White florals, a rock and roll ceremony, and a reception in the courtyard
Ragen and Christian planned their Chateau D’Augerville luxury summer wedding on one of those clear July days that makes every white peony in the arrangement look like it was cut that morning. It was, mostly, a white wedding: white blooms down the aisle, white linen on the reception tables, a bride in a gown that stayed spotless right through to the last dance. But the two of them are not a quiet, classical couple, and the day made no attempt to pretend otherwise.
Christian plays piano. Well enough that when Ragen’s father asked, half joking, whether he’d be doing “something” before the ceremony, Christian said yes without missing a beat. Twenty minutes before his bride walked down the aisle, he sat down at a piano set up under the trees near the ceremony space and played. Not a hired musician’s version of a first dance song. Him, playing, in front of a hundred and twenty guests who had no idea it was coming.
The Bon Jovi of it all
Ask Ragen and Christian how they met and, at some point, Bon Jovi comes up. It’s a running joke between them, apparently, going back years, and rather than leave it as a private reference, they built it into the day. Their processional wasn’t a string quartet arrangement of something safe. It leaned into the rock they both actually listen to, the kind of music you’d expect at a house party they were throwing, not a wedding most guests assumed would be all string quartets and Debussy.
It’s a small decision, but it’s the kind that tells you more about a couple than the florals do. A lot of luxury weddings get planned around what looks right in photographs. This one was planned around what the two of them actually like, and then dressed beautifully around it. The white theme gave the day its visual discipline. The music gave it its personality.
The courtyard at night
Chateau D’Augerville’s courtyard is doing a lot of work as a backdrop even before anyone touches it, but the reception design for this one used it properly. Long tables ran the length of the space, dressed in white with low, loose arrangements so guests could actually see each other across the table. String lighting went up between the buildings rather than over the tables, which meant the light came from above and the courtyard itself stayed the centrepiece rather than getting lost behind a canopy.
By the time the sun went down, the stone walls held the last of the day’s heat and the whole space had shifted from ceremony backdrop to something closer to an open-air ballroom.
Band, then DJ, then everyone still dancing
The couple booked a live band for the first two hours of the party and a DJ to take over after that, which is a combination we see work well again and again at château weddings: the band gives the early part of the night a bit of showmanship and live energy, and the DJ keeps the floor full once people have had a few drinks and stop caring how they look dancing.
Here it meant the transition from Christian’s piano moment that afternoon to a full band set that evening to a DJ closing things out well past midnight, all under the same string lights in the same courtyard. Guests who arrived in suits and heels were, by the end, dancing barefoot on the stone. A few didn’t leave the floor from ten o’clock onward.
Filming a Chateau D’Augerville wedding
Weddings at Chateau D’Augerville give a filmmaker two very different environments to work with in the same day: the formality of the château and its grounds in daylight, and the courtyard at night, which behaves more like a small outdoor concert venue once the lighting and the band are in full swing. Getting both right on the same film means shooting the ceremony and portraits with restraint, then switching approach completely once the sun goes down and the band starts.
For Ragen and Christian, the piano moment before the ceremony was the one piece of the day we knew mattered most to capture properly, since it happened once and wasn’t going to be repeated for the camera. Everything else, the courtyard, the band, the dancing, could be built around good lighting and patience. That moment needed someone in position with the right angle before it started, with no second take available.
Planned by the amazing Kiss Me in Paris
Photography by the talented Claire Morris Photography
If you’re planning a Chateau D’Augerville luxury summer wedding, or looking for a wedding videographer , get in touch.
