she made.

She describes herself as the creative director rather than the planner, and the distinction is honest: the thing she is known for is spatial design, composing a venue rather than dressing it. The first artefact a couple receives is a wedding lookbook drawn in Procreate or painted in watercolour, which is a slower and more revealing way to work than a Pinterest board. Alessandra, who came in as an intern, took a law degree first and is now her right hand, runs coordination beside her. RSVP Club named Ester Best Wedding Planner in 2025.

Weddings We Have Planned

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The Terms

No commission from suppliers. In writing.

It is the quiet conflict of interest in this industry and she addresses it directly on her own site: she does not accept commission from vendors, and negotiates discounts for the couple instead. Read that alongside a fee of ten per cent of the budget and the incentives line up in the only direction that makes sense.

Seven steps, published in order.

Ideation, where the vision and the style are established. A wedding lookbook, drawn in Procreate or painted by hand, which is the starting point for everything after it. Design refinement, detail by detail, until the scheme survives contact with the venue. Communication through shared documents, so the budget is visible rather than reported. Vendor management, with her team speaking to suppliers directly as the day approaches. Day-of coordination of everyone from caterer to clean-up crew against a written timeline. And adaptability, which she lists as a step rather than a promise, with contingency plans for the weather. The Wedding Concierge runs alongside it: one-to-one contact for your guests, transport, welcome packages, restaurant reservations made by telephone in Italian, and a wedding website her team builds and keeps updated.

Full Planning and Design

Ideation, a hand-drawn lookbook, design refinement, vendor management and day-of coordination. Quoted at ten per cent of the wedding budget, published on her own site rather than disclosed on a call.

Spatial Design

The part she is known for. A venue is composed rather than decorated: the volume, the sightline and the light are settled before a single flower is ordered. It is why an olive grove and a palace courtyard end up looking like two different problems solved well.

The Wedding Concierge

A separate service for your guests. One-to-one contact with a member of her team, transport to and from the venue, welcome packages, restaurant reservations made by telephone in Italian, local recommendations, an on-site concierge on the day, and a wedding website her team builds and updates.

The Whole Week

Welcome dinners, farewell brunches, private boat days, proposals and engagement parties. She plans the events around the wedding as a matter of course, which is what fifteen couples a year buys: room to build a week rather than a Saturday.

The Amalfi Coast

Ravello for the terraces and the gardens: Villa Cimbrone, Palazzo Avino, Belmond Caruso, Villa Eva. Amalfi for the historic churches and the seaside villas. Positano for Villa Treville, Villa Marincanto and Villa Olivero, and terraces that appear to float. Boat days to Capri between them.

Campania and the Bay

Her home water, and the reason the agency is in Naples. Ischia and its Aragonese castle, dinner laid on a wooden deck at the water, fireworks over the bay at the end of the night. The northern lakes are a flight away; this is a fifteen minute drive.

Puglia

Masserie, castles and olive groves, with dinner outside and the evening running late. Her Puglian work is the least ornamented in the portfolio and, on the evidence, the most confident: white linen, green ceramics, limes, and an olive grove strung with lights doing the rest.

The North, and the Islands

Lake Como, Lake Garda, Lake Maggiore, Venice, Tuscany, Umbria, Rome and Sicily. Ten destinations in total, all published on her own site, all worked from Naples with a team that travels rather than a franchise that does not.

Lexy A.

Google Review, 5 Stars

Luxury Wedding Directory

Editorial

Investment

The Fee Is a Percentage, and She Publishes the Percentage.

Weddings at This venue typically represent a total investment of Bespoke, depending on guest count, season, and the level of bespoke elements chosen.

Ester Chianelli publishes her commercial terms in full on her own website, which almost nobody at this end of the market does. The planning fee is ten per cent of the total wedding budget, so it scales with the event rather than being invented for it. She recommends budgeting from 1,200 euro per guest, inclusive of all services, as a starting point for the wedding itself: that figure is the whole celebration, venue and catering and flowers and photography together, and it is not her fee. Payment runs forty per cent before planning begins and sixty per cent, plus any increase to the budget, thirty days before the wedding. She takes no commission from suppliers, and says so in writing: she negotiates discounts for the couple instead.

All pricing is indicative. Final investment varies by date, guest count, menu, and bespoke requirements. Contact the venue directly for a tailored proposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ester Chianelli Weddings & Events