Pastel Florals at a Summer Chateau Wedding in Burgundy: Chateau de Vallery

The morning began in the bridal suite with tall stone windows, toile de Jouy curtains, and a roll-top bathtub holding the antique mood of the chateau in place. Madison's gown waited on an antique lantern in one window, the satin train pooling onto a damask chaise. She sat by the windows in matching pyjamas with her bridesmaids, hair pulled back, the cathedral lace veil still to come.

When the moment came, a bridesmaid lifted the veil as Madison turned toward the daylight, the tulle stretching the full length of the floor between them. Her mother and the rest of the bridal party gathered in a dim chateau corridor to make the final adjustments before the walk down the aisle. Across the estate, Sean and his groomsmen pulled on tuxedos in an outbuilding, raising a first glass around a rough wooden table.

The ceremony was held in the Grande Galerie, the 16th-century vaulted hall at the heart of Chateau de Vallery. A draped fabric canopy and trailing greenery softened the stonework above; long rows of iron chairs faced an altar set between two tall floral urns of garden roses, hydrangea, and stock. Madison processed between her parents, her cathedral veil following her down the aisle. Guests in jewel tones and pastels watched the vows with editorial-style programs in their laps.

Madison’s portraits were made in two registers. Outdoors, Alia worked her down the wide stone staircase that opens onto the chateau’s 65 hectares, framed by classical statues and a lavender allée. Indoors, she paused in a yellow stone arcade with daylight pouring through tall arched windows, and again on a red damask sofa near a set of French doors. Several frames were shot on film, in keeping with Alia’s habit of reserving analog for the day’s quietest moments.

After the ceremony, Alia carried Madison and Sean through the chateau’s quieter pockets: the cobbled forecourt, the kitchen garden, a lace-draped salon, a stone bridge on the estate. The session moved between formal poses and small, unguarded moments, including a long frame of their hands intertwined against the grain of a weathered door that stayed among Alia’s favourites of the day.

Madison's bridesmaids wore floor-length black gowns and carried minimalist white bouquets, the contrast against the chateau's pale stone and the lavender allée setting the line of the portraits all afternoon.

The full bridal party arranged itself beneath the lavender staircase in symmetrical rows, the marble statues on either side mirroring the geometry of the group. With the bouquets raised overhead in another frame, the bridesmaids and Madison turned the staircase into something closer to a tableau.

A separate set on the gravel placed Sean and his groomsmen on either side of the couple. Lavender steps rising behind them, the classical figures holding the corners of the composition. Black against ivory carried through every group portrait of the day. The closer frames placed Madison and her bridesmaids at the foot of the steps, white blooms in every pair of hands.

Cocktails moved onto the chateau lawn after the ceremony, where the late afternoon light caught the stone facade and guests crossed the gravel toward a lit pavilion. Dinner was set inside the frescoed hall under the crystal chandelier, with MG Reception on catering and wines from Damien Jegat. The cake, a six-tier white tower studded with fresh figs, arrived as the high point of the evening, with a champagne tower alongside it and sparklers lit at every angle. Popcorn Factory Orchestra carried the music with Vincent Letrou on sound and lights, and the dancing ran long after midnight.

The design rested on florals and table architecture rather than on graphic colour. Blush and ivory urns of garden roses, hydrangea, calla lilies, and stock framed the ceremony aisle, with wrought-iron candelabras alongside. Inside the Grande Galerie, peonies returned in bud vases on every table, paired with taper candles, polished silver, and a bespoke menu card folded into each setting. Madison’s bouquet stayed quiet, a soft mix of white and blush peonies. The cake referenced the gardens directly, with fresh figs across every tier and a champagne tower beside it. For couples drawn to the same palette at the other end of the chromatic range, Yolonda and Craig’s monochrome Vallery wedding sits as a counterpoint.