Following on from Part I of Vidhi & Nick’s, I have the pleasure to present their second full wedding day at Chateau de Saint Martory in South-West France. Yes, two full wedding days!
Actually, Vidhi & Nick had more than two weddings with I think at least a legal civil ceremony and another Indian wedding in the UK, but I covered the two full wedding days here in France. Plus the pool party the next day.
BRIDE PREP
In almost every post I make, I pretty much always mention that Bride Prep is one of my favourite parts of a wedding. The simple reason is the pace is usually quite slow (ie, at least not frantic or single take opportunities) and this allows a high degree of creativity.
Vidhi’s hair & makeup was again by Ayelet Garson Bridal with the bridesmaids switching from traditional Indian costume to pale yellow.
GROOM PREP
Groom Prep is the part of the day I refer to as ‘The Wild Card’, because you never really know what you are going to get…
The day prior it was a combo of; underpants, eating whilst dressing and practicing Indian wedding flashmob moves. The next time, it might be several men never standing still for more than 2 seconds. And if bow ties are involved…
Nick had some very heartfelt words (some of it his Mum probably knew about but really didn’t want to hear about again), managed to stand still, but the bow tie…well we got there in the end.
PRE-CEREMONY
Florals by Lily et Confettis
CEREMONY
I’m going to say this out loud and that is I both think and prefer wedding ceremonies conducted by a friend or family member. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly less frequent that I am attending weddings with a professional celebrant.
Why? They are 100% more intimate, personal and unique.
They also tend to have less flaws…providing I have been on hand the day prior to assist with the rehearsal/walk through. I am not a wedding planner and nor would I ever wish to be as that is a whole different kettle of fish, but ceremony planning from a location, angles, set up and real world experience is part of what I do and without bragging, every wedding I get involved with in this respect, has and does benefit from it massively. Without…let’s just say I’m not a fan.
COUPLE SESSION 01
When it comes to couple session(s), the key to these things are simple:
A. Multiple short sessions, ideally one towards the end of drinks whilst guests are being herded towards the dining area, the second around sunset/golden hour if possible.
B. Keep it simple. Unless you really are models in real life, you really only have two wishes and those are to not feel awkward ‘posing’ and then like the results, all whilst not being away from your guests for too long.
With Vidhi & Nick, we achieved this by heading off in the car and taking approx 5-10 minutes absolute max whilst the guests were being ushered from the confetti line to the area for the drinks reception in order that V&N could make one of several entrances of the weekend.
COCKTAIL HOUR
I’ve never quite worked out why it’s called an ‘hour’ because 60 minutes would be a terribly short length of time for such a thing, so please please please, never take the term literally. Insert a 2 at the very least as in 2-2.5 hours is perfect unless the wedding is really small (less than say 35 guests when 1.5 hours might be more appropriate).
COUPLE SESSION 02
Best time for this second session is around sunset/golden hour but with some weddings that is not always possible due to timings, time of year, weather, location or another factor so with Vidhi & Nick, we went just prior to the meal just before guests made their way to the courtyard for meal & speeches.
TABLESCAPES & ENTRANCE
SPEECHES & EVENING
There were a few of the former between the MC’s, Groom, Bride and Bride’s Father, following on from several the evening prior. Excellent food from Otavio, Chateau de Saint Martory’s own super-talented chef.
The cake itself was an event best left to the visual description!
DANCING (PLUS A SURPRISE GUEST SINGER!)
I’ve worked with these fellas (Fuzz) a few times before and they really know how to get a party started and more importantly, keep it going.
The real star of the show on this occasion however was the Groom, Nick who was also performing.
THE DAY AFTER
And because even the greatest of events always end and have a conclusion and what better way than wood-fired pizza and chilling around the pool?
Plus in this instance, a wrap to my 2026 wedding year, at least from a shooting point of view, and then it was simply a case of driving the 900 km / 600 miles back home and editing the final few weddings of the season.
2026 began for me with a superb wedding in London & Tuscany, did not let up for 4 months and concluded on an exceptional high in South-West France.
Bring on 2027. There is some exciting stuff coming…
