Château Rigaud

Château Rigaud is in Mouliets-et-Villemartin, among the Bordeaux vines, close to the UNESCO World Heritage village of Saint-Émilion, with the Dordogne winding through the vineyards nearby. It is booked as a whole and fully staffed, with a full front of house team, so your group has the place to itself.

There are 13 double bedrooms and suites sleeping 26 adults, with room for eight more children or babies. The team has over 20 years of wedding experience and offers several ceremony options, plus all-inclusive, made-to-measure packages with in-house planners, a florist, a venue stylist and a hair and make-up artist.

Dinner can be inside or out for up to 144 guests, the capacity of the events barn, and a marquee can be added for a bigger crowd. The kitchen is the heart of the house: a theatre-style space where a Michelin-trained team, led by head chef John Grabecki, who trained with the Galvin and Roux brothers in London, cooks everything from scratch. Much of the produce is grown on the estate, with the rest from local suppliers. Ask the team about ceremony spots, the evening programme and the music curfew. In France only a civil marriage is legal, so plan a symbolic ceremony here after marrying at home.

Sleeping 26 adults on site makes this a house party for a smaller guest list, and bigger weddings can use nearby accommodation. Bordeaux and Bergerac airports are each under an hour's drive, and Libourne station is 25 minutes away, about two and a half hours from Paris by train. Around the wedding, guests can visit châteaux for tastings, cycle through the vines or canoe on the Dordogne. A morning in medieval Saint-Émilion is the easy outing for anyone not on wedding duty. Ask the team which neighbouring estates welcome groups for a tasting.