Intimate wedding at Château de Varennes in Burgundy

Virginie and Charles got married at Château de Varennes, a lovely venue surrounded by Burgundy's vineyards.  the day was filled with a lot of laughter as these two are real jokers, I love weddings like that ! Intimate and relaxed couples. It's the best !

I fell in love with Virginie's wedding gown, a gorgeous Jenny Packham with hand sewn beads and beautiful lace. And can we talk about that engagement ring?! It was designed by the bride's mum who is a jeweler. 

The wedding day was followed by a brunch with good food, good music and friends around the pool. I told you, a perfect kind of wedding !

Day after brunch

Dreamy Lake Como Elopement

Getting married in Lake Como is probably one of the most romantic things to experience in one's life.

Lake como just like Paris, has something of a timeless romance, especially if you get the chance to marry in a gorgeous villa on the shores of Lake Como. I had the chance to capture Queralt and Giulio's love at Villa Teodolinda. Their love for one another was truly inspirational, they fell in love during a concert, he was playing in a rock band, she was a fan...and I got the honor to tell the rest of their story :)
Here are the images of their dreamy elopement on the shores of Lake Como.

Photography: Celine Chhuon | Styling & Planning: Scent of Orchid | Flowers: Il Giardino Del Sogni | Hair: Patricia Soper Makeup Artist | Makeup: Mel Kinsman Makeup Artist | Dress: Elizabeth Dye via Heart Aflutter Atelier | Headpiece & Veil: Sibo Designs | Lingerie & Robe: The Lace Atelier | Ring: Myrtille Beck | Groom Suit: Area 2 Rezzonico | Silk Ribbons & Ring Box: Orchidee De Soie | Stationery & Calligraphy: Oh Wonder Calligraphy | Wedding Cake: Sweet Cupcakes - The Cake Studio | Venue & Rentals: Villa Regina Toedolinda

French Chateau wedding in Burgundy | Château de Varennes

 

Château de Varennes in Burgundy region offers the quintessential French Chateau experience for a wedding.

It is the perfect venue for intimate destination weddings or elopements in France. 

Nestled amidst the finest vineyards of Beaune, the property has been owned by the same family for over 400 years now, passing this stunning heirloom from generation to generation. 

Photography Celine Chhuon Photography | Design Harmonia  | Florals Fleurs de Fée  | Stationery Save the Date | Dress Charlie Brear from Just a Perfect Day | Venue Château de Varennes | Furniture Hire La Bohème |  Cake Cakes in the City | Hair Clemence Makeup | Makeup Annette Makeup Artist | Accessories Art & Facts  | Silk Orchidée de Soie  | Lace Robe Mes Petites Dentelles | Lingerie top Elise Hameau  | Shoes Dessine-moi un Soulier

Whimsical Boudoir Session in a Parisian Hotel

A dreamy editorial session in a bathtub in Paris.

Being a wedding photographer, it feels good to step outside the wedding world from time to time and go on create more personal work, let the imagination run a bit wild(er). This summer I had this opportunity with the amazing designer Violette Tannenbaum. We had the same vision of a whimsical, ethereal boudoir session that would include beautiful flowers and a... bathtub :)

Here are the photos of the day dream we created together (press play for the music! ) :

A huge thank you to Hotel Le Crayon in Paris for letting us borrow their amazing Suite Exquise Esquisse.

And thank you to the awesome team of vendors who worked on this project:

Dress designer : Violette Tannenbaum | Overall Styling : Celine Chhuon Photography | Florals : Roses by Claire | MUHA :  | Ring designer : Myrtille Beck | Film Lab : Carmencita Film Lab

Music : Dream a little dream of me by Amy Vachal 

Find your way back to CREATIVITY - Reconnect with your inner child

Are you lost in your search for creativity? Every artist might face this phase where he/she feels stuck, whether you are a wedding photographer, or even travel the world as a destination wedding photographer, whether you are a painter, a singer, a writer... I bet we all have felt that at some point. At least, I have. Until that day, when my sister called me as she needed me to babysit my nephew...

Spending time with my 3 year-old nephew has opened my eyes on how we think about creativity. I realized that as adults, we overthink creativity, we think that it’s something we need to find outside, draw inspiration from God knows what source … Pinterest? Instagram? Fellow artists ? (yes, I do all of these three I have to admit) but we forget that creativity comes from the inside FIRST. Watching my nephew create his own world for a whole day made me realized that every one of us used to be THAT creative, we could see a sword in a wooden stick, we could see a castle out of a couch and a pile of pillows, we could talk to anyone anytime, we never felt judged for not being creative enough or not doing it right… But growing up, we built walls with social pressure, fears...and we stopped exploring.

That’s it.

We  JUST. STOPPED. EXPLORING.

Because we are driven by the pressure of creating. We think we need to create, we must come up with something others will like…

Remember when we ALL used to be like this creative building our own reality:

Best of Action Movie Kid's adventures Thanks to Hashi and his son for these great videos. You can find the original channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2hAbftpVjHtFrDOpEM90aA http://www.kainio.com

I gave my nephew an old Holga plastic camera for him to play with. Oh boy, I can’t even describe the joy and light in his eyes! He grabbed the camera and snapped the hell out of it, he snapped everything that caught his attention. He was so happy about it. Did he care that there was no film roll inside? NO. Did he care what people around him would think ? NO. Did he felt pressure to come up with amazing pictures? NO. Although I’m sure in his mind, he did created amazing pictures! 

I asked myself when was the last time I felt so much joy and excitement… 
If only we could reconnect with our inner child, if only we could reconnect with that joy, that part of us that doesn’t care what others think. If only we let ourselves to just be. If only we could let the social pressure go. The pressure we create ourselves in our own mind about : the NEED to create to please others (aka get praise, get new clients, get likes, get shares and comments, etc)

STOP PUTTING PRESSURE ON YOURSELF to create AMAZING things. A lifetime of creativity will probably bring out only a few chefs-d'oeuvre and THAT IS OKAY. Let me ask you: Who's your all-time favorite artist? Can you name some of his/her major chefs-d'oeuvre? How long is your list ? I bet it has less than 10 items. I remember reading the story of John Keats, one of the greatest English poets. He lived his whole life thinking his work was mediocre, he even wrote himself : “I could have been one of the greats if only I had enough time”. Isn't it sad ? So don't waste your time trying to create the perfect thing. JUST CREATE.

One effective way I found to reconnect with our inner creativity is to break the daily routine. Remember the very first time you brushed your teeth, on your own? Weren’t you the most excited kid the the WHOLE WORLD ?! Of course you were. Were you that excited about brushing your teeth this morning ? I guess not. But that’s because it became a must-do, a daily thing we need to do for a specific goal : get our teeth clean. 
Why not try doing something without a goal? Trying just for the sake of EXPLORING. EXPERIMENTING. Because the joy we will feel doing this, will trigger a new way of feeling, seeing, and then CREATING differently. 

“I find as my imagination strengthens, I live not in one world but a thousand” - John Keats

We can just start by doing ONE thing differently everyday. Take a different route to go to work, change the order of our daily routine, eat something we’ve never tried, but above all, just create without any goals in mind : pick up your guitar, your pen, your brush, your scissors, your camera, whatever is your favorite tool of creation and just do it. CREATE.

"All children are artists, the problem is how to keep being one ?" - Picasso

Here are some phone snaps of my day of adventure with Leo :

Leo on top of a Skyscraper

Saving the world like Spiderman

Leo being a photoreporter

Leo catching life in motion

Leo creating magic on the train

Leo checking his shots on his backless camera

Share with me your thoughts about creativity and your experiences on reconnecting with you inner child. I'd love to hear about it and get inspired ! Meanwhile, register below if you want to receive your daily dose of inspiration.

With love and gratitude,

Celine xx