A 100% film multicultural wedding in Sartrouville and at the Château de Maisons-Laffitte

On April 25, Margarita and Jesús got married in their apartment in Sartrouville, in the Yvelines department. At home, surrounded by their story displayed on the walls. And that day, it didn’t feel like I was photographing a wedding—it felt like I was a guest at a friend’s house.

There was so much love in that room—sincere and unpretentious—that I felt right at home within minutes, as if I’d always been a part of their world. This is exactly the kind of wedding that touches me the most: for what it says about the people who lived it, and for what it gave me, too.

A wedding in Sartrouville, as narrated by the apartment's walls

Even before the ceremony began, Margarita and Jesús’s apartment was already telling their story. The letters they’d exchanged during their years apart, the photos from their travels, the wedding portraits of every couple present that evening—all hung without any particular order, like a collective altar to love.

“It turned out exactly as we wanted,” Margarita told me a few weeks after the wedding. “It was so very us.” And that’s exactly how it felt that day: everything had been designed to reflect who they are.

Couples Photo Shoot in the Gardens of the Château de Maisons-Laffitte

That very morning, before the civil ceremony in Sartrouville, we held the couple’s photo shoot in the gardens of the Château de Maisons-Laffitte—one of the most beautiful settings in the Paris region for a shoot of this kind, just a few minutes from Sartrouville.

The April light in the gardens of the Château de Maisons-Laffitte has that special quality—neither wintery nor summery—that makes film photographs particularly soft. Margarita and Jesús didn’t need to be told how to pose; they already knew how to be together, and my only job was to not interrupt them.

A Handcrafted Colombian-Venezuelan Celebration

On the morning of the wedding, their loved ones arrived with their arms full. Someone prepared the appetizers. Someone else set the large table on the balcony.

Margarita remembers that morning as a collective effort. “Todo el mundo metió a ayudar,” she says, without them having asked for anything. She describes this spontaneous solidarity as “pruebas de amor”—proofs of love, not just words.

That evening, the table was covered with arepas, so that each guest could experience, for one night, a little bit of Margarita and Jesús’s home. It was a gesture I found infinitely touching to observe, in silence, from behind my camera.

The Details That Make a Colombian-Venezuelan Wedding Memorable

Jesús writes poetry, and it showed in every thoughtful gesture he made for his guests: little hand-drawn notes, all different, all personalized for each person in attendance.

During the speeches, someone played audio messages recorded by Margarita and Jesús’s parents, who had stayed behind in Colombia and Venezuela because they couldn’t make the trip to France. Their voices echoed through the room from across the Atlantic. I hid behind my camera at that moment, and I’ll always remember the emotion that filled the room as we listened to those words.

Why Photograph This Wedding Entirely on Film?

I shoot film because this technique imposes a different rhythm: slower, more present, more attentive to what really matters. For this wedding in Sartrouville, I used seventeen rolls of film, with each image chosen intentionally rather than snapped at random.

It’s precisely this kind of wedding—intimate, multicultural, and far from the expected norms—that reveals the true meaning of film photography for me. A collection of images that truly feels like a family keepsake.

A few words for Margarita and Jesús

Our paths crossed on Instagram, through one of those coincidences that are hard to explain. And yet, from our very first exchanges, I sensed that something special was taking shape.

That day, I didn’t feel like I was working for strangers. I was welcomed like a friend, with a generosity that touched me deeply. I’ll carry with me for a long time this feeling of having been a part—even if only briefly—of your story.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for letting me be a part of your day the way you did.

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