During the summer of 2018 I photographed my first Dordogne Wedding. I’ve known Stevie and Chris through my sister, Adele, for the past couple of years. Not least as Stevie was a bridesmaid at Adele and Phil’s Wedding back in 2016. So I was super excited when they started to plan their own wedding and informed me that they’d love for me to photograph the day for them. I was even more excited when they told me they were thinking of holding the wedding in France!
They got married at the magnificent Chateau Lacanaud which is located close to the village of Eymet in the Dordogne, and just a few miles from Bergerac. Its fair to say that Tina and I fell in love with Eymet. Its a beautiful medieval village with beautiful surroundings, cafes, bars and restaurants. Maybe one day, Mrs C and I will sell up and move there! Sadly Chateau Lacanaud is no longer hosting weddings, certainly not for the foreseeable future. Which is a great shame as the venue is stunning, with beautiful lawned areas perfect for outdoor ceremonies and wedding receptions.
The weather the day prior to the wedding day had been a little bit changeable with impressive thunder and lightening storms into the evening. By the morning of the wedding day the sun was out and heating up. In fact we think it was around 35c in the afternoon during the outdoor ceremony. The ceremony was conducted by the celebrant Gaynor McKernan – check out her website if you’re thinking of having a wedding in the South of France. I really love ceremonies where a celebrant conducts the proceedings and not a registrar. The ceremony is so much more personal and chilled out and relaxed.
After the ceremony everyone needed to cool down with some drinks and had the opportunity to catch up with friends and family in beautiful afternoon sunshine. I was a little spoilt for choice when it came to backdrops for the bride and groom portraits. A fairly decent size lake within the grounds of Chateau Lacanaud as well as some beautiful parts of the chateau itself.
The wedding breakfast took place outside later in the afternoon. Plenty of laughter from the speeches but also a 3 legged race fuelled by limoncello and jagermeister. Into the evening guests were entertained by the Synergy Live Band who played a number of sets to give guests the chance to have a good boogie!
I’ve put together a few of my favourite images from the day for you all to take a look… Not only that, as Tina was there with me she got to work on filming elements of the day which I then edited into a short film. This is shown below the photos at the bottom of the blog so be sure to go and take a little watch of that!
And here is that film;
It would be so great to get back to shoot another Dordogne Wedding. So, if you’re planning your own then let me know and lets chat about how we can make it happen! Get in touch here!
