Chateau de Clauzade wedding — DESTINATION WEDDING FILMS & PHOTOGRAPHY

Katrien & Joris’s Chateau de Clauzade wedding, or as I am calling it, ‘The Foodies Wedding’.

This one was without question, the most eating-orientated wedding of this season with catering provided by Katrien (The Bride) the day prior and day post (assisted by her ‘team’) and by Jerome of Comme Chez Michel (and his team).

With planning by resident wedding coordinator and venue manager Sam Webb, this was my 4th visit to Chateau de Clauzade in the last 2 years and 3rd of this year’s 3 weddings.

All 3 weddings have been completely different and that is quite rare as weddings at some venues follow a near or actual identical pattern.

But with my 3 weddings there this year each, none of them used the same locations for; prep, ceremony, drinks reception, meal/speeches or dancing so all 3 were completely unique and individual. Which is great for my own creativity (on my couples behalf) as I I’d rather avoid attending and shooting ‘The Same’ wedding repeatedly!

Belgian couple Katrien & Joris’s 3 day wedding could be summed up in 3 words; intimate, culinary and dogs. We’ll start with the day prior…

WEDDING DAY PREP

Using just one of the two properties on the site and with a smaller than usual sized wedding, plus no formal bridesmaids or groomsmen, prep was a relatively simple and fuss-free kind of affair…

CEREMONY

OK, I confess I did not quite understand all of the parts of Katrien & Joris’s ceremony planned (and was a surprise to the couple) by friends Hedwig & Leen, partly because most of it was in Dutch (I don’t speak or understand a word) and partly because it involved; fire, water, earth, air, “hand fireworks” (we’d call them sparklers), balloons, dogs, a big sign for ‘Tinderland’, a thumbprint tree plus the smashing and putting back together of a heart. Yup… best just to look at the pics ;)

Wins the prize this season for ‘Most Original & Individual Wedding Ceremony’.

THE REST OF THE DAY AND EVENING

Non-stop food. FINALLY!! This is how food should be done at weddings…

OK, if you really want to sit down for 3-4 hours in blazing heat for an outdoor formal 3+ course formal meal, then feel free to do so…and most do, but the reality is this kind of thing does not really work that well in say South West France in the Summer.

Instead, what we had here was as follows…

Typical trays of cold canapes, either set on tall grazing tables, or served by roaming staff…gradually moving into more exotic and hot cooked platters and tidbits, served as previously. This then gradually began to morph into more ‘main course’ type servings (fish, meat etc) almost exclusively cooked over open fires as theatre. And that is exactly what this was, - culinary theatre spread over 4-5 hours with some speeches sprinkled in between, - perhaps the only more formal part of the day. Oh and some outdoor dancing chucked in. No band, no DJ, no lighting other than the table and location ambience.

This is one of those times and experiences where it’s difficult to describe in words (and perhaps even in pictures and video), exactly how good this kind of thing is. One thing was without question and that is ‘quality & variety and pure originality of the cookery on display’ was of the highest order by Chef Jerome and his team.