Rod and Susan’s Fairytale Wedding

Back in March of this year Arlene and I (Andrew William) had a beautiful opportunity to photograph a vow renewal in France. It’s something Susan and Rod had been planning for over a year, going back and forth on the location. Would it be in Scotland or in France? She wanted a fairytale wedding from start to finish, and she’s definitely a woman who deserves it. Susan gave us a call when it was decided.

It came down to a choice between two chateaus in France; eventually it was decided upon a beautiful 14th century chateau in the Loire Valley, an area famous for the number of Chateaus. The chateaus were built to prevent the constant threat of English armies (ironically most of them are now owned by English investors).

The chateau has a classic charm to it; it looks as you would imagine: towers, stone, water nearby (just not a fancy moat surrounding it) and a forest. A place that looks the part for a fairytale wedding. The chateau was found online through Oliver’s Travels under the name Chateau Allure du Lac, though it goes by many other names such as Chateau Abelia du Lac; however its real name is Chateau de la Beuvrière. However we will get there soon, this is still a few days away from our arrival.

Take-off

With the plan in place for the wedding, Arlene and I booked our flights to Paris. We were lucky we found a really great deal for the two of us for about the cost of one ticket. We had the itinerary in hand, Susan is very organized and we had the grand plan all worked out. (Everything from train to hotel, it was organized).

The wedding was in March; surprisingly at that time in Vancouver we had pretty good weather, it was about an average of 14-15 degrees. Not exactly t-shirt weather but it was still nice and warm. We were waiting at the Vancouver airport at about 5am as our flight left at 8am. I don’t know about anyone else, but I looked like death, half asleep (5am is not my happy hour).

 

Susan, Rod, and Charlize-Joelle’s (their daughter) flights were scheduled for 9am. We gave them a quick call to see how they were doing and if they were excited. The phone rang. No answer. I tried again a few minutes later. Again, there was no answer. At first we were a little worried that there was some sort of trouble with traffic. Finally they gave us a call, they’re flight was cancelled.

Arlene and I were a little worried, but Susan and Rod let us know that they were working on getting transferred to the next flight to Paris. So we caught our flight and were on our way to the country of love, food, and culture.

Arrival

The flight itself was pretty standard. We were fed, had a glass of wine (it was not as good as what we had in France obviously). When we arrived, Arlene and I quickly grabbed our luggage (camera equipment and all) and dashed off to the metro station. We caught the RER B into Île de France, switched to the number 6 and got off at l’Arc de Triomphe. Every time I see it, it still amazes me. Frankly France as a whole amazes me, and if I could live here I would in a heartbeat.

We got ourselves settled at the hotel that Rod and Susan booked for us. It was conveniently close to the metro; we quickly headed out to photograph another client that just happened to be in Paris as well for their anniversary (talk about stars aligning). I wrote another blog about it which you can read here: http://photoart.iias.website/chateau-diaries/les-photos-a-paris-40th-anniversary

At the end of the shoot, we were sooooo tired as we didn’t sleep much on the plane. We returned to our hotel, went to the market below and bought a bottle of wine, raw creamy goat’s cheese (I’m salivating already), baguette, and a few other things. We ate then passed out. Tomorrow we’re meeting with Rod and Susan, and taking the train to Angers. Next stop, the fairytale wedding at Chateau Allure du Lac...