Deciding on the chateau de Versailles as the setting for your engagement in France is a wonderful idea!
The Chateau de Versailles is one of our favorite destination for “Love Picnic Paris”, located 1/2 an hour drive from Paris city center. It is also easily accessible by train. We do LOVE going there ourselves to spend a peaceful afternoon at the park with friends and family.
The chateau de Versailles is one of the most famous historical masterpieces in the world. Originally a hunting lodge for King Louis XIII in 1623, it was transformed and expanded by the visionary King Louis XIV; “le Roi Soleil”, into a Royal palace that symbolized the absolute power of the French monarchy.
The garden of Versailles is a little piece of heaven. The park itself attracts many Parisians and locals looking for a peaceful surrounding to chill on week end, riding their bicycle, walking their dog, simply enjoying quality time with family & friends. It has a lovely atmosphere and has always been a very popular destination for the locals in the area. We produce numerous gourmet picnics through out the year at the gardens. Enjoying a gourmet picnic at Versailles is a truly amazing experience.
Each of our picnics can be coupled with professional photography either family portraits or your engagement photo shoot. You can also order a picnic or a photo session separately, depending on your specific needs and our availability. We only cater for one picnic production per day. This way, we are completely dedicated to serving our client. We are quite flexible with the setting up time, logistics & the various services that we propose alongside our picnics. We make sure that our clients are very well taken care of. They will remember their French style picnic experience at Versailles as a highlight of their trip.
If you are looking for something special such as organizing a larger group picnic party, just ask! We set up our party picnics either in Paris or Versailles for groups up to 30 guests.
Most people travel from Paris to Versailles on a day trip. It is also a wonderful idea to stay at Versailles overnight to take the time to discover this charming town. If so, we highly recommend a visit to the local market “Marché Notre Dame“, easily accessible at the center of town in the morning. You will experience the true local life of a city such as Versailles by strolling around the market stalls in a friendly atmosphere … This market, a real delight to the eyes, will introduce you to the local life of a tipycal French town. To my opinion, it is the loveliest local market in the Ile-de-France region. You will also find plenty of interesting cafes, bars and restaurants with great traditional foods and bubbly local life around the city center.
Our clients sometimes stay at the Versailles Airelles hotel, a somptuous demeure located within the estates. They would usually visit the castle in the morning. The world famous Hall of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces) is a prime example of Baroque architecture, with its vast mirrors, chandeliers, and gilded ornamentation. Today, Versailles remains a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a symbol of France’s rich architectural and artistic heritage. The chateau de Versailles is certainly the most amazing day trip away from Paris excitements.
Engagement photo session at Versailles
How to best plan your engagement photo session at the chateau de Versailles?
The chateau de Versailles is open to the public all year long. The museum closes on mondays but the park stays open to the public. It is also the most gorgeous destination in France to get engaged to your loved one. We photograph our clients engagements at the chateau de Versailles through out the seasons. Each season has its particular beauty. Versailles transforms beautifully with each season, offering a unique experience throughout the year. The gardens come alive in april with blooming flowers like tulips, daffodils, and cherry blossoms. The famous fountains start flowing again early spring, with the Musical Fountain Shows adding to its charm. In Automn, The foliage turns golden and red, offering stunning views in the gardens and along the Grand Canal. Cooler weather and fewer tourists make it a great time for your engagement photography and peaceful walks.
Each season offers a different way to experience the grandeur of Versailles, from the lively summer spectacles to the serene winter elegance. It is always a true pleasure to visit the chateau with our clients, really a mesmerizing experience. An engagement photo session at the chateau de Versailles is simply magical. We have the best photographer to document your love story!
A unique photography experience with a creative photographer
Any of the services that we propose are customized to fit your style and personnality. We propose a unique photography experience with a top engagement photographer. Photography is Art!
A private portrait session and our engagement photo stories are a beautiful way to capture your personal identity, emotions, the profound bound that unite two souls through storytelling. Unlike commercial or documentary photography, artistic private portraits focus on creative expression, mood, and aesthetics. Outfits, accessories, and makeup like every little details also enhance your engagement story telling.
Private portraits & engagement photos convey intimacy, vulnerability, confidence, warmth, human mystery and general beauty. Those are only a few words that convey a beautiful portrait. A truly beautiful portrait goes beyond capturing a person’s face. it unveils their essence, reaches out to our inner world. When done right, portrait photography becomes a visual doorway to the soul, allowing the viewer to feel connected to the subject on a deep, almost spiritual level.
This is how important photography is to us. We privilege unposed or candid moments with our photographic style that sometimes feel more natural and personal to our clients. Our engagement photographer has the proper skills and experience to produce one of a kind posed engagement portraits as well, away from repetitive visual cliche.
Planning for your Versailles engagement photo story
When planning your engagement photo story at the gardens of Versailles it is important to understand that the Gardens of Versailles are massive, spanning approximately 1,977 acres today. Originally, under Louis XIV, they covered over 8,000 hectares but have since been reduced in size. Thank GOD for that!
As you probably fully understand by now great photography is not just a matter a pressing a shutter! It is about patience, having a vision, observing, composing the frame thoughtfully and before all establishing a connection with your clients.
Considering the size of the gardens & the numerous amazing backdrops that we encounter walking down the park on your engagement photo shoot as well as the necessity for our photographer not to be stressed by time to produce your engagement photos, our photo stories stretch from one hour to one and 1/2 hour and two hours of photography. We can only advise that you pick a two hours photo story if you are keen on photography!
I see wonderful professional photography as an investment! You can make your first family album, your kids will love looking at your engagement photo story
Propose at Versailles with “Love Picnic Paris”
How to propose at Versailles with “Love Picnic Paris”?
First all all, I would suggest that you scroll through the pages of our website. You will find numerous engagement photo storie that we produced over the years withour international clients. If you feel that our style & the services that we propose fit your personnality, visit our proposal & engagement page. We have drafted a few packages for our clients engagements both in Paris and Versailles.
A Versailles gourmet picnic & engagement photo shoot in the park
As an exemple Vlad and Irene enjoyed one of our deco gourmet picnic under the oldest, most beautiful oak tree of the park. We had their picnic all ready by 13h30 so that they could peacefully walk down to the canal after their morning visit of the chateau. Vlad proposed at the picnic site after they settled. Olivier photographed their proposal from the distance not to disturb this magical moment. He then introduced himself & took a few more portraits in a lifestyle manner over the remaining half hour.
Vlad and Irene enjoyed a wonderful lunch to celebrate their engagement in total privacy. Following their lunch, Olivier took them around the park for an hour and 1/2 so that they could enjoy the park & experience a fun engagement photo story. Their engagement photos are a mixture of classic portraits with well balanced lifestyle, natural photographs.
Versailles photo shoot in the park
Jack and Nancy proposed at the fontain of Neptune. The Neptune Fountain was made between 1679 and 1681 by Le Nôtre and was originally called “Lake Below the Dragon” or “Lake of the Pines”. The fontain is located at the center of the park, leading to the canal area and the chateau at equal distance. It is a beautiful backdrop to propose to your lover. A Versailles photo shoot is also a wonderful way to celebrate your love.
Olivier had fine tuned all of the logistic details with Jack the night before via whatsapp. He photographed our couple proposal from the distance as well so that they could fully enjoy this important moment in their life without being disturbed. Jack had rented an electric golf car which is a real time savor for your engagement photo story. Also a great idea if your are wearing a suit & high heel for the photo shoot.
Our clients enjoyed a couple of hours of lifestyle photography around the park with our professional engagement photographer. The photos are gorgeous, fun, stylish, full of grace, true joy and emotions.
Versailles, engagement picnic in the park.
Nicholas & Ann got engaged at the gardens of Versailles on a gorgeous summer afternoon. We set up our deco style gourmet picnic under under one of the most amazing oak tree of the park.
Again Olivier photographed our clients engagement from the distance not to disturb their pricavy. They enjoyed one hour of photography with Olivier close to their picnic location. They decided to enjoy a very peaceful afternoon, sipping champagne without venturing too far out in the park for their engagement photos.
Nicholas chose our deco picnic set up including our “Amelie Poulain” menu which you will find on our proposal page. They enjoyed a bottle of champagne with their lunch. They also included one hour of professional photography with Olivier. If you have any doubt about the various services that we propose, you are most welcome to reach out via email with all of your questions.
The chateau de Versailles is really the most beautiful backdrop for a romantic afternoon in France. The park is also such a poetic scenery, it calls for perfection & beautifully celebrated engagements for our dear clients.
Insights about our professional engagement photographer
LOVE for photography
It is important to share a little background about Olivier, our professional engagement photographer. Olivier was born and raised in Normandy. He holds a B.A honors in photography from the London college of printing. He lived in three continents, travelled extensively and lived in NYC for over 10 years before returning to France. He is perfectly bilingual with a little French accent which has its charms! 🇫🇷
He has collaborated with numerous international magazines & editorials over the years such as the NY Times, Le Monde, The independant, El Pays, Sydney Morning heralds as well as Marie Claire, Elle, Gourmet Traveler, Condé Nast Traveller. He has also worked extensively for corporations such as TF1, Bouygues, Air France, Total …
He has also photographed numerous international weddings from Europe to the USA. Visit his instagram page. Olivier has a real passion for his craft, a wonderful personality and some great stories to share!
Our photographer working process
Photography is charged per the hour as a set fee whether included in one of our picnic package or taken separately if you are only looking at having your romantic story documented by Olivier. There are no hidden extra charges to purchase photos or receiving high resolution files. Olivier is fun to work with, fast and efficient. He will always make sure that you receive the most amazing photo story according to the number of hours allocated to photography.
All of your engagement photos are carefully edited, processed and retouched in potoshop one by one and not as a batch to save time! It is a time consuming process but quality prevails. We make sure that you will have a beautiful set of photographs of your engagement in France.
Your engagement photos will be sent out to you via we transfer in high resolution within the next 24 hours. You can send your engagement photos to your parents back home so that they can save the photos to an external drive, enjoy your engagement photos first hand while you carry on your journey abroad.
Do not hesitate to reach out with your questions, we are always delighted to hear from you all.
Love Picnic Paris.
A special shoutout to Olivier, who captured stunning photos of our picnic and engagement. His work added an extra layer of magic to the day, giving us beautiful memories to cherish for a lifetime.
We can’t thank you all enough for your incredible effort. Truly amazing. If I could give 10 stars, I would!
He changed the time to reflect the best weather conditions and kept us informed.
Worked out extremely well with our picnic coinciding with the hour with the best weather.
The meal was delicious the wine wonderful the experience magical.
Can’t recommend this highly enough.
