The Venetian River Club is a Northern Italian pastiche on the Myakka River, and it films best when you let it be exactly that. Labif Filmhouse has filmed there, in Nokomis.
The Venetian River Club sits inside the Venetian Golf & River Club, a 1,039-acre Northern Italian Renaissance-themed community in North Venice, adjoining the Myakka River. It has three dining rooms — La Sala Lounge, the Pranzare Dining Room and La Vista — each with high ceilings and panoramic windows onto a veranda and event lawn. The main room seats 140.
How it actually films
The Tuscan and Venetian architectural detailing gives frames texture without any set dressing. Arched openings, columns and warm stucco are the kind of thing a film would otherwise have to build, and they photograph as intentional rather than themed as long as the coverage stays close and specific.
The panoramic windows are the room's light. That makes a daytime reception look like daylight rather than tungsten, which is unusual for a club dining room, and it means the veranda and interior can be cut together without a visible colour shift.
What to protect in the timeline
- Daylight for the interior. The windows are the whole lighting plan.
- The veranda and lawn for the ceremony. It is the only part of the property that reads as Florida rather than Italy.
- Tight coverage of the architecture. Wide shots reveal a golf community; close ones reveal a villa.
Merissa + Kasey
Filmed at the Venetian River Club in Nokomis in April 2021. Their film is below.
Filmed at Venetian River Club. See more of our wedding videography in Sarasota.