Weddings · Norman Vexin · 1 hour from Paris
One estate.
One wedding.
Five hectares in Normandy, an hour from Paris, yours alone. On the day of your wedding, nobody else is here.
Wedding venue at Château du Chesnay-Haguest, a private estate an hour from Paris
Arriving
You cross the grounds.
Five hectares of private grounds, a 250-year-old cedar, and the château growing in front of you.
The steps
You climb the steps.
The stone, the columns, the carved door. Félix Leclerc de Pulligny cut all of it by hand, between 1858 and 1863.
Inside
And you are home.
The entrance hall, the grand staircase, the drawing rooms. On that day, nobody else comes through this door.
No second reception in the east wing, no group arriving in the middle of your drinks reception. The estate closes for you, from Friday evening to Sunday morning. That holds for thirty guests as much as for two hundred.
01
The Park Pavilion
Up to 200 guests
350 m² of parquet opening onto the ponds, with the medieval fountain as a backdrop. Seated dinner, then the room turns into a dance floor without anyone having to step outside.
02
The historic drawing rooms
Up to 50 guests
Pulligny, Monet, Dumas. Panelling, carved fireplaces, light from both sides. For a humanist ceremony under cover, a drinks reception in the warm, or a small wedding.
03
The historic grounds
5 hectares, yours alone
A 250-year-old cedar, more than 70 varieties of rose, ponds and waterfalls. You choose the setting for your ceremony at the visit, and the light holds from morning until sunset.
04
Where everyone sleeps
10 bedrooms · 20 beds
5 twin rooms and 5 doubles, one of them on the ground floor and accessible. Your witnesses and your parents sleep a hundred metres from the party. Nobody looks for a taxi.
The day
A wedding here does not last an evening.
It lasts a weekend.
From arriving on Friday to Sunday brunch, this is how a celebration unfolds at the estate. Nothing is fixed: it is a canvas, not a programme.
Friday
The evening before
You arrive without having to set everything up in a rush. The Guest House takes in your family, the florist drops off his boxes, and you have dinner together in the drawing rooms. The next morning, getting ready happens where you slept.
Saturday, early afternoon
The ceremony
Under the 250-year-old cedar, beside the ponds, or in the Pulligny drawing room if it rains. The grounds offer several settings and you choose yours during the visit. The town hall of Vexin-sur-Epte is a few minutes away for the civil ceremony.
Saturday, late afternoon
The drinks reception
On the steps, between the ponds or by the pool: this is when your guests discover the estate. They wander freely, the children run in the grounds, and nobody needs you to know where to go.
Saturday evening
The reception
In the Park Pavilion: 350 m² of parquet, the glass walls open onto the ponds, and the medieval fountain lit behind. Seated dinner for up to 200 guests, then the room turns into a dance floor without anyone having to step outside.
Through the night
The night
Ten bedrooms, twenty beds on the estate. Your witnesses, your parents and your children sleep a hundred metres from the party. Nobody looks for a taxi, nobody gets back on the road.
Sunday morning
The morning after
Brunch in the grounds or in the Pavilion, coffee in the sun, the pool for those who want it. With the extended Sunday, the estate stays yours until 4 pm: it is often the moment guests talk about most.
The film
Forty-seven seconds at the estate
An inspiration shoot filmed here: the ceremony under the bandstand, the long table in the grounds, the pool in the late afternoon. With sound.
Dining
Our partner caterer cooks local, seasonal and from scratch. Drinks reception and live cooking stations, seated dinner, wedding cake, Sunday brunch. For kosher or halal cooking, or a particular family tradition, we work with other houses.
The options
You choose how long you stay
The estate is always hired in full, and only one wedding takes place here. What changes is the length: a day, a day and its night, a three-day weekend. These three are the most asked for, they are not the only ones: midweek, the estate can be hired for one day or several, and everything is built from the same grid.
The day
One day, from morning until night
From 10 am to 3 am
Seventeen hours of an estate that is yours alone, from getting ready to the last dance. The choice for smaller weddings and weekday celebrations.
The detail at the visit
The day and the night
Nobody drives home
Saturday 10 am to Sunday 11 am
The whole day, then the ten bedrooms of the estate for the night. Your family go up to bed a hundred metres from the dance floor, and you wake up where the party was.
The detail at the visit
The full weekend
Three days at home
Friday to Sunday, 4 pm
The whole estate, two nights on site and a Sunday that stretches to 4 pm. The choice for couples who do not want their wedding to end at midnight.
The detail at the visit
The price depends on the date and the number of nights, and it is built by addition: how it is worked out. The exact figure is given at the visit, with your date in hand.
Common questions
Is the estate really ours alone?
Yes, entirely. On the day of your wedding, no other event takes place on the estate: the grounds, the drawing rooms, the Pavilion and the Guest House are yours alone. That holds whatever the size of your party — a wedding of thirty takes over the estate as completely as a wedding of two hundred.
How many guests can you take?
Up to 200 guests for a seated dinner in the Park Pavilion (350 m²), and more for a standing reception. The historic drawing rooms of the château take up to 50 people, for humanist ceremonies and small weddings. The smallest party we take is 30 guests.
How many people can sleep on the estate?
The estate has 10 bedrooms and 20 beds: five doubles and five twins, one of them on the ground floor and accessible to guests with reduced mobility. Your guests sleep in the Guest House; the couple spend the night in the château bedroom. From 2028, the Farm Cottage will add at least five more bedrooms.
Can we book a single day on a Saturday in summer?
From June to September, Saturdays and Sundays are only available as a weekend, with at least one night on the estate. The rest of the year, a single day is possible at the weekend as well as midweek. In high season, dates usually go twelve to eighteen months ahead.
How does a legal marriage work in France?
In France, only a civil ceremony at a town hall is legally binding, and it must take place in the town where one of you lives or has a documented connection. What happens at the estate is the ceremony you design yourselves — a humanist ceremony, led by whoever you choose, with no legal standing but all the meaning. Most couples marrying here from abroad hold the legal ceremony at home beforehand, then celebrate with us. The town hall of Vexin-sur-Epte is a few minutes away if your situation allows a French civil ceremony.
Can the ceremony be held in the grounds?
Yes, and wherever you like: the whole estate is yours. We have our own favourite spots to suggest — under the 250-year-old cedar, at the bandstand behind the château, beside the ponds — but if another corner speaks to you, it is yours. We walk the grounds together at the visit, and the light changes enough through the day that the hour of the ceremony matters as much as the place.
Come and see the estate
Photographs make you want it, the visit decides it. Tell us your dates and when you are free, and we will arrange to meet. You deal directly with the estate, with no platform and no middleman.