Marie in Danielle Frankel for Her Romantic French Wedding at Chateau Lagut, Inspired by Tolkien’s Lothlórien

Marie and Sidaine married at Château Lagut in the Dordogne, and chose to have the whole story told on film. Film has a way of holding on to atmosphere, the grain, the texture, the softness of light – I truly adore the nature and character of film photography.

Both Marie and Sidaine grew up with Tolkien’s stories. They knew they wanted to honour that shared love on their wedding day and so their wedding became a nod to Lothlórien, Tollkiens vividly imagined woodland realm that is wild, green and full of light and magic. The château, with its endless fields and surrounding forest, gave them exactly the setting they needed.

Marie wore a gown by Danielle Frankel, a designer she had admired for years before her wedding. Danielle Frankel is a New York bridal designer known for creating gowns that feel both modern and romantic, with clean lines, beautiful fabrics and a fashion-forward edge. Marie was drawn to her gown’s long, sweeping train and the lightness of the chiffon that sat across her shoulders. Paired with a veil edged in lace and jewellery inspired by nature, the look carried a sense of romance that felt perfectly in tune with the forest setting of Château Lagut.

Love and thanks to Baptiste of EMGK Photographie for sharing this beautiful wedding. You can enjoy many more French destination weddings here.

We picked Château Lagut as our venue, because my family is from the Périgord Vert, a beautiful rural part of the Dordogne in France (where this château is located). This lovely château felt just right for us, and since our wedding lasted several days, we could host our guests there and really enjoy everything it had to offer – from the sauna and pool to the endless fields around us. And they all have a place to stay overnight.

There were no tents, tipis, or yurts. The château provided a few tents for additional guests. We hired a scenographer for the rental of furniture and decorations. They took care of the entire setup and takedown, which lifted a huge weight off our shoulders and spared us the stress that usually comes with furniture rentals and logistics.

We didn’t hire a wedding planner. As I am an interior designer, I envisioned, planned, and organised our wedding with the same passion and attention to detail that I bring to my design projects.  

Sidaine was accompanied by his mother, and I was accompanied by my brother (since my father passed away when I was young, I asked my brother to take his place). Each group walking down the aisle had a different piece of music by composer Howard Shore (from The Lord of the Rings soundtrack), Sidaine with The Shire by Howard Shore and me on Evenstar also by Howard Shaw.

Our best friend Maxence, whom I’ve known since I was 10 years old, officiated our ceremony. We wanted something intimate, with someone who knows us inside out, and it was perfect.

As we are not religious, we chose a secular and Celtic ceremony (since Sidaine is from Normandy and has Celtic roots, we blended both of our backgrounds) in the woods of the château’s estate. One of our best friends officiated the ceremony, which included meditation, a candle ritual, purification with salt, and the handfasting ceremony.

We don’t follow any particular religion, but lean more towards pagan beliefs. We believe in nature, in destiny… something close to Celtic spirituality. We didn’t exchange our vows publicly. Instead, we preferred to share them privately, when we found a moment just for the two of us.

This gave us the freedom to open our hearts and speak our thoughts without constraint. There wasn’t really a structure — we let emotions guide our words, speaking about what we’ve lived together, through both joyful and difficult times, and how in this life or the next, we will always find each other again.

There were no formal readings. The only spoken words came during our hand-fasting ceremony, where we chose a different person for each ribbon. Based on the symbolism of each ribbon, they could share a few words as they tied it around our wrists.

Designer Makiko at La Lueur de l’Aube had already crafted my custom engagement ring, so we decided to entrust her with making our wedding bands as well. We chose her because we fell in love with her universe – it is so deeply inspired by nature.

My ring fits perfectly with my engagement ring and evokes flower buds, while Sidaine’s is reminiscent of tree bark and growth rings. Each of our rings features a sapphire at its centre.

We found Baptiste of EMGK Photographie through different searches on the internet. We wanted film photography, which is quite rare in France.

After coming across Baptiste’s profile and exchanging a few words with him, we immediately felt a connection, and he accompanied us with kindness throughout this beautiful day, all the way to the sealing of our union.

He was very attentive to details and truly listened to our wishes and requests. We were 100% confident that the photos would be stunning, and they truly were. On top of that, he didn’t hesitate to ask the guests to put their phones away during the ceremony, which we greatly appreciated! I would recommend him a thousand times over.

We worked with a scenographer for the rental of furniture and decorations. I collaborated closely with them to ensure that the atmosphere of our theme came through, whether in the dance hall, the gardens, or at the ceremony site. We used tall candlesticks to illuminate the space as night fell, antique velvet and marble furniture, and overlapping kilim rugs to line the ceremonial aisle, all enhanced by clusters of wild plants.

We highlighted the colour green, while incorporating subtle touches of the forest world, wild yet refined, combining chic simplicity with the beauty of nature, embracing imperfection within perfection.

Our florist, Les Mauvaises Herbes , provided all of the floral decorations, from the ceremony scenography, to the gardens, the tables, and even the dance floor (set inside a beautiful barn at the château).

We wanted a wild, woodland-inspired atmosphere with airy flowers and plants in shades of green and white. They worked hand in hand with our scenographer, who supplied the furniture and overall decoration. She also designed my bridal bouquet in harmony with the theme, using flowers reminiscent of wild varieties, such as osmanthus.

Our cake was by Les Gastron’home Périgourdins. We chose to have mignardises prepared by our caterer. They work exclusively with local products, and we were able to enjoy little chocolate and porcini mushroom cakes – a real delight.

As a designer, I created the entire graphic identity for our wedding, from the invitations, cards, and welcome sign to the menus, by designing and drawing custom logos and typography.

We had prepared gifts for our guests by working with artisans from the Périgord region: a small bottle of mead from a local producer committed to the well-being of bees, a vial of walnut oil also from a local producer, ceramic beads crafted by a potter using clay from Périgord soil, and a walnut from a forest belonging to Marie’s grandmother.

One of our friends, Marvin Caleb (song Kone), a Guadeloupean singer living in Canada, surprised us with a live performance to lead us onto the dance floor. We all danced to his music as our first dance.

We went to the same school from kindergarten through the beginning of middle school, but I never noticed Sidaine (though Sidaine had already noticed me). It wasn’t until high school that our eyes finally met, when I would walk past the butcher shop on my way to class, where Sidaine was working as an apprentice butcher. We exchanged long glances and shy smiles, but never dared to speak a word.

When I was about to take my baccalauréat exams and Sidaine realized he might never see me again, he gathered his courage and approached me. From that moment on, we were inseparable. I still had my studies to finish, and both of us wanted to establish ourselves in our professional lives before taking the next step.

After eight years of living together, Sidaine proposed in Colmar – a city that inspired Hayao Miyazaki for his film Howl’s Moving Castle, my favourite movie, during a hike at 520 meters of altitude at Herren Sessel, on July 28th, 2021. Because of Covid, we waited three years before finally getting married.

My advice to future brides looking for what to wear, is to start researching early. Pinterest is a great place to find designers or dress styles that really suit you. Then, try to find a boutique that carries several designers, ideally close to home or work. Planning ahead helps you stay within your budget, keep track of end-of-season or discontinued collections (unless available on request), and discover the latest ones. Most importantly, enjoy the dress fittings with friends and family, but not too many, because the more opinions there are, the more they tend to clash!

Plan ahead when it comes to booking the venue and caterer. We reserved our venue a year in advance, and their calendar was already 70% booked for July and August.

It’s your wedding, do it your way. We chose to invite only people we truly love, and it showed on the day through their kindness, love, and help.

Make an Excel sheet, it’s incredibly useful for keeping track of your budget and staying organised with all the vendors.

There are no problems, only solutions. Even if something goes wrong at the last minute, it will always be solvable, and no one will even notice. Don’t hesitate to ask for help from your loved ones – they will be full of resources on the big day.

From what we observed, the biggest parts of the budget usually go to the venue, the florist, the caterer, and the rental of furniture/decoration (but of course, it all depends on your wishes and priorities).

Good communication is key. Whether it’s with your beloved, your bridesmaids, or your vendors, don’t hesitate to talk things through with them so everything comes together smoothly on the big day.

Since I regularly use Pinterest for my professional projects, I spent a lot of time on the platform to find inspiration and ideas for our wedding.

Of course, there are a few things I would have done differently, like choosing different spaces within the château for the cocktail and the dinner. But these are only minor details, and we have no regrets.

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