35 Countries, Four Cats and One Medieval Château: Şeyma & Valérian's Wedding at Château du Rocher Portail
- Author: Natali Grace Levine
- Wedding date: 07/11/2026
- City: Nantes
Love Story
Casablanca, a surf school, two people bobbing on their boards and talking between sets. That is where Şeyma and Valérian’s story starts: in the water, with no particular hurry. The conversation carried on after the lesson, through returning the boards and out the door, and Şeyma spent the whole walk expecting Valérian to ask for her number. He didn’t. Shyness got the better of him, and patience got the better of her: “Eventually, I got impatient and asked for his instead!” The first date happened that very evening. Three bottles of wine later, neither of them remembered the early start waiting at work the following morning, and the next day was, by Şeyma’s cheerful admission, a disaster she wouldn’t trade: “The hangover was terrible, but definitely worth it.”
After that night, the days simply started overlapping. Weekdays became evenings together and weekends became surf trips, and when Morocco had given them all it could, they packed up and moved to Qatar as a pair. Four years on, their shared passport stamps cover 35 countries, and a new itinerary is almost always half-planned. Every trip is a small negotiation that somehow always works out: trails and mountain views for Şeyma, museums and ruins for Valérian, and good food for both, non-negotiable. The rest of the time, home in Doha means consulting work for him, marketing for her, the gym, yoga, a growing shelf of fantasy novels and four rescued cats, every one of them adopted in Qatar and firmly in charge of the household.
Sri Lanka marked the start of the next chapter. The two flew in for a surf weekend, and although marriage had come up before, Şeyma had no timeline in mind and no idea anything was planned. The first session of the trip left them sun-tired and elated. Back in their hotel room, still carrying that post-surf high, Valérian proposed. Nobody else was there, nothing was staged, and nothing needed to be. It was a day in the water, followed by a question, followed by a yes, and for these two, there could hardly have been a truer setting. Şeyma remembers it as simple, intimate, and genuinely romantic.
About Your Wedding
Seven months of planning led to July 11, 2026, and to Château du Rocher Portail in Maen Roch, where 100 guests gathered in the French countryside. From the outset, the couple knew what they were balancing. “We wanted our wedding to feel elegant and beautiful, but at the same time relaxed and fun,” Şeyma says. A château was central to that vision, and not just any château. Şeyma has always been fascinated by old castles, by the stories hidden in their walls, their architecture and the air of mystery they carry.
Then there was the guest list, which read like a flight map. Between Paris, Istanbul and Doha, the couple’s family and friends had long since scattered, and bringing everyone to one place at the same time was, for Şeyma and Valérian, half the magic. Their wish list for the day itself stayed short: a beautiful setting, good food, good drinks, really good music and a proper party with the people they love. There was never a theme in the traditional sense. The goal, Şeyma explains, was that “we wanted everything to feel like it belonged there and to us.”
Inspiration came from two directions. The first was the château itself, whose architecture and atmosphere shaped many decisions once the venue was booked. The second was Şeyma’s longtime love of fashion and editorial photography, which guided the visual details and, judging by the gallery, left its mark on almost every frame. The day also brought one guest nobody had invited: a heatwave. It tested everyone’s stamina and made a few team members indispensable.
Morning Details
Long before the wedding weekend, guests got their first glimpse from Şeyma herself. She designed the digital invitations on a website platform and filled them with far more than dates and addresses: the couple’s story, photos of the two of them and every practical detail, gathered in one place. With guests traveling from several countries, it doubled as a keepsake and a travel guide.
On the morning itself, one piece of jewelry carried more weight than any other. Şeyma’s engagement ring dates back to the 18th century, and she treasured the thought that it “had already existed for centuries before becoming part of our story.” Worn on a wedding day set among old stone walls, the antique ring felt less like an accessory and more like a thread connecting the couple to the place.
Bride Getting Ready
The gîte on the château grounds, where the couple stayed, served as Şeyma’s getting-ready space, and she remembers it as a lovely, intimate setting. Outside, the temperature climbed steadily, and inside, makeup artist Gianluca Venerdini and hairstylist Andrea Idini prepared for a long day. Their work didn’t end when the bride stepped out of the door. They stayed nearby from morning until night, refreshing and restyling whenever the heat got the upper hand, and Şeyma still sounds relieved when she talks about it. Her summary is short and sincere: “Our glam team was lifesavers during the heatwave.” Asked which vendor changed her experience most, she didn’t hesitate to name them, praising their professionalism and how they made her feel cared for all day long.
Her gown came from Istanbul, from a designer Şeyma already knew and whose dresses she had seen on people close to her. Because she arrived with a clear vision and a folder of references, choosing the direction took very little time, and the real pleasure lay in developing it together. “We worked from those ideas to create the dress, and the process was very personal,” she recalls. The finished dress was richly embellished, with a structured corset bodice and a long, fluid skirt. For the afternoon portraits, Şeyma wore it with fine lace sleeves, and by sunset she had switched to a strapless silhouette paired with a long, sheer veil that drifted in the evening breeze.
Groom Getting Ready
Valérian dressed with confidence and a sense of humor. An ivory dinner jacket, black trousers and a black bow tie formed the classic base, and a pink flower on the lapel picked up the wedding’s colors. Then came the boots: black leather with harness straps, worn where tradition would have called for polished dress shoes, and a detail any keen-eyed guest was bound to notice. Somewhere between the ceremony and the portraits, he also added a pair of sunglasses, and the black-and-white shot of him leaning in a stone doorway is among the gallery’s most memorable images. Beside Şeyma’s intricate gown, his clean lines and single playful touch struck a balance that felt modern and very personal.
First Look
The château courtyard, enclosed by pale stone walls, was chosen for the first look. It was also the moment Valérian would later name as the one he would carry from the day: seeing Şeyma in her wedding dress for the very first time. Before the music, before the guests, and before the aisle, the two of them had a few minutes alone in a place that has watched over centuries of other stories. For a couple whose proposal happened with no one else in the room, it seemed only right that the first sight of each other on their wedding day was just as private.
Photoshoot Before The Ceremony
Stone arcades, timber ceilings darkened by age, and window arches that opened onto slate-roofed towers made the backdrop for the pre-ceremony portraits. Photographer Gabriela Tyrka used every shadow and texture, placing the couple inside the arches with the château rising behind them and capturing Valérian alone, framed by carved stone, like a figure from an old portrait gallery. Şeyma had understood from the start that the building would speak for itself. “There was no need to compete with such a beautiful and historic setting,” she notes. The session carries a clear editorial sensibility, from the dramatic interplay of light and darkness to the softness of lace set against weathered stone, and the couple credits Gabriela with making the whole process feel easy, heatwave notwithstanding.
Ceremony
The vows were exchanged in the château’s jardin à la française, where perfectly clipped hedges and symmetrical paths formed an aisle no florist could improve upon. Şeyma walked it with her father, and that walk became her defining memory of the entire wedding. “Walking into the ceremony with my dad and seeing Valérian, then looking around and seeing all our friends and family together. What a dream!” she remembers. After years of relationships maintained across time zones and flight connections, having everyone they love seated in one garden, dressed up and waiting for them, was the image she had been waiting for, and it didn’t disappoint.
Photoshoot After The Ceremony
By the time the couple returned to the grounds for their evening portraits, the heat had softened into gold. The light fell low across the lawns and topiaries, sparkled on the pond's surface, and filtered through the tall trees at the edge of the garden. The resulting images drift between color and black and white: Şeyma wandering alone between the hedges, her veil trailing behind her; the two of them wrapped together under the sheer fabric; Valérian stretched out on the grass beside her in a rare moment of stillness. These photographs, more than any others, show what the couple meant when they said they wanted to make the most of the château and its surroundings.
Wedding Venue & Decor
Choosing the setting also meant choosing much of the aesthetic. “The château was our biggest source of inspiration,”Şeyma says, and the couple deliberately avoided forcing a concept onto a place with so much character of its own. The palette leaned romantic: burgundy and pink, balanced with green, colors that looked natural against grey stone walls and deep green hedges. The mood was elegant and softly romantic, restrained enough to let the architecture remain the main attraction.
The most charming detail, though, was pure Şeyma and Valérian. The couple designed two versions of their own wine labels. One showed an illustration of a bride and groom surfing side by side, a playful reference to the waves in Casablanca where everything started. The other carried their names and the château’s coordinates, turning each bottle into a small souvenir that guests could take home and remember the day by.
Reception
Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love” opened the evening, a romantic, slightly old-world choice that suited the château perfectly. After that, the party took over. DJ Taner Öztürk kept the dance floor full well into the night, and Maison Le Fermont handled the catering with a menu the couple describes as excellent. In place of a tiered wedding cake, Maison Le Fermont served tiramisu, and the bride is still enthusiastic about it: “It was the best tiramisu I’ve ever had. No joke!”
Throughout the weekend, the team made the difference between surviving the heatwave and enjoying it. Gabriela Tyrka kept the photography light and relaxed, while a close friend behind the video camera added a familiar, comfortable presence. When Şeyma reflects on everyone involved, her gratitude is clear. “We really felt surrounded by people who cared about making the day special,” she says. For a couple who have spent four years chasing waves, trails, and new cities, the day brought the adventure to them, carried in by the people they love most.
Wedding Team
- Photography Gabriela Tyrka
- Videographer @govolkan
- Venue @chateau_lerocherportail
- MUA @gianluca.venerdini
- Hair @andreaidini_
- Catering @maisonlefermont
- DJ @tanerozturkmusic
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