Chateau De Varennes Wedding Photographer

Gemma and Alan’s beautiful destination wedding in Burgundy, France at Chateau de Varennes

It’s been a little while since I blogged a full wedding so I thought I’d kick things off with this absolute beauty from back at the beginning of May. Gemma and Alan’s amazing destination wedding in Burgundy, France at the spectacular Chateau de Varennes. I knew I loved France already. I knew I loved chateau weddings already. I didn’t know that Alan and Gemma are two of the world’s friendliest people. I’ve rarely felt so welcomed at a wedding.

I had met Gemma a year earlier when she was bridesmaid for Claire and Chris’ big day at the altogether more local Sandhole Oak Barn. A few months later I received an email to see if I was free to photograph her and Alan’s wedding in France, and after exploiting the wonders of modern technology with a Cheshire-Staffordshire-Bahrain Skype conference call it was all sorted and I was booking my flights to Geneva… Tangent… Geneva is the closest airport that you can fly directly and cheaply to from Manchester. And because Gemma and Alan’s wedding was in France I made a supposedly educated decision to hire a car from the French side of Geneva airport. Big mistake. BIG. Take it from me now, unless you want to make your life infinitely more stressful than it ever needs to be, if you’re flying to Geneva then ignore that it even has a French side. But enough of that…

I arrived at Chateau de Varennes to meet Gemma and Alan the night before their wedding. It had rained for days and as I pulled up there was a huge rainbow over the chateau. Inside, Gemma and Alan were busily greeting people, drinking prosecco and rushing around trying to help get everyone and everything organised for the next day. I’ve never experienced such a selfless attitude to a wedding before. Above all else, they only wanted everyone to have an incredible time, and they wanted to be the hosts of their party rather than just the bride and groom. They gave me the grand tour of Chateau de Varennes – and it’s worth saying here that what’s even more incredible about this already super incredible chateau wedding venue, is that it really felt like Gemma and Alan’s home for the weekend. The chateau staff were around and organising everything behind the scenes but it felt like Gemma and Alan’s crib. And that was such a cool feeling for them.

The next day the sun shone all morning, teasing us that the relentless rain they’d seen in the area for the last few days might stay away but no such luck. The rain started soon after the ceremony was finished, giving just enough time to throw confetti and open their immense jeroboam of Champagne, and it drizzled constantly after that. But nobody cared. This is where my ‘weddings are all about people’ philosophy kicks in – the weather didn’t make a jot of difference to Gemma and Alan’s or their guests enjoyment of their wedding. It didn’t stop them creasing up laughing during the hilarious speeches and it didn’t stop them kissing and cuddling their way around the beautiful interiors of Chateau de Varennes as they took some time out for some portraits. Nor did it stop them dancing their asses off in the Orangery well into the night after their michelin quality wedding breakfast. An amazing wedding full of amazing people.

I love destination weddings, I love chateau weddings, I love weddings in France. I loved Gemma and Alan’s Chateau de Varennes wedding and here are some of my favourites from their day…