Indre-et-Loire · Amboise · Loire Valley
Wedding photographer at
Château Gaillard
Château Gaillard sits inside Amboise itself, billed as the most Italian of the Loire châteaux: a Renaissance façade of carved stone lace, formal parterres, and the first orangery ever built in France, planted with Dom Pacello's orange trees. For a documentary photographer the gardens are the story here. One of the Loire Valley houses we would love to photograph.
From our own weddings. We have not yet photographed here, and we would love to.
The château
A Renaissance château in the heart of Amboise, Gaillard holds the first orangery built in France, created when Dom Pacello di Mercogliano brought orange trees north. Its Italian gardens and stone-lace façade make it one of the most distinctive settings in the valley.
Why Gaillard suits the way we work
Gaillard photographs outward: the Jardins du Roy and the grand parterres give a botanical, Italianate backdrop you find nowhere else on the Loire, best in the long light when the geometry of the beds throws shadow.
Inside, the day ends grandly, a banquet down a fifty-metre mirror table, and the couple can spend the night in the Suite Royale where Mary, Queen of Scots stayed. It suits a wedding that wants the Renaissance and the gardens as the set.
Where your day photographs
Les Jardins du Roy
The Italian Renaissance gardens, formal geometry and long walks, the signature backdrop for the couple in the late light.
The grand parterres
Clipped formal beds below the façade, clean lines for a wide portrait or an arrival.
The orangery and orange trees
France's first orangery, Dom Pacello's orange trees, a botanical frame unlike any other Loire venue.
The Suite Royale
The bridal suite where Mary, Queen of Scots stayed, period detail for the getting-ready and the first light of the day.
How we would photograph your day
We came to weddings from photojournalism. We observe, we anticipate, we capture what happens without interrupting it. No posing, no staging the facade, no asking anyone to do it again.
We always work as two. While one of us is at the ceremony, the other is watching the faces. That second pair of eyes is the difference between a record of the venue and a record of your day.
Getting there, and what it costs
Gaillard is about an hour away, at Amboise. We live in Lencloître, in the Vienne, and travel to weddings in the Vienne and the Loire Valley is included in our packages, with no surcharge.
Our packages start at 3,190 €, both photographers for the full day, all edited images included.
Why us
This Is Reportage, TOP 20 Storytellers in the World, 2022. WPJA, TOP 50 Photographers in the World, 2021 and 2022. 232 international awards across sixteen years, judged anonymously from real weddings.
337 weddings photographed since 2009, across Europe. We are based in the Vienne, we speak French, English and Romanian, and we always work as a duo.
"We planned our whole wedding around being able to work with them. The way they naturally blend in while capturing every emotion, warm, humane, and so easy to work with."
"It only took five minutes to realise they were the friends we wanted to pay to be at our wedding."
Frequently asked questions
What makes Château Gaillard different to photograph?+
Its Italian Renaissance gardens and stone-lace façade, and the first orangery built in France, give a botanical, Italianate backdrop you find nowhere else on the Loire.
Where is Château Gaillard?+
In the heart of Amboise, in the Indre-et-Loire, about an hour from us and firmly in the Loire Valley we cover.
Can the couple stay at Château Gaillard?+
Yes, in the Suite Royale de Marie Stuart, where Mary, Queen of Scots spent part of her honeymoon.
More