We honestly didn’t know what to expect when we arrived, but straight away, as we pulled past the gates,  we were blown away by Château de Challain-la-Potherie. The scale of it, the detail in the architecture, and not a leaf out of place, it really felt  like a fairytale!

Set in the quiet French countryside, the château rises in full neo-Gothic splendour, almost completely hidden to the quiet town it sits in. This makes it feel like a bit of a hidden secret!

The setting did a lot of the heavy lifting, and we just leaned into it to capture the day. Black tie style suited the grand rooms, spiral staircases and polished gardens so well. We were also very keen to use wide-angle lenses at every opportunity, just to include as much of the gorgeous venue as possible.

One of the highlights for us was the daytime fireworks, so much fun to capture on film and looked incredible in person. They added such amazing energy to the day and looked so dynamic against the backdrop of the château, Corley had the drone flying overhead to film the moment from above while we also shot from the ground to get every angle.

We shot a lot using off-camera flash, even in the bright sun, just to give the images a bit more depth and that editorial finish which we love. It helped shape the light rather than just relying on what was there, especially with how bright it was at times. We love that balance of keeping things natural but still adding a bit of intention to how the final images feel.

Overall, it just came together exactly how we’d hoped and we are so pleased with the images and film we captured... but having said that, Château Challain is just of those venues that makes everything feel effortless!

Chateau challain

french escape