A Wedding at a Private Mas in Vacqueyras, Vaucluse
Forty people, one mas, one day
Cécile and David were married at a private mas in Vacqueyras, in the heart of the Vaucluse, surrounded by the grenache rows of the appellation. Forty guests. Only the people who matter to them, nobody else.
It is a request I get more and more often from couples writing to me about the Vaucluse: a house rented for themselves alone, a short list, and everything happening in one place. It changes a lot for me too. When getting ready, the ceremony, the cocktail hour and the dinner all fit inside the same hundred metres, I lose nothing to transfers and I can stay on people's faces.
Stationery, rings, and the rest
The invitation is printed on deckle-edge cotton paper, a C over D monogram at the top, gold ink, wax seal. The kind of piece worth a quiet moment early in the day, before the house fills up.
I shoot these details flat on the pale oak floor of the bedroom, with light coming through the French window. No styling board, no cardboard backdrop: the floor of the room, a few white and green hydrangea petals borrowed from the florist, and that is it. The Mauboussin ring in its box, the wedding bands, the bottle of Gabrielle, the Flor de Asoka heels.
David
A light linen suit from Beau Costumes, waistcoat, brown tie, suede loafers. I photograph the pieces before he puts them on, then leave him to dress.
A friend fixes his collar, he reties his knot twice in front of the mirror, then sits down and waits. That is almost always when I get my best frames of a groom: during the wait, once there is nothing left for his hands to do.
Cécile getting ready
Élodie Sellito works in the sitting room, near the windows. The dress waits on its hanger in front of the painted bedroom's French window: a Rime Arodaky, bought at the Olympe boutique, a straight crepe cut, off the shoulder, long train, with lace sleeves reaching above the elbow. The shoes are Flor de Asoka.
The rooms are lime-washed, with exposed beams and an old mirror above the chest of drawers. I spent a long time on that mirror. It bounces the light from the opposite window and lets me photograph Cécile from the front and from behind in the same frame, without asking her to pose.
The garden ceremony
The arch was built in the shade, against the clipped cypress hedge, with pale roses, green hydrangeas and plenty of foliage. Around twenty medallion chairs on each side of a gravel aisle. Nothing else.
Forty people seated in a garden is photographed differently from a two-hundred-guest ceremony. I don't need to stand far back on a long lens to stay out of the way, I can work at three metres on a 35 mm. The reactions are more visible too. When everyone present is close to the couple, nobody arranges their face.
In high summer in the Vaucluse, the ceremony could not be held in full heat. The timeline was built around the end of the day, and it is a call I defend every time a couple asks my opinion about a summer wedding: pushing the ceremony later costs nothing and saves both guest comfort and the light in the photographs. Once the sun drops behind the Dentelles de Montmirail, the whole garden falls into soft light, without a single hard shadow on anyone's face.
Cocktail hour by the pool
After the ceremony everyone walked down to the pool. The guests stayed there, drink in hand, while I took Cécile and David away for about twenty minutes.
We kept it short on purpose. Three settings, then back: the rose walk along the garden wall, the virginia creeper pergola behind the house, and an old bench against a dry stone wall where David ended up laying Cécile across his knees. Nobody planned that one, and it is the best frame of the set. The long lace veil did all the work on its own, in the wind that picks up in this valley at the end of the day.
Dinner on the terrace
Round tables were laid out on the large terrace facing the vines, white linen and low centrepieces in white and green. La Vallergue handled the catering. The westernmost table looked straight out over the plain, with Mont Ventoux in the background as the light dropped.
Once it was dark I sent the drone up for a single frame: the lit mas, the full terrace, and black all around it. It says nothing a ground-level photograph could not say, and yet it describes this wedding exactly. One house, forty people, and nothing else for miles.
Crédits
Getting married in the Vaucluse, and in Vacqueyras in particular
The Vaucluse is the département where I photograph the most weddings after the Bouches-du-Rhône, and by far the one with the widest range: the hilltop villages of the Luberon to the south, the estates of the plain around Carpentras, the large properties near Avignon, and to the north the Dentelles de Montmirail, where Vacqueyras sits.
Vacqueyras is a winegrowing village of about a thousand people, wedged between Gigondas and Beaumes-de-Venise. It is 35 minutes from Avignon, 20 from Orange, a little over an hour from Aix-en-Provence. Avignon TGV station is 40 minutes away, which matters when part of the guest list comes down from Paris.
What makes the area interesting for a wedding is the density of private houses available to rent. Many of the mas and bastides in the Vacqueyras, Sarrians, Sablet triangle rent on a dry-hire basis, with no imposed suppliers. You arrive with your caterer and your shopping list. That is more work upstream than a fully equipped vineyard estate, and far more freedom on the day.
The downside is worth stating. These houses have no serious covered plan B, no professional kitchen and no car park. In summer they go a very long way ahead. And the mistral, which runs down the Rhône valley, can flatten a floral arch in ten minutes. The cypress hedge sheltering Cécile and David's ceremony was not there by accident.
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Frequently asked questions
Where is Vacqueyras?
In the Vaucluse, 35 minutes from Avignon and 20 from Orange, between Gigondas and Beaumes-de-Venise, at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail.
Can you rent a private mas for a wedding in the Vaucluse?
Yes. Many mas and bastides across the département rent on a dry-hire basis, with accommodation on site for the couple and some of the guests. Summer needs to be booked a very long way ahead.
When should an outdoor ceremony be held in the Vaucluse?
At the end of the day, once the heat drops. The plain around the Dentelles de Montmirail stays punishing all afternoon in summer, and the light is too harsh on faces. A late ceremony still leaves plenty of time for cocktails and portraits in low light.
How many guests fit in a private mas?
Most houses of this kind work between 40 and 90 people. Beyond that, the terrace and the bathrooms stop coping without temporary structures.
What are the other wedding venues in the Vaucluse?
There are many, from châteaux to wine estates: Château de Tourreau in Sarrians, Château Martinay near Carpentras, Château la Tour Vaucros near Avignon, alongside the private mas of the Luberon and the Sault plateau.
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More weddings in the Vaucluse: Château de Tourreau in Sarrians, Château Martinay near Carpentras, and a wedding at Mas des Cinq Fontaines.
For the wider area, see my page on wedding photography in Avignon.
If you are planning a wedding in a private house in Provence, get in touch. I answer everyone.
