L+M from NantesThree-Day Destination Wedding in Corsica
U Capu Biancu, Bonifaccio
Corsica - June 2024
Above: Wedding Film of L&M by Il était un Pixel in U Capu Biancu, Corsica, 2024
Below: Photos by Il était un Pixel
Three Days of Wedding in Corsica: Beach, Boats and the Lavezzi Islands
Some weddings I photograph as a vendor. This one I photographed as something closer to family.
L and M live in Les Sables-d'Olonne, a few minutes from my studio, and by the time they got engaged, I had already been their photographer for years: their maternity session while they were expecting their first child, that baby's newborn photos, then their second child's, and family session after family session as relatives flew in from abroad and drove in from across France. When the wedding came, there was no vendor search. I had been documenting this family's chapters for years; the wedding was simply the next one.
They chose Corsica because it is their island, the place they return to again and again, and they chose U Capu Biancu, a hotel whose restaurant sits directly on a beach near Bonifacio. Let me be precise the way only French law forces you to be: there are no private beaches in France, anyone may walk on any sand. But topography writes its own rules, and this cove is realistically reachable only by boat or through the hotel, which makes it, in practice, a beach that belonged to the wedding. Nobody in the party was from Corsica, everyone had traveled, and standing on that sand between the maquis and the turquoise, the day felt less like a French wedding and more like a destination celebration on some faraway island, Mauritius with Corsican light. The fact that it was technically home soil only made the trick better.
Day one, Friday, we inverted the usual engagement-session logic. Instead of a couple session months before the wedding, we did it the day before: L and M in their everyday clothes, on top of a small mountain near Bonifacio, the sea spread out below, the sun going down. An engagement session on the eve of the wedding turns out to be a beautiful idea, the nerves are real, the excitement is real, and the light did what Corsican evening light does.
Day two, the wedding. An outdoor ceremony on the sand, an intimate guest list, dinner in the restaurant above the beach, and then the part I will remember for a long time: the dance party directly on the beach, at night, under the open sky. In fifteen years I have seen this happen only rarely, once on a beach in Mauritius, and now here. Dancing on sand in the dark, the sea a few meters away, is one of those experiences that marks the couple and, frankly, the photographer too.
Wedding Team
Photo/Video: Il était un Pixel, Jérémie
Planner: Wedding Imperial by Christina (on the right)
Venue: U Capu Biancu
HMUA: Ekaterina Hlushchanka
Flowers: La Fleur au Fusil
Music: Fred et Nico Dumani
Suit: Faubourg Saint Sulpice
Sneakers: Yves Saint Laurent
Gown: Caroline Takvorian
Day three refused to choose between a brunch and a pool party and invented something better: an entire day at sea. Twenty to thirty guests split between a catamaran and a speedboat, a full day off the coast of southern Corsica around the Lavezzi islands, a barbecue on the water, swimming, laughter, and then the closing chapter: L and M put their wedding attire back on and came into the water with me for underwater portraits, the dress blooming in the Mediterranean, the Lavezzi granite below.
Three days, one island, and a family I had photographed from pregnancy to wedding vows. Galleries like this one are why I do this job.
"Jeremie has incredible talent. We met him during our first maternity photo session for our first child. This was followed by newborn sessions, family sessions, etc., and it was only natural that we specifically want him to capture our destination wedding in Corsica. These moments were unique and unforgettable. Jeremie has a gift for capturing magical moments with subtlety. He is very professional, available, gentle, warm and discreet.
I recommend him with my eyes closed :) Thank you for everything :)"
- L+M, 2024
