Although on a vacation, I’m not able to put my camera down, and when I heard my father’s best friend’s daughter was getting married near Paris and we were invited… my photo mind went in full gear. I am so happy I was able to attend this beautiful event, and so thankful for the opportunity to photograph their special day along their official photographer.
I can’t begin to describe how amazing the whole affair was, from the magnificent location, a small chateau with luxurious grounds filled with rare trees, to the marvelous table, the old church, the party lasting until early morning.. It was a sacred union celebrated in a perfect elegant style, with the famous french flair.
Olivia choose a dress with clean and simple lines. The veil is a family heirloom, worn by many other brides before her.

Both, Olivia and Alban are fond of literature, and explained to me that the great Victor Hugo sat at that desk, which definitely makes it very special.

This is Ambre, she was part of the “cortège”. In France we don’t have bridesmaid or groomsmen, but a cortège of children (usually relatives), and of course witnesses (but they’re not part of the wedding party). She is such a sweet 3 year old, with a very strong little mind, and she played her role of flower girl beautifully that day.

The children’s timing, holding the veil wasn’t always synchronized to Olivia’s step, and very often it gave her a little jolt back. I love this picture, because of the moment, the tug of the children on the train of the veil is classic. I’m sure many women will recognize it and see themselves in this image.

The church was magnificent, such work of art, conveniently located for the guests just across the street from the property.

The hats were just amazing, each more original and colorful as the next. During the service I couldn’t help photographing a few of them. Here is a little sample to give you an idea. As you can see women are very serious about their hats in France. I couldn’t quite display them all here, but there was plenty more, all fascinating.

Olivia is an accomplished carriage rider, she has developed this passion early on with her friend, Magalie. It’s on Magalie’s beautiful family home that they kept their horses and trained, and it made a perfect setting for Olivia’s wedding. They chose to leave the church on Olivia’s carriage, pulled one last time by her horse, before the new couple moves to Algeria.

In this part of the world, in this time of the year, the sun sets very late. I was lucky to have a few minutes with Olivia in his nice evening light to take a couple pictures.
The image just below, on the right side, was taken a little before 6PM, and the left one, close to 9PM!

Olivia et Alban, encore merci pour m’avoir invité et laissé participer à ce très heureux evènement
I have more to post, I hope soon. I’m leaving for a workshop in London given by Scott Robert in just 2 days, and I know he will keep us busy.

I’m now, after an unusually very long (24 hours door to door) trip in my top most favorite place on earth: Aix-en-Provence, with my children and all my family. This is where I was born and grew up, and it’s quite a treat for me to return once a year back home. There’s always something so special about the place where we spend our childhood, but I feel I’m even more fortunate to have it in this paradise on earth. The overwhelming happiness starts the moment the plane hits the ground. Of course there’s all the anticipation before the trip, packing last minute, but the plane ride is not much of a joy ride for me, as I’ve become a bit of a chicken, and fear for my life at the smallest jolt of air and boy, was this one a roller coaster! the stewardess fell down the rocking was so strong! The kids thought it was great entertainment, and secretly I was making all kinds of promises to God in exchange for getting us out of there alive.
So, really I’m invaded by the great joy of the return to home, after the landing of the last plane (it’s usually a 3 legged flight). It’s everything: everyone talking french around me with the jovial South of France accent, the pleasant heat (not the humid oven sensation you get in Pensacola), the forever famous fragrance of lavender, growing everywhere, the beautiful landscape, the blue of the sky, a perfect “bleu azur”… That’s just a small but so obvious part of it, then as soon as we near the house, there’s all my family that I so rarely get to see. My brother, Alain, his wife, Bibbi, and their 3 children, Jess, Paul & Elizabeth, my sister, Sylvie, her husband, Pierre, their daughter, Rose, my parents, and there’s always lots of my cousins, uncle and aunts staying a bit. I LOVE my family and spending time with them, and in France we do it around the table with the most delicious food…
I will try to post pictures of some of the wonderful details of my Provence that make this place so dear to my heart. It takes me a few days to just settle down, the excitement of it is just so grand, I always need a few trips into town walking around my favorite streets and stores to get calm enough to hold a camera. I think if I tried too soon, I might behave a bit ADD, and just shoot everything in my path without much thoughts.
Well I could write a novel when describing this heaven, but I’ll show you a few pictures I took the other day while at a family picnic in my family home. This is the place where my father was born and raised, then I was born and raised on that same beautiful propriety. It’s called: Val Fleuri, and the house was built in the 1500s, now my aunt lives there and it’s like one of these amazing houses you see in magazines so totally french, only it’s home to me. I just took a few details that day.
I’m fascinated by those white little snails invading plants. They’re not big enough to make a nice meal (yes, I eat them!), but they look beautiful in a field:

The propriety is full of little enclaves, pleasant spots to just enjoy life… it really is that way, suddenly here I have time to enjoy life, you just take the time to sit in a nice environment and drink a coffee, eat some olives, in nice company while the kids are playing outside…

Just some oak tree leaves, a different species than the ones we have in Pensacola,

This is a very very old tractor, that my grand father, and later my dad use to ride, to tame the wheat fields on Val Fleuri. It still works!

Of course, I had to post a picture of lavender, if only we could grow it in our humid weather.

A few weeks ago I met this beautiful family, and took some pictures at Laura’s parents’ house. It was an amazing spot on the sound side, with a “loved” garden. When someone tends to their yard so lovingly, it isn’t called a yard anymore, but definitely deserves the name of garden. It was a pleasure to meet you all.

Here, Laura’s parents with their grand-daughter, Hanna.

I couldn’t resist inserting here one of the many details that contributes to the garden. I love the word “believe”, without it there would be no fairies, no Santa….

This is Hanna teasing her dad with her hair bow, taking it off, then trying to put it back on, only for a second.

Too cute!

The sprinklers behind Hanna, in the neighbor’s yard really did a great thing in this picture, with the sun shinning through, better than I hoped.

Look at that smile, with those adorable baby teeth!

I stayed for quite a while, Hanna was so cute and patient, I just couldn’t put my camera down. But we saved the bathing suit and water for the end, and she loved it! Lots of happy splashing.

Hanna’s expression is so funny, she had that quizzical look.

This mirror was a great prop, babies are fascinated by their reflection, and Hanna was no exception, she had her beautiful smile on instantly.

She can move pretty fast on all 4, and I bet by now she’s running around. I think that day she started taking her first steps.