As a wedding videographer in France, few days compare to Abby and Pascal Struijk’s black-tie wedding at Château de Grand-Lucé A Bridgerton-inspired celebration of florals, candlelight, and a lakeside garden reception under the stars.
Welcome and pool party
Most weddings ease guests in with a casual welcome drink. Abby and Pascal did the opposite — Day One was black tie from the first glass of champagne. Guests arrived in full evening dress for a night of champagne cocktails on the lawns, setting the tone for everything that followed.
Dinner was hosted inside the château’s stables, transformed for the night with a tablescape built entirely around the idea of reflection — mirrored surfaces, candlelight bouncing across glassware, and a long, low floral runner that ran the length of the table. A harpist played through dinner, and the combination of stone walls, soft light, and live music gave the whole space a hushed, romantic energy that felt worlds away from a typical rehearsal dinner. For a couple whose wedding weekend leaned so heavily into a Bridgerton-inspired mood, this was the perfect overture.
The Wedding Day: Ceremony, Lakeside Cocktails, and Dinner Under the Stars
If Day One was the overture, the wedding day itself was the main event.
The ceremony took place at the front of the château, with an aisle framed by lush, oversized floral arrangements that felt more like a garden in bloom than traditional wedding décor. The scale of the chateau behind the couple gave every frame a sense of occasion This was luxury filmmaking territory, and it’s exactly the kind of moment that makes filming a wedding in France so special.
Cocktail hour moved guests around to the rear gardens, down by the lake, where the light in late afternoon turns the water gold. It’s one of my favorite spots on the entire property to film — quiet, reflective, and a nice tonal contrast to the energy of the ceremony just before it.
Dinner and dancing closed out the day in the main garden, under a genuinely epic outdoor setup: string lighting, an open-air dance floor, and a live band that kept guests on their feet well into the night. Filming a black-tie crowd dancing under the stars, with the château lit up behind them, is the kind of scene every wedding videographer dreams of capturing.
Working with a Wedding Videographer in France
Château de Grand-Lucé is one of a growing number of French venues attracting international couples for exactly this kind of black-tie, destination celebration, and it’s become one of my favorite places to work. A huge part of what made this weekend run so seamlessly was Daisy Amodio and the team at The Proposers, who planned every layer of the three days. If you’re planning a wedding in the Loire Valley, or anywhere in France, and want a film that matches the level of detail you’re putting into the day itself, I’d love to hear about it.
Zen Film Works specializes in cinematic wedding videography across France, with a focus on luxury, destination, and black-tie weddings — from the Loire Valley château circuit to the South of France. If your wedding is anything like Abby and Pascal’s, it deserves a film that does it justice.
Interested in having Zen Film Works film your wedding at Château de Grand-Lucé or elsewhere in France? Get in touch to check availability for your date.
