Loire Valley château wedding photographer
A château is a building with opinions. What you may photograph, where and until when is decided by the estate, and it is far better to know in March.
- From
- €1,200
The session
The estate makes the rules
Every château answers differently on rooms, hours, flash, tripods and what may be photographed at all. None of it is unreasonable and none of it is guessable, so we ask in writing at the point you book.
It is unglamorous work. It is also why a day here rarely produces the conversation that begins with somebody saying, at six in the evening, that we cannot go in there.
The room with the tall windows
Almost every one of these buildings has one: a salon with four-metre windows along a single wall, producing light that no equipment reproduces. Getting the couple and the family into that room while the sun is still on that side is the single most valuable thing a timeline can do.
Grounds, late
The formal gardens and the stone photograph best in the last hour of light, which in June is close to ten in the evening. Guests are usually eating by then, and twenty minutes of that hour spent outside is rarely missed by anybody.
Elsewhere in France
The wedding photographer page covers how a full day is run anywhere in the country. For a hotter, drier version of the same destination wedding, see Provence.
Price
From €1,200, with the full range on the pricing page. A deposit of 30% holds the date; travel and any overnight stay appear in the quote before you commit.
What holds you back
The questions people hesitate to ask
- Are the interiors too dark to photograph?
- Rarely, and the reverse is usually true: a salon with tall windows on one side is the best light in France, better than anything we could construct. What matters is being in that room at the right hour, which is a timeline question rather than an equipment one.
- The château has restrictions on flash
- Many do, particularly in rooms with historic textiles, and it is a reasonable rule. We work without flash indoors by preference anyway. What we need is to know the rule in advance, because a restriction discovered at seven in the evening changes where dinner can be photographed.
- We have never seen the place in person
- Common for couples booking from abroad. We scout before the day at the hour of your ceremony, and you get back the things no brochure carries: which side the light comes from, how far the walk from the ceremony to the dinner really is, what the gravel does to heels.
- What happens if it rains?
- In these buildings, less than you fear — there is nearly always a room worth photographing in. What we establish in advance is which room, and whether the estate will actually open it, because an orangery that seats forty is no answer for a hundred and twenty guests.
- Can we use drones over the estate?
- That is a matter for the estate and for French aviation rules, not for us, and many châteaux forbid it outright. We do not fly, we do not subcontract it, and we would rather say so than promise an aerial shot that turns out to be prohibited.
How it runs
How it works
What the château permits
Which rooms, which hours, whether flash or a tripod is allowed indoors, and whether any part of the building is closed to photography. Estates differ enormously and none of it is guessable.
Light through tall windows
The great advantage of these buildings is a room with four-metre windows on one side. The running order is built to put people in that room while the light is still coming through it.
The day
Continuous coverage of the agreed hours, group photographs early from a short list, and the grounds used late when the stone goes warm.
Delivery
Sorting, treatment, then the complete gallery within 4 to 6 weeks.
Full gallery delivered within 4 to 6 weeks.
Pricing
What it costs
€1,200–€3,500
- Duration
- 10 h
- Delivery
- 4 to 6 weeks
- Deposit
- 30%
TODO_TVA
Included
- The estate’s rules obtained in writing before the day
- A running order built around the western light and the interiors
- Continuous coverage of the agreed hours
- Private gallery in full resolution, reachable from any country
Options
Questions
Frequently asked
Which part of the valley do you cover?
From Orléans down to Angers, including the Touraine and the Anjou. Travel is quoted at cost before you commit, and an overnight stay is included in the quote from the start for the more distant estates.
How long before the wedding should we book?
Twelve to eighteen months for a summer Saturday, largely because the châteaux themselves are booked that far ahead and the date follows the venue rather than the other way round.
Do you work with English-speaking planners?
Routinely, and it makes the day easier. Where there is a planner, the running order goes through them; where there is not, we write it with you directly. Either way it exists in English before the day.
Tell us about the day
Describe what you want to keep from it. You get back a written proposal with a figure in it, not a catalogue.