WEDDINGS AT CHATEAU RIGAUD
“A medieval chateau, with chic interiors & fully food focused”
Family owned, English speaking team, with 20 years of wedding and events experience
Turn-key service, in-house planning, chefs, florists & stylist
Sustainable management, geo-thermal heating & estate grown produce
Transparent pricing and fully inclusive packages
Sleeps 26 adults plus 8 children on site, weddings up to 140 guests
Rigaud is a fortified ancient monument which rests in a commanding position entirely surrounded by vines and overlooking the battleground of the 100 years war.
Owned by an English family since 2003, we specialise in producing beautiful weddings & parties, filled with clever details, delicious food & free flowing Bordeaux wines.
Surrounded by four acres of landscaped gardens that change with the seasons. Guests can wander pathways through a wild flower meadow, a cherry orchard, the ‘potager’ which is the chateau vegetable garden and out into the vines and woodland beyond.
“Choose your ceremony location - On the formal lawns of the 12th Century chateau, in the middle of a wild flower meadow, in the candlelit ancient barn or the medieval church on the hill”
The Quad lawn is the most popular choice, using the shade of the Horse Chestnut tree which forms a natural altar. This is effortless elegance, which looks stunning with or without florals.
View of the Quad from the chateau entrance. In the past twenty years we’ve closed the doors behind over two hundred beautiful blushing brides as they set off down this Rigaud aisle.
Over the winter of 2024/25 we have relaid the quad with drought resistant turf and installed a sustainable irrigation system which is fed by the well so future ceremonies here should remain fresh and green throughout the season.
The view of the quad lawn from the Tower Suite, usually the couple’s room
A meadow ceremony
The wild flower meadow is stunning in early May and later in the autumn. A bit too hot in the middle of the summer. Guests process through the gardens and up to the top of the hill where you exchange vows with views out over the Dordogne valley.
In case of rain, the wedding barn doubles as a stunning ceremony space. Some couples choose this space regardless of the weather since it provides such a romantic, candle lit atmosphere.
A church ceremony
“Every wedding is unique, each couple has their own vision, budget & priorities. Our planners understand & your dream is our brief”
Emma and Alex’s guests forming a conga through the wild flower meadow behind the epic London Brass Strollers. The guests processed behind musicians from the main quad, up to the potager and back through the wild flower meadow, arriving at the canapé terrace from an entirely new angle. It made for the most fabulous video which you can see on our Instagram profile. Turn the volume up!
Liv and Sam were married on the lawns at Rigaud but that didn’t stop them having a wedding car and taking it for a spin through the vines.
Amelia and Bill making full use of the fabulous light on the north facing gallery for a dramatic group pose. Succession vibes!
Ben and his bros. They did this in one take. Incredible!
Sally and Shae travelled from Australia and were so excited for a champagne tower. Next time we need to ensure the front labels are turned to camera. #allaboutthedetails
“You’ve got the look”
The chateau speaks for itself and you can add as much or as little styling as you want. Our in-house florist and stylist team are here to add the small details that make your guests smile and catch the eye of your photographer.
This vintage French salon set provides a fabulous opportunity for a formal family shot, under the horse chestnut on the lawns. Our experienced team are on hand to stage these installations for you and ‘as if by magic’, they can appear, and disappear.
Bring me a glass of champagne!
Our canapé receptions start with oysters from the Bay of Arcachon & finish with pan fried scallops served in their shell.
All inclusive pricing means you can relax while your guests enjoy limitless free flowing fizz & delicious rolling canapés with stunning views across the French countryside & vines.
Pan fried scallops on celeriac puree with crispy pancetta… The chefs fry them to order on the canapé terrace in front of your guests. It can cause a bit of a scrum for the front of the line!
Basque inspired ‘pinxos’ canapé of caramelised goat cheese and Iberico ham with sun dried tomato.
Our styling team can create specialist bars with your choice of signature cocktail. Hugo and Limoncello spritz are overtaking Aperol in 2025!
And so to dinner….
You can choose to dine alfresco on the terrace, inside the ancient candlelit barn
or for extra wow factor (and numbers over 140) we can install a marquee in the middle of the grounds
“About the food”
Food is our passion at Rigaud.
Head Chef John Grabecki trained in classical French cuisine with both the Galvin Brothers and Roux Brothers in London and then at three Michelin starred Attica in Melbourne.
His focus is on the quality of ingredient, working with locally sourced, seasonal produce, often grown on site in the Rigaud ‘potager’.
Head Chef, John Grabecki has extensive Michelin Star experience in London and including at three star Attica in Melbourne. John joined Rigaud in 2020 and has recently bought a house locally. He’s passionate about local, seasonal ingredients and golf!
Our vegetable gardens are partly a passion and guest attraction but they do produce a lot of the food we serve to guests, including aubergines, beetroot, courgettes, dill, endive, fennel, ginger, horseradish, Jerusalem atrichoke, kale, lettuce, mange tout, nasturtiums, olives, parsley, Queensland blue squash, raddish, sweetcorn, turnip, viola flowers, white asparagus, OK I’m giving up at X but you get the idea!
Lemon poached salmon, hung yogurt, garden oil emulsion & wild rice cracker.
Above: Local asparagus, garden emulsion, sourdough crumb, broad beans, buttermilk split dressing
Below left: Seasonal terrine, crispy Bayonne ham, mustard emulsion, fresh herb salad, pickled apple & mustard seed salsa. Below right: Charred St Maure goats cheese, pickled beetroot, beetroot ketchup, seeded cracker
BBQ fillet of beef, beef beignet, potato fondant, garden greens, spiced beetroot purée, confit shallot, horseradish oil & red wine jus.
Dark Chocolate Delice with Almond & Cacao Crumb, Hung Yogurt, Tuile & Ganache.
Let’s dance
Why choose one glitter ball when you could have an installation of seven? Dancing until 2am, with transport home for guests from 11pm ‘til 2.30am. Glitter balls optional not compulsory!
And then to bed and the chateau can sleep……
The following day
A relaxed family lunch with garden games? Or a wild pool party with DJ and Sax? Yet another choice to be made! For the couple this is often the most relaxing and fun day.
Guests wander in from about midday, often looking slightly worn (!) and so start the stories about the night before. Did you see that girl doing the splits on the dance floor? And who was it singing in the chateau bar until 4am?
The following day menu features slow roast meats, quiche and complex salads in the Ottolenghi style. Couples often choose the soft serve ice cream machine for dessert. Hangover heaven!
We have an excellent selection of garden games, from Cornhole to Croquet. Rigaud Rosé Rounders has it’s own rules, (we can provide them) and our Cricket scoreboard, complete with numbers that go onto hooks, is a sight to behold!
Off site wedding guests are welcome to bring a towel and jump in.
Final farewells with pizza in the potager
A relaxed supper in the chateau vegetable garden is the perfect ending. Low key but still special. Sadly we don’t have any professional client shots but here’s the Rigaud team enjoying delicious pizza from chefs, John and Ethan and our professional Gozney wood fired oven.
The Rigaud Team, enjoying a well earned Pizza night in summer 2024. Think the balloons mean it was someone’s birthday. Extra points if you can spot the dog!
About our Bistro
Bistro Rigaud is a clever addition to the package. The Bistro sits on the banks of the Dordogne, is chateau owned, and run exclusively for chateau clients. It’s a perfect venue for guests to gather the night before the wedding. We offer a typical French menu of sharing boards, rotisserie chicken which arrives whole at the table for your guests to carve and chocolate mousse. The interaction between guests as they decide who should carve is a brilliant ice breaker. The quality is high but the vibes are relaxed, a good contrast with the chateau wow factor the following day. For a more impactful Rehearsal Night Dinner we have options in nearby St Emilion.
If you’ve read the online reviews, then you’re probably asking, ‘What makes Rigaud so magic?’ The answer is the incredibly committed team and our experience.
This team starts with your planner, but continues with a brigade of chefs, florists, stylists, signage artists, the front of house team, groundsmen for staging, housekeeping, nannies, drivers, and even a green room coordinators, because leaving the band to enjoy the bar alone while the wedding guests have dinner is never a good idea!
What does the planning process feel like?
Your wedding package includes the services of a dedicated Rigaud wedding planner with an extensive black book of recommended suppliers and contacts. Your planner will create regular reports for you and ultimately for our team and will be onsite to coordinate throughout your booking. We also provide an online planning handbook which answers those 2am questions when you need the answer NOW!
What is a planning weekend about? Do I want to meet other couples?
Yes is the answer! These weekends a lots of fun, in fact so many of our couples asked to come back that we developed Rigaud Wine Weekends to accommodate them but that’s another story! The Planning Weekends run from Friday to Sunday. You meet with your planner, florist, hair and make up artist, you tour the area, visit the Bistro, some couples like to check out overflow accommodation and most importantly you taste the food and wines. It’s a great atmosphere, the couples have a major choice in common and tend to get along very well. Sometimes too well and the hangover can make the planning task harder than it needs to be.
If the wines are fully inclusive does that mean they’re terrible quality?
Our house white is Chateau Bauduc Sauvignon Blanc, which has been the house white at the Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein restaurants (UK) for the past 20 years. It’s highly respected within the wine industry with accolades from the likes of Jane Anson, Oz Clarke and Jancis Robinson. Red is of course the main Bordeaux production and we offer a choice of at least three labels, those being Château La Verriere, Pezat, which is produced by Johnathan Maltus of Dome status, or our neighbours wine, Chateau la Jarre. Some couples choose to put all three on the table and allow guests to taste and choose.
Frequently asked questions
ACCOMMODATION
The chateau itself will accommodate up to 18 adults in nine, en-suite double bedrooms, and a further six children in either the dorm or in various child annexes.
The Vineyard Barn is a stunning house within the chateau grounds and offers a further four double bedrooms with three bathrooms (two en-suite), an enormous living area.
Overflow accommodation in the local area is extensive and includes over 100 rooms ranging from €80 to €950 per night. We have good relations with a number of regular B&B providers and we advise that your guests book from the recommended list which our drivers know well.
BREAKFAST
Breakfast is a feast of French breads and pastries, homemade granola, fruit and yoghurt, hams cheeses and eggs, avocado and when they’re in the garden we add tomatoes, raspberries and figs. Cooked dishes can also be added.
BABYSITTING
The Chateau has a well equipped nursery, stacked with toys, books, craft materials and even better, it can be staffed with English speaking Nannies, so guests who want to bring children are able to book childcare and the little ones will be very well looked after. We encourage brides to arrange an early children's supper, during the canapé reception, after which the younger guests are able to crash out in the cinema.
BANDS, DJ's, PHOTOGRAPHERS, HAIR AND MAKE-UP ARTISTS, MIXOLOGISTS, DONKEYS....
We have an extensive contacts book and can recommend and book all manner of services from a local string quartet to an International DJ star, available for Rigaud when he's not playing for 'A' List parties and Royalty.
CHATEAU RENTAL INCLUDES
A fully stocked bar and afternoon cake on arrival and commercial coffee machine, so there's no "extras" bill when non-resident guests drop in for tea and stay for an aperitif.
CORKAGE
You are welcome to bring your own wines to the chateau. If they are to accompany meals that include wine then we do not charge corkage, but we do not reduce the cost of the meals which are inclusive of wines. If they are to drink at other points in the booking then we charge €10 corkage per bottle. Given our location in Bordeaux, this allows you to drink extremely expensive wines with very little mark up on chateau door prices.
DOGS
Well behaved dogs who play nicely are very welcome guests.
SWIMMING POOL AND OTHER GUESTS
Your friends who are staying in the local area are very welcome to drop in at any time to visit, use the pool and generally chill out with you
LATE NIGHT MUSIC
Restrictions on late night music allow for bands to play until midnight and for the DJ to play until 2am. The party can continue in the chateau after 2am for as long as the bride would like.
WEDDING MEAL MENUS
We are sometimes asked if we can provide a more relaxed wedding meal at a reduced cost. The answer to this one, sadly, is no. Our very talented chefs are contracted to us for the season and our kitchen is designed to deliver a quality fine-dining experience for the wedding meal itself. Other meals over the weekend are more relaxed and there is a wide menu to choose from but the wedding night meal is special and we deliver plated service.
WHAT IF IT RAINS?
Don’t worry, just like all things, we have this covered. The chateau owns 100 white umbrellas, we move the ceremony into the dining barn and the canapé is under the cover of our new for 2025 stretch marquees on the canapé terrace. Out team will turn around the dining barn while you enjoy canapés and fizz. And it’s lucky to have rain on your wedding day!
Transparent pricing removes the fear factor and retains the romance
Weddings should be a joyful time of celebration and absolutely not an uncertain worry about the final bill. We structure our pricing to ensure the couple can track the costs at every stage. You will know the final bill, down to the last few hundred euros, before you arrive for your booking.
Our pricing spreadsheet details every conceivable cost that the weekend will encounter. We rarely need to add a new line although cigar rollers and content providers are creeping into the equation! You choose from the list of options - will you serve our delicious local fizz or splash out on Laurent Perrier? Fireworks or a known London band? You can make your choices, free from sales pressure and you’re able to see the total sum the whole time.
Most helpful of all is that the cost of your wedding dinner includes all the wine your guests drink for the entire evening and that spirits are charged at close to supermarket prices. So every time your Best Man pours himself another large glass of claret you can smile since you're getting more value from the budget and there's no need for anyone to be counting the bottles.
Where is Chateau Rigaud?
The chateau is an hour’s drive from both Bordeaux and Bergerac airports in South West France. Bordeaux is just two hours by train from Paris. It’s surrounded by vines in open countryside, five minutes from the town of Castillon La Bataille where you will find all local services. Twenty minutes drive away is the world famous wine village of St Emilion, a must visit UNESCO World Heritage site and pilgrimage for serious wine lovers.
Making it easy for your guests to enjoy our beautiful region
Your planner will provide you with a dedicated guest information website, which lists travel and accommodation options plus optional activities while they are in our region, alongside an online booking form, which is administered by your planner. This form will gather dietary information and we can use this to take payments for any relevant elements of the stay.
Your guests can book rooms, chateau wine tours, a private visit of the St Emilion Catacombs or maybe a canoe descent & picnic the day before the wedding.
They can even book and pay for dinner at whatever restaurant you have chosen for the night before your wedding, so the whole party can meet up for supper the night before the wedding without surprising any local restaurants with a sudden invasion of guests.
You can choose to be updated via email every time one of your guests completes the form, with a copy of what they have booked, so you're entirely in the loop but without the administrative hassle.
Floating down the Dodogne towards a delicious riverbank picnic. You can offer a range of excursions to your guests on the days around the wedding, allowing them to explore the beautiful region.
To know more and to book the chateau
If having looked through our brochure you feel that Rigaud might be the venue for you, the next stage is usually to make an appointment to view.
During the summer months, from late April to the end of October we are often only able to conduct viewings on Monday and Thursday turnaround days since we cannot show you around when there is a booking in the chateau. Any reputable venue will be the same so try to avoid popping over for the weekend. Get in touch and we can provide viewing dates.
At the point of booking we take a €5000 deposit. Thereafter we take an €8000 payment ten months prior to the wedding and a further €8000 six months before. The balance, less 10% is then due eight weeks prior to your wedding.
We hope you have enjoyed the photos and look forwards to hearing from you
