Create Your Perfect Intimate French Wedding Escape at Château du Doux

If you’re on the hunt for the perfect French château for an intimate wedding, we’ve got a strong candidate for you. Tucked away in the Dordogne Valley, overlooking the charming town of Beaulieu-Sur-Dordogne, is Château du Doux. What you’ll love about this venue is that it’s so much more than a pretty building and grounds. It's a genuine, family-run place with a real heart with the added bonus of exclusive use for the duration of your celebration. 

While we haven't had the pleasure of working at Château du Doux yet, we’ve heard great things on the grapevine within the industry. We’ve also got tons of experience helping couples create amazing weddings at similar châteaux in the region, and we can just tell this place is a top wedding venue.  

So, with that in mind,  let's look at what makes Château du Doux so special and how we at Fête24 can help you take your celebration up a notch or two. 

What Makes Château du Doux So Special as a Wedding Venue

Perhaps the best place to start is with the chateau itself, which has a striking design (it was designed by renowned architect Jean-Louis Pascal) and windows and red shutters that get sequentially smaller as you work your way up the floors.

But if you think the outside is stunning, wait until you see the inside! There are beautiful wood-panelled function rooms, an old library with galleried landings, one the best bridal suites we’ve ever seen (which includes a fully equipped Bridal salon – perfect for getting ready!), and tons of bedrooms for guests (17!) that get that balance of character and modernity spot on. Think original herringbone wood floors paired with modern décor and functionality. 

Speaking of bedrooms, the real aspect this place excels in is accommodation. Usually, when you hire a more intimate French château wedding venue, you’re limited in the number of guests you can accommodate. There’s no such problem at Châteaux du Doux. Couples getting married here can host a stunning number of overnight guests. With the Champagne Suite, 17 en-suite bedrooms, and 8 self-catering apartments, there’s room for up to 70 guests to stay with you! 

Given the overall wedding capacity is 30 to 85 guests, you can put up almost every single guest, which is just unheard of for this style of venue.  

There are tons of other plus points to this venue, too, but we can’t go on forever. Highlights include an outdoor pool and terrace area that’s perfect for the day before (or after), exclusive venue hire (giving you peace of mind that you’ll be the only people on-site), planning and coordination assistance from the owners, some event production equipment thrown in (including a light-up LED dance floor and ceremony chairs for guests), and bar staff are provided within the hire price. 

As we said, that’s not everything, so feel free to check out their website to go through the myriad of things they include within the hire price. But before you do, let’s walk you through what your wedding here might look like and how we can help you make it look and feel incredible. 

Planning the Perfect Dordogne Wedding at Château du Doux

Wedding Ceremony & Cocktail Reception 

OK, so let's jump right in and start with your ceremony, which we think can only be held in one place: the dedicated ceremony patio boasting some of the best views in the whole of the Dordogne region. 

As mentioned, you already have the white wedding chairs for guests at your disposal, and there’s also a matching bespoke arch (which is a blank white canvas for you to decorate as you please). The only thing left perhaps is to hire some wireless microphones and an accompanying PA system so everyone can hear the celebrant clearly as they work their way through your symbolic ceremony. 

With the vows exchanged and your first kiss as a married couple it’s time to walk back down the aisle and turn your attention to the cocktail hour. There’s a perfect space for this just yards from the ceremony area. It’s a grove of trees that doubles as a terrace with the imposing château in the background and those same incredible panoramic views of the Dordogne Valley. 

We would recommend hiring old whiskey barrels doubling as poseur tables to rest canapes and drinks on. In terms of adding a little extra something to the space, we think wrapping some string lights around the tree trunks and then hanging drop bulb festoon lights from tree to tree will really add a lovely, warm, cosy ambience, especially as the sun starts to set.

Wedding Reception

While the ceremony and cocktail hour kind of choose themselves at this venue. You do have more options when it comes to the dinner and party aspect of your celebration. Indoors, you have a brilliant dedicated event space that features tables and chairs, a full-time bar, and a LED-lit white dance floor. Outdoors, there’s a flat(ish) lawn area for a stretch tent or wedding marquee around the side of the château. Of course, the benefit of the latter option is that you have a complete blank canvas to work with.

Either option would benefit from an array of wedding party lighting, with dedicated disco lighting on stands and maybe a few floor-based moving heads. Again, either an indoor or outdoor party would also benefit from some wireless LED mood lighting to create the right ambience. The added benefit is that you can change the colour shades as the night moves on, with warm golden hues during dining and darker shades of blue or purple for the dancing segment.  

If you’re hiring a wedding marquee, you’ll likely want to rent a DJ booth for your performer(s), and of course, you’ll need a decent sound system. The venue does offer some sound equipment. However, if you’ve booked a live band, you’ll likely need an upgraded sound setup with backline equipment rental as well.   

With everything set up, all that will be left for you to do is enjoy your big day and soak up every moment of it. 

Create a Dordogne Wedding No One Will Forget with the Help of Fête24

If you’re looking for an exclusive-use venue for a small to medium-sized wedding with the ability to host almost all of your wedding guests on-site, then Château du Doux surely ticks all the boxes. 

And the even better news is that we’re on hand to help you turn this incredible setting into the wedding production of your dreams. Whether you want a wedding marquee for your dinner and dancing or you need help with the more technical aspects, such as lighting and sound equipment, we provide everything you need under one roof to make the planning process a cinch. 

Whether this incredible venue is on your shortlist or not, if you’ve got your heart set on a Dordogne wedding, we’d love to hear from you. We’re available seven days a week to talk through your ideas and discuss how our expertise can bring them to fruition. Call us now on +33 (0)7 66 43 02 11 to get the ball rolling.