A fairytale comes to life: April 2016
I was lucky enough in April 2016 to be taken to the Loire Valley in France by my mum and step dad, along with my brother & step siblings, for their wedding at Château St Julien. Talk about dreams coming true! We all traveled together to Paris and then caught the high speed train together to Poitiers, the closest town to the Château. It was definitely one of the most surreal experiences of my life!
We hired an entire Château for about 4 or 5 nights. There were 20 or so rooms, each which doors connecting to more hallways and rooms and secret stairway. Some childhood fantasies seriously came to life. The grounds as well were vast, this is truely the ultimate destination to play hide & seek. Even though I’m 99% sure this place is haunted so I wouldn’t dare. I couldn’t even sleep alone sleep alone! We spent a couple of days here together as a family before the other guests arrived from NZ.
One of the days all the kids hired a van and did a road trip to a few of the Châteaus in the Loire Valley which was absolute magic in during spring.
My parents then put on a cocktail party to welcome the guests and the following day was the ceremony. All of our meals were fully catered for, it’s so nice to reflect on these few days because I still can’t believe it happened!
All of the family were part of the bridal party. The ceremony was intimate with only 20 or so close friends and family in attendance. I wish I could go back and relive this experience again and again, it was such a special time.
The dreamy photos taken from the wedding are by @craiggeorge.
