Thomas & Hannah’s Wedding at Château Bellefontaine

From the air, Château Bellefontaine sits very clearly within the landscape. The main cream-stone building, the pools and the reception spaces are gathered together, with vineyards stretching away around them.

At ground level it feels less formal than the word château might suggest. The blue shutters, pale stone, old wine barrels and large trees make it feel relaxed and distinctly southern French.

The outdoor ceremony area had been set beneath the trees. Hannah’s family were still working on the square ceremony frame when I arrived, draping the fabric and adding the flowers themselves. I always like photographing this part. The finished details matter, but so do the people who made them happen.

The different parts of the venue are also close enough to move between without the wedding feeling fragmented. Preparations were inside the main building, the ceremony and drinks were outside, the vineyards were a short walk away for portraits, and dinner took place in the bright reception room. Details about accommodation and the reception spaces are available on the official Château Bellefontaine website.

Thomas got ready with his dad, his uncle and his best man. The heat was already affecting everybody, and at one point his best man simply reached over and wiped the sweat from Thomas’s forehead.

It is not the sort of photograph that would appear in a carefully staged editorial version of the morning, but it is exactly the sort of photograph that makes the story real. It says something about the temperature, the friendship and what it actually felt like to be in that room.

Thomas’s dad helped with his buttonhole, and then I went to photograph Hannah with her girlfriends and her mum. There was plenty happening, but the atmosphere was warm and easy. Her mum helped her into her dress while her friends finished getting ready around her.

Hannah’s dad came in once she was dressed. Seeing her as a bride for the first time was emotional, and the two of them had a lovely hug afterwards. He had also brought her a special bracelet.

I do not have a close photograph of the bracelet itself, but I do have the interaction between Hannah and her dad when he gave it to her. For me, that is the more valuable photograph. The object matters because of the person who gave it to her.

Before we left for the ceremony, I made a few very simple bridal portraits against a clean white background. I also photographed Hannah walking down one of the old stone staircases. Those two settings show something useful about Château Bellefontaine: it offers clean, bright interiors as well as the texture and age of the original building.

The ceremony took place outside, with rows of white chairs facing the fabric-and-flower frame Hannah’s family had finished that morning.

Hannah walked down the aisle with her dad. Thomas was visibly emotional as soon as he saw her, and there was a lovely handshake between him and Hannah’s father when they reached the front.

Those small exchanges are easy to miss if you are only watching the obvious event. Hannah arriving was the big moment, but the way Thomas looked at her and the way the two men greeted one another are what give the sequence its feeling.

Thomas and Hannah had written personal vows. Hannah’s mum cried as Thomas read his, while Hannah’s grandparents watched from the front rows. There was emotion, but the ceremony was not solemn all the way through. Both Thomas and Hannah laughed too.

The combination of French and British families gave the ceremony its own character. Nobody needed to perform for the photographs. I concentrated on the vows, the rings and the reactions moving through the rows of guests.

Once they were married, Hannah and Thomas came back through the confetti together. Almost immediately, everybody moved towards them for hugs. One of my favourite photographs from the day is Thomas’s father holding him and crying.

After the ceremony, the shaded reception area beneath the trees was a welcome relief. On a day that hot, it made an enormous practical difference. Guests could get out of the direct sun, settle with a drink and actually enjoy talking to one another.

This is the part of a wedding where I stop thinking in terms of scheduled events and start watching the smaller groups. I am looking for who has found one another, the conversation that has become unexpectedly funny, and the hugs the couple may be too busy to notice.

Inside, the dining room was ready for everybody. It is much more modern than the exterior of the château, with a high ceiling, pale surfaces and plenty of natural light. It was particularly good to photograph because it remained bright even when everyone had moved inside.

Hannah kept the flowers simple. She had made the napkins herself, along with the little personalised place-name pieces tucked inside them. They were the sort of detail guests could have taken home and used afterwards as bookmarks.

Somebody had also crocheted tiny dolls of Hannah and Thomas. I photographed them on the table first, then later with the real Hannah and Thomas holding them. It is a small detail, but completely specific to this wedding.

I took Hannah and Thomas away briefly for portraits later in the afternoon. Château Bellefontaine gives you several different backgrounds within a short walk, so we did not need to disappear from the drinks reception for long.

The light had become warm and much softer by then. We used the mature trees, the open grounds and the edge of the vineyards.

I kept this part deliberately short. Beautiful portraits matter, particularly somewhere with this much landscape, but the wedding was continuing behind us. I would much sooner give a couple a small set of strong portraits and return them to their guests than turn the middle of their wedding into a lengthy photo shoot.

The wide black-and-white frame shows just how much space there is around the château. The closer colour portrait is much more about Hannah and Thomas themselves. The photograph at the top of this post brings the two together: the couple, the trees and the vineyard setting in one frame.

Thomas gave his speech outside before everyone went in for dinner. It was very funny, but it had the right amount of feeling in it too. The reactions around him moved between laughter and the quieter moments, which is exactly what makes speeches interesting to photograph.

Hannah and Thomas then made a lively entrance into dinner, with everybody cheering them into the room. The contrast between the old stone exterior and the bright, modern dining space works especially well at this point in the day. It feels like a proper change of scene without anybody having to travel elsewhere.

The crocheted dolls appeared again once they were seated. Hannah and Thomas held them up together, which gave the earlier detail photograph a reason to exist rather than leaving it as an isolated picture of something on a table.

Hannah’s dad gave another excellent speech. I watched Hannah and Thomas, but I also kept looking around the room. Thomas’s father raised his glass and gave him a cheeky wink. Hannah leaned across to Thomas, and after the speech she gave her dad an enormous hug.

This is why I do not photograph a speech as one person standing and talking. The speaker is only half the story. The rest is in the faces, private exchanges and family relationships happening around the room.

My coverage finished with the arrival of the traditional French croquembouche.

It came into the room with sparklers blazing while everybody stood, clapped and cheered. After a day that had mixed French and British people and traditions so naturally, it felt like exactly the right final scene.

The last photographs are not quiet ones. Hannah and Thomas are beside the croquembouche with their arms in the air, and behind me the entire room is on its feet.

It was hot, funny, emotional and full of people who were completely invested in the two of them. Château Bellefontaine gave the day a beautiful setting, but Hannah, Thomas and their families gave it its character. I would very happily photograph another Château Bellefontaine wedding.