Destination wedding in Brittany, France

Photographed by Isaac and Priscilla

Aurelie and Dylan’s wedding at Manoir la noe Verte was one of the most epic experiences of my photography career thus far.
It’s not every day you get the chance to shoot 2 weddings for the same couple within 2 days of each other! Combine that with a stunning venue, and a beautiful coastal sunset shoot the next day… and it was definitely a treat.
Dylan (Australian) met Aurelie (French) while she was traveling around Aussie a few years ago. I met them at Shane & Courtney’s wedding down in the Wairarapa … and it was awesome that it worked out I was able to come over & shoot their wedding day too.
When you get married in France, the official bit is done by the Mayor in a town hall – so a couple of days before the wedding I met up with them in Landerneau – Aurelie’s hometown.

Aurelie’s bridesmaid surprised them with this cute wedding car – which (along with copious amounts of tooting) ensured plenty of waves from friendly locals on their way to the Town Hall.

After the ceremony, we all went to a creperie for a typical Bretagne lunch.

Just outside the above creperie, was where Dylan proposed to Aurelie – so to revisit the area once they were married was super special.
Immediately after she said ‘yes’ .. they went to this bar, sat at this table, and had a beer.

the wedding day

When we woke up on the wedding day… it was pouring with rain.
For hours throughout the morning, the rain didn’t even ease up – let alone stop.

Aurelie & Dylan chose to do their photos before the ceremony – so they didn’t need to leave the guests waiting during the cocktail hour.
It also meant the chance for a beautiful “first look” moment. Aurelie said she had never seen Dylan so nervous!

It was at this point – just as I had resigned myself to needing to shoot the entire photo session indoors, that we looked outside & saw that the rain had eased to just a few drops. By the time we made it out into the gardens – it had stopped completely, and it didn’t rain one more drop that entire day. You can’t get more perfect timing!

This building used to house pigeons – back in the days when they were used to send messages. Now – it’s one epic photo location (only for brave brides though, it was a bit … slushy).

Back at the venue, the outdoor ceremony was able to go ahead as planned.
There were many tears, and plenty of laughter too.

Any wedding that entrusts a bunch of Aussie boys to pour their own beers is a damn good wedding, in my book!

Halfway through the evening I was informed by the venue manager that there was “a surprise”.
I was just as surprised as anyone else to see this boat come over the lake bearing a wedding cake, and take Aurelie & Dylan for a sparkler-lit lap of the pond.

Earlier in the afternoon, we saw that the venue had a bubble machine. So that evening, we dragged it outside, rummaged around to find extension leads to set it up, and set up some flashes to light the building behind, and the bubbles too.
We took Aurelie & Dylan outside for 5 minutes and voila. Epic, fairytale ending.

the pink granite coast

The next day, we drove an hour or so up to the coast, where there are some awesome pink granite rock formations. Priscilla and I spent the afternoon exploring and rock hopping – and later that evening, Aurelie & Dylan turned up – with a few carloads of their guests in tow.
We took the time to capture some cool shots in the backlit grass (which unfortunately was also full of prickles), on the rocks, and an amazing sunset.
It was a perfect way to complete the wedding weekend.

Aurelie & Dylan – thank you both so much for trusting us to come over to the other side of the world and capture these moments for you.
This is only a tiny highlight of the many, many more photos still to come!
We would love to shoot in Europe again next summer – so if anyone you know is planning a wedding in Europe for June / July / August 2016 – let then know about us! Or anywhere else in the world for that matter – we love to travel.
Make sure you also head over and ‘like’ our Perspectives Facebook Page – and follow @perspectives_nz on Instagram to stay updated with all the latest creations.
Until next time,
Isaac.