Emma & Rowan’s Wedding at Le Domaine du Rey

Le Domaine du Rey sits amongst the wooded hills of the Cévennes in Gard. The different parts of the venue are close enough that the wedding moves naturally from one setting to the next: ceremony beneath the trees, drinks on the terrace, dinner in the Pré des Oliviers and the evening party inside the Grange.

I arrived early and Wilma, the venue coordinator, gave me a tour and pointed out some of the places that work particularly well for photographs. Before preparations began I also photographed the domaine from the air, which gives a good sense of just how beautifully it sits in the surrounding landscape.

You can find more information about the venue on the Le Domaine du Rey website.

Emma got ready with her bridesmaids, including her sister. Her Pronovias dress was a beautifully simple satin design with an old-Hollywood feel to it. She wore her hair softly pinned back, pearl drop earrings and a diamond necklace Rowan had given her.

The hair and makeup team had already finished by the time I arrived, so I concentrated on what was actually happening: the dress, the jewellery, the bridesmaids and the reactions around Emma.

The ceremony was held beneath mature trees with the Cévennes hills behind them. On such a hot day the shade made a practical difference for everybody, and it also gave us soft, flattering light throughout the ceremony.

Hidden beneath the guests’ seats were wooden spoons printed with “Roma”, Emma and Rowan’s names merged together, and their wedding date. They were wedding favours, but they were also microphones.

Instead of traditional hymns, everyone sang Islands in the Stream, All You Need Is Love and One Day Like This. There was even a bit of competition between the two sides of the aisle. People properly went for it, which made the ceremony personal, funny and unexpectedly emotional.

Even the confetti had a story. Emma’s parents, Bob and Sarah, had dried the rose petals themselves. Bob showed me a handful before they were thrown, so I photographed them in his palm first.

The drinks reception then spread across the terrace below the ceremony. There were Aperol Spritzes, bubbles, white wine, rosé and beer, with food circulating amongst the guests. The oysters deserve a mention too. They were one of those details that immediately made the reception feel generous, relaxed and very south of France.

Emma and Rowan were having far too good a time to disappear for an hour for photographs, and there was no need to. I had already checked the light around the venue and the olive grove was the obvious choice.

We spent about five minutes there. The light coming through the trees was beautiful, the walk was easy and we made a small set of strong portraits before they went straight back to their guests.

Towards the end of the drinks reception I photographed the whole wedding party from the upper terrace, with everybody waving and cheering for Emma and Rowan.

From there everyone moved down through the venue for the Champagne tower. Emma and Rowan filled it together, then guests took a coupe and continued towards the olive grove for dinner.

Their entrance was anything but quiet. Everyone was already on their feet, cheering, waving napkins and making enough noise to set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Dinner was served at two long tables in the Pré des Oliviers. As the daylight dropped, the little overhead lights began to glow and the whole space changed. It is one of the things I particularly liked about photographing Le Domaine du Rey: the landscape is part of the wedding all day, then the atmosphere shifts completely after dark.

There were speeches from Bob, Emma, Rowan and the two best men, with plenty happening around the tables between them. The reactions are always as important to me as the person speaking.

Emma told me she had been quoted minimum spends of around five thousand for floristry and simply did not want to spend that much on flowers for one day. Instead, she had her bouquet and the bridesmaids’ flowers made by a small local flower shop and put more of the budget into things people would actually experience.

For Emma and Rowan, who are both big music fans, that made complete sense. Music ran through the whole wedding: everybody singing during the ceremony, a strolling band during the drinks reception and dinner, then Bright Lights for the evening party.

The strolling band, Sounds of Riviera, really came into their own around the dinner tables, moving from group to group and getting everybody singing again.

At the end of the meal, the strolling band led everybody back towards the terrace and the Grange, where Bright Lights had set up for the evening.

I have worked with Bright Lights several times over the years and recommend them often. They are excellent musicians and they know how to work a crowd. By this point everybody was already completely up for the party.

Emma and Rowan’s first dance was surrounded by their guests, who very quickly joined them. Within minutes the dance floor was full.

By the time I left, the day had run considerably later than planned, but nobody seemed remotely ready for it to end. It had been enormous fun to photograph: personal without feeling over-styled, full of music from beginning to end, and completely centred on people having a genuinely good time.

Emma kept asking me during the day whether every couple says theirs is the best wedding ever. I did not tell her at the time, because I thought she would assume I said it to everyone, but this one really was pretty special.

The journey home gave me one final memory of the day. Driving back through the dark roads of the Cévennes, a herd of wild boar crossed directly in front of me. I also saw an enormous hare and a couple of foxes, so the two-and-a-half-hour drive home turned into an unexpected late-night wildlife tour. It felt like a suitably memorable ending to a wedding in such a beautiful, remote part of France.