Loire Valley Wedding Photographer
Loire Valley Wedding Photographer
The Loire Valley is where couples come to marry in castles, and it is where I live. My studio sits on the western edge of this region; the châteaux that international couples spend a year dreaming about, Château de Jalesnes, Château de la Flocellière, Château Challain, Château du Loroux, Château de la Bretonnière and their many sisters, are my regular workplaces, some of them photographed across four or more full wedding weekends.
That local intimacy is the quiet advantage I offer. Any good photographer can make a castle look grand. Knowing which staircase catches the last light in June, which garden wall shelters portraits from the Atlantic breeze, and at what exact minute the west façade turns gold: that only comes from being here, wedding after wedding, season after season.
An editorial eye, a documentary heart
My photography lives where two worlds meet. From documentary photojournalism, I take the discipline of never staging your day: I photograph what truly happens, the tremble in a father's hands, the laughter that bends your best friend in half, the look you exchange when no one is watching. From the editorial world, where my work has been featured in Wedding Sparrow and Tatler, I take intention: light, composition and styling awareness that make real moments look like magazine pages.
The result has been recognized with more than 250 international awards and a place among the world's top 60 wedding photographers five years running (WPJA). I mention it for one reason: you get one wedding, and its memory deserves an eye that has been tested at the highest level.
Château weddings are a craft of their own
A multi-day château wedding is not a long version of a normal wedding; it is a different animal, and I have photographed many of them here.
It means knowing that the real gold of the weekend is Friday night, when guests arrive and nobody is performing yet. It means building Saturday's timeline around a 9:45 pm June sunset so that your portraits happen in honeyed light while your guests enjoy the cheese course, fifteen minutes, not an hour away from your own party. It means having photographed the château's suites, chapels and gardens before, so that rain rearranges nothing but the umbrella count. And it means stamina and discretion in equal measure: I am there early, I stay late, and most couples tell me afterward they forgot I was working.
A few of these weekends, told in full:
A black-tie, two-day celebration at Château de Jalesnes for a British couple: garden ceremony, gala dinner, and the particular elegance of the Saumur countryside. I have photographed a lot of weddings and sessions at this castle; it is practically a second studio.
Three days at Château de la Flocellière for a couple from Los Angeles: welcome dinner beneath the keep, black-tie ceremony, and a party that tested the sunrise. And I shot the wedding of another couple from Los Angeles before them, who referred me by the way., just below.
A transatlantic wedding from Newport Beach to the Loire, intimate and luminous, with the sweetest couple ever. I shot their engagement session in the USA before that.
A two-country celebration between Lake Como and Château de la Bretonnière near Nantes, for a Franco-Peruvian couple.
Photography, Video, or both
I am a photographer and a videographer, and in the Loire Valley most of my international couples choose both: one team, one artistic direction, and a cinematic wedding film that keeps what photographs cannot, your voices, your vows, the sound of that dance floor. If film matters to you, it is worth deciding early: the combined collections are designed together, not bolted on. And speaking of Film, I also do Film photography and love analog.
Planned from abroad, photographed like a local
Most of my Loire Valley couples plan from London, New York, Sydney or Los Angeles, and my process is built for that. Everything happens fluently in English or French: video calls at your time zone's convenience, honest advice on venues I actually know, timeline design around real light rather than imported templates, and vendor recommendations from personal shortlists refined over fifteen years, planners, celebrants, florists and makeup artists who work these châteaux every season.
By the time you land in France, the plan is already ours, not just yours.
What working together looks like
It starts with a conversation: your story, your venue (or your shortlist, I am happy to weigh in), what you want to feel when you open the gallery in ten years. Then a clear, itemized proposal, a simple contract, and a retainer that locks your date, after which the planning help begins immediately and costs nothing extra.
On the weekend itself: full coverage shaped to your celebration, whether that is one long Saturday or three unfolding days. Afterward: sneak peeks while you are still in France if the schedule allows, the full edited gallery within weeks, and fine art albums built to outlive us all.
Collections for Loire Valley weddings start around €3000; multi-day weekends are quoted individually and transparently. [Elopement packages & pricing]
Frequently asked questions
Which châteaux do you know best? Château de Jalesnes, la Flocellière, and Château du Loroux for sure from repeated weekends, and many more from single weddings and scouting. If your venue is new to me, we can visit together when you come before your day, at no charge.
How far in advance should we book? Peak Saturdays (May to September) go 12 to 18 months out. If your date is closer, ask anyway; calendars breathe.
Do you travel within the region? Everywhere you’d like, whether it is between Tours, Angers, Nantes and the Vendée coast without hesitation; the whole valley is home turf.
Can you help us choose a venue? Gladly, and early: tell me your guest count and the mood you want, and I will shortlist venues I know from experience, with honest notes on light and logistics. It is easier to photograph a wedding brilliantly when the venue was chosen with photography in mind.
We are eloping, not hosting 100 guests. Still you? Very much so: the Loire is wonderful for elopements, and several châteaux welcome tiny ceremonies.
Let's talk about your wedding
If the Loire Valley is where your wedding belongs, you deserve a photographer who does not need directions to it. Tell me your date, your venue or your shortlist, and the story so far: I answer personally, quickly, and with real advice either way.