Five brides gathered at Rigaud over the weekend for a wedding planning weekend with the Rigaud team. We love these weekends since they give us the opportunity to get to know the couple and in some cases their close family and to work out what they really want from their chateau wedding.

On Saturday we visited head chef Laurent, at what he romantically refers to as his “laboratoire”. You or I might describe it as his industrial catering unit but hey, this is France. There, in the heart of the kitchen the brides sampled everything they will be served during their wedding day and they were able to choose specific course options they will go for.

First up were oysters, crevettes, ceviche and tartare of scallop with wild salmon, swiftly followed by foie gras toasts with cèps and more with figs. Superb jambon “Patta Negra” with red pepper tapenade came next and for me the star of the canapé parade was the pan fried scallops with leeks and saffron jus.

Starters were limited to asparagus with smoked salmon or the guacamole with crab which looks fabulous in a tall Martini glass. Laurent explained that he is always happy to do a delicious seasonal salad to start, with perhaps asparagus and quail egg in the spring? There’s room to improvise. For mains they had the regional signature dish of confit de canard with dauphinois potatoes. It never fails to please. Then the cheese course was Brebis with Morello cherry jam.

Before dessert the brides were given a spun caramel demonstration which will stand them in good stead for married domestic bliss, then came the “Declinaison Autour du Chocolat” an assembly of chocolate delights. The secondary dessert was a quick profiterole which would form the Piece Monte wedding cake that we can offer in place of a dessert on the wedding day.

We rolled them back out of the laboratoire into cars for the trip home where the real wine tasting began. They didn’t really do justice to Frank’s fabulous buffet that evening which we’re still finishing for lunch.