Château Engalin

Every single member of the team made us feel like they were friends. They did an amazing job, but even more so they were warm, friendly and fun people who brought a great vibe to the entire weekend. Noticed not just by us, but countless comments and conversations with friends about someone they chatted to and had a great conversation with or who was ‘so lovely’. The chapel ruin is a blank canvas brought to life by Amie’s understated but exquisite touch. The setting for the ceremony felt equal parts enchanting, historic, modern, awe inspiring and beautiful. This brought a lot of wow factor for our guests and set a great tone for the day! Lou and her team made the day feel seamless - we felt like we never had to do anything, it all just worked all day. The styling and work they created was even better than we had imagined. Lou’s creative eye/mind/ideas, was/is exceptional and her ever calm demeanour always put us at ease. We never had a doubt that everything was under control. We knew the food was going to be good. It was hugely important to us, and number one on our list of importance for our wedding, it did not disappoint. The number of unprompted positive comments about the food throughout the weekend we have lost count. ‘The best food I have ever had at a wedding’ mentioned by several people. The venue provides multiple spaces and places to have fun. One of Engalin’s great assets is the amount of options to create an event the way you want with so many options for where to have meals, cocktail hour, dancing, day 2 festivities. Guests are kept interested. All the areas are unique, modern, stunning and with their own wow factor. Many weddings we have attended host everything in a marquee which was high on our list to avoid (often becomes very boring and ‘cookie cutter’). Engalin provided us with a memorable and beautiful setting to host our guests and felt true to who we are as people with its modern, bright, minimalist vibe.

For us, it must be the food. Especially the BBQ and the incredible lollies. Everyone has been raving about them ever since. Also, the best pavlova ever consumed. The Aperol spritz - apparently, we drank more Aperol than any other wedding. The staff just kept them coming. It made for the best vibe, and they look so awesome in photos. The chateau interiors/exterior - not a moment but fundamentally why I chose Engalin. Shoutout for the linen bedding that must be the softest thing ever and is super classy. All the colours, the fabrics, the textures. I’m obsessed with it all. Where to start about Lou? I could write a whole essay here on how amazing she and Guillaume were during the weekend. I’m a total control freak and a perfectionist and handing the reigns to someone else is hard at the best of times. To appear and see that everything looks so beautiful and runs so seamlessly was a total dream.

From the moment we arrived at Engalin we knew it was the perfect venue for the kind of wedding we had in mind. We wanted something different from the norm, somewhere we could relax with our families in a space that felt like such a treat to be in. It goes without saying Engalin is like nowhere else on earth, from the beauty of the chateau and grounds to the gorgeous interiors, everywhere you look is stunning and provided an amazing backdrop for our photos! But what stands out from the weekend is the service from the staff and how much they cared about making every aspect of our wedding everything we hoped for. They were so incredibly warm, fun, accommodating and all-round legends. We find it very hard to put into words how special the whole weekend at Engalin was for us, but here are 5 of the best memories from our weekend: We had an after party in the pool with the leftover wedding crémant. We had the freedom to stay up late. Engalin is so remote that the pool was nearly lit up by the stars. Getting ready - traditionally wedding mornings are stressful and chaotic. It was completely the opposite at Engalin. We had yoga outside followed by a long breakfast and lots of laughs! The relaxing start set us up for the day ahead. Simply the beauty of Engalin - you couldn’t take a bad photo if you tried. Dinner outside the chateau - Dining alfresco was one of our only criteria when choosing a venue and we got it at Engalin! What made it even more special was it was an incredibly still night and so we were able to eat under candlelight. It was magical, if only we could have bottled that moment. The 2nd day/pool party - The BBQ was of equal brilliance to the first day... The party just continued. Beers, beach balls and budgie smugglers were the order of the day. The food and drinks were just as incredible, and the crowd (and couple) were able to really relax and catch up on the shenanigans from the night before. Everyone who was there says they have never had a better day two. We just wish we could rewind to that weekend! Such special memories for the rest of our life together. We’d like to reserve Engalin for our 10-year anniversary please!

It is hard to narrow our review down! When we saw the chapel for the first time after Alice’s decoration, there were tears. Hearing all our families playing together on Thursday in the pool after we’d arrived. The sun going down and the fairy lights coming on over the wedding dinner on the sunset terrace. Our ceremonial First Swim as a couple at the Pool Party/all our friends dive bombing into the pool after.

Thank you, it was all a dream! This was the most magical, fun, and happy day & weekend of our lives. We are over the moon and feeling so grateful to all our friends and family for coming to France to celebrate with us. It also takes a village to put on a 3 day party like that, so we have quite a few absolute legends to thank. Marwan- WOW - the most stunning venue, team and just exquisite food. We’ve had so many comments about it - unreal!! Lou, you brought our vision to life and have been a total joy to work. There were the most stunning flowers everywhere. The beauty team made my girls & I feel amazing with our beautiful makeup and hair - thank you!! The music at our ceremony was a special moment we’ll never forget. The party really went to the next level at both the wedding and pool party where we drank the place dry. We also can’t thank our amazing photographer and videographer both of whom were so lovely to work with and we couldn’t be more excited to see the finished products. Thank you all and to everyone involved, and most importantly to all our family and friends. It was the party & weekend of our lives and we are on cloud 9000!

There were so many magic moments. Marwan curated an insane menu incorporating our gluten, dairy, egg AND nut free request without any guests noticing! Sabring Champagne? Is there any other way to kick off a drinks reception and open a bottle? Lou: Our rock! We couldn’t have done this without you, no problem or change was too much for you, you were always so calm and made us entirely let go and we trusted you completely with everything! Not only were you obviously born creative and organised, but you also have amazing taste to go with it! You were so decisive and knew just what we wanted! On the day you made it possible for me to be (I quote ) ‘the most relaxed we have ever seen Sophie’. My bridesmaids were in shock! Marwan: We have never had food like that before, it wasn’t ‘wedding food ’it was AMAZING! You and the kitchen team are superstars! Every single guest has said that it was the best food they have ever had! Thank you for sharing your (rather large) home with us and letting us make it our own for the weekend! You brought such amazing energy and naughtiness to the whole event! We will never forget how much we laughed and danced! Guillaume: You were a superstar! (with the longest lashes we have ever seen!) Thank you for constantly being back and forth with us over email and making everything so streamline! You were integral to the organisation of this.

It was so stunning and relaxing for everyone who attended our wedding. The food is amazing at Chateau Engalin. It’s hard to know what to highlight because Marwan and the team are geniuses: the whole seabass that was so tender it just fell apart, the scallops served on carmelised limes, the several kilos of bistecca Fiorentina cooked to perfection……who dreams up a fois gras marshmallow and covers it with popcorn?? We’re drooling again just thinking about it. We had a perfect bilingual ceremony, delivered flawlessly by Sandie Smith despite the heat. People laughed and cried and laughed again. The team are extraordinary, honestly everybody just so excelled at their jobs that the whole weekend was one big highlight. The Chateau Engalin wedding planner Lou French has impeccable taste and the ability to run everything so smoothly you’d think it was easy. We wouldn’t change a thing.

The magic started the night before the wedding at a dinner with our nearest and dearest, next to the pool, being served exquisite food in front of the most beautiful sunset. It was wonderful to come down from a day in the bridal suite to finally see all the incredible work that had gone into setting up our day as we first walked into the Chapel and got to see all our guests and the most stunning flower arrangements, and the sunshine! We danced our way into the gallery for our first dance with our epic band, kicking the party off in style. The pool party on the day after was an epic rosé fuelled-day, with everyone being chucked in the pool. And of course, the food across the whole weekend (one of the main reasons we chose France!), was everything. We adored it all.