Bride on a Broom, Rain Again! Yorkshire Folk, An Eco Friendly Wedding Venue and The World According To Arthur.

Our sixth Wedding of the 2024 season for Danielle & Josh was held at Chateau Barayre, a 12th Century, eco friendly castle nestled in the beautiful French country side not far from Laussou.  The venue is owned by Jaap & Rachna from the Netherlands, who are amazing hosts, organising and running the weddings with a great team of local suppliers. Together, their aim is to have a strong focus on sustainability and this is clearly evident in the venue’s facilities and how it’s managed.

 

We live only 24 km from the venue, so were happy our low carbon footprint contributed a little towards Jaap & Rachna’s sustainability approach..

 

 

When I first spoke to Danielle we were on holiday skiing in Morzine in the French Alps.  It was early morning 9am for me, and 5pm (ish)for Danielle, she was calling from Australia.  Of course when the phone rang I expected to hear an Australian accent.  I quickly recognised the accent, from Yorkshire, and more interestingly from my area of Yorkshire.  Both Danielle & Josh turned out to be Yorkshire folk!  Danielle was equally as surprised to hear my Yorkshire accent too, as she’d been expecting a French accent.  Safe to say we got along from the get go.

 

We had our usual pre-wedding call with Danielle & Josh, a few weeks away from the wedding day to go over the final details.

 

 The weather forecast looked stormy for our third wedding in a row!  

 

Arriving mid morning we headed straight to introduce ourselves in person to our Yorkshire kin. Jo and I really enjoyed being around people from our area of England.  Our accents definitely got more strong as the day went on. Of course we had no problems communicating with anyone!

 

Jo went to Danielle & her girls in the Tower to spend some time taking prep shots, whilst I headed to Josh & the boys.  Danielle’s gorgeous red hair was styled by Le Salon de Valerie from nearby Villereal. What a treat to photograph such vibrant colour and curls, and to capture her bridal details which were simply stunning.

 

 

 

I found Josh and his groomsmen in the downstairs part of the tower, quite chilled and relaxed.  As normal I like to get the details shots done first.  In my time as a wedding photographer, I’ve seen a lot of bottles of aftershave.  By coincidence Josh’s fragrance was by the only brand of mens scent I ever wear, Penhaligons.  Josh wore a beautiful Rolex watch, and cuff links with a lovely message inscribed for him by Danielle. I couldn’t wait to get working on these detail shots!  

 

 

Next came Josh’s portraits.  He looked super dapper in his suit by Ted Baker.

 

 

Groomsmen always come in handy to help the groom get ready, and these Yorkshire lads did a great job of supporting their mate!

 

 

 From here it was back to the Bride for her portraits.  Jo had everything under control!  Prep photos done, bride and girls photos done.  Mother and bride done.  I felt rather redundant!  Together we captured some beautiful images of Danielle in her dress by Rain Bridalwear.  Her make up looked amazing, thanks to Magalie at Le Petit Salon Villarreal for her work!

 

 

Ready to go get married!  We headed down the stairs to the main door.  After a first look with the bridesmaids and Dad, Andrew, Danielle was excited to see her husband to be… then it rained… a lot! 

 

Thankfully the venue was well prepared with plenty of guest umbrellas.  We also rushed to our car to grab an extra large golf umbrella and covered Danielle as she made her way from the main castle to the barn where the ceremony was taking place.  She arrived dry, more than could be said for her bridesmaids.  That said rain never stopped Yorkshire folk having a good time… so on with the ceremony!

 

 

The ceremony was conducted by Celebrant Mark Rind in the 12th century barn, and accompanied by music from duo Season France Music who also entertained the guests during cocktail hour.

 

 

Meals and Speeches came early due to the rain.  The food was cooked on site by Claire and her team from CF Cuisine Conviviale.  From canapés through to dessert all the courses looked amazing.  We can also vouch for the quality of food – our vendor meal of pasta was delicious and the strawberry dessert for afters was simply the cherry on the cake (or strawberry in fact!).

 

Eventually the rain stopped to allow for some outdoor group photos. 

 

Now I’m never surprised at some of the props wedding guests bring to the party, but even I was a little shocked when one of the guests, appeared with four brooms whilst we were taking photos of the bride with her bridesmaids.  Sometimes the work as a creative just comes to you with no effort!  I love the look of bemusement on Danielle’s face and the subsequent howls of laughter when she pretended to fly on one of them.

 

 

And then the sun came out, just with enough time for the golden hour photos that we love taking and gave Danielle and Josh a few minutes of downtime together in what is really a hectic day.

 

 

 Now time to party, and party they did!  1st Dance!

 

 

The rest of the evening was given to dancing, drinking and celebrating this amazing wedding!  Before we left we also worked out that as a young boy I’d gone to school with Danielle’s mum, Tammy – small world eh?!  Enjoy your honeymoon in Bali and…

 

To find out more about how we  can work with you for your wedding contact us HERE

 

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