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The Château d’Amboise from its gardens, a gravel path between green lawns leading to the Renaissance wing, with slate towers and clouds overhead

Wedding photographers in Amboise

A royal château on a spur above the Loire, where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last three years — and which, by its own rule, hosts no weddings.

See all 9 photographersWhen to marry here

Amboise, a town of about 12,900 people, grew up under the spur where Charles VIII, who was raised here and died here in 1498, turned a fortress into a royal palace and François Ier went on remaking it in the Renaissance style. In 1516 Leonardo da Vinci came to the Clos Lucé, a brick and stone manor a short way off, and stayed until his death in 1519; the white chapel of Saint-Hubert in the château’s grounds, carved between 1491 and 1496, is his presumed resting place. The town lies inside the stretch of the Loire on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

The one thing to know first is that the château itself is not an option: its own page says weddings cannot be organised there, for safety reasons. So a wedding in Amboise is a day spread around the town — the civil ceremony at the mairie if you qualify, a toast or a dinner in a park a few minutes away, such as the one around the Pagode de Chanteloup, and the portraits against the château, from across the water or in its gardens if it agrees.

Photographers

9 photographers in the Loire Valley

They shoot everywhere in the Loire Valley — in Amboise too. Their whole weddings are on their pages.

See all 9 photographers

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Ceremonies

Where couples marry in Amboise

  1. The mairie

    A civil wedding here needs one of you, or a parent of one of you, to have a home in Amboise, or at least a month’s continuous residence when the banns go up for their ten days. The town hall, at 60 rue de la Concorde, is open Monday to Friday from 8:45 to 17:30, and on Saturdays from 9:00 to 12:00 for the civil registry only, except in school holidays. We found no page of its own on weddings: ask it for its days and rooms.

  2. The Pagode de Chanteloup

    About five minutes’ drive from the centre, in a 14-hectare park, the estate lists wedding photographs in front of the pagoda, a vin d’honneur at the monument or by the great basin, private evening events and brunches. There is a 96 m² reception tent to hire, and you can set up tents and marquees near the basin. Its page mentions no ceremony and gives no guest numbers: ask it for both, and for its season.

  3. The Clos Lucé’s rooms

    Leonardo’s manor has reception rooms of its own: the Salle Léonard de Vinci (323 m², up to 300 people), the Salle Joconde (95 m², up to 90), the Salle Vitruve (75 m², up to 70) and the Auberge du Prieuré (60 m², up to 60). Its page speaks of seminars and professional receptions and doesn’t mention weddings, so write to its sales office before you plan on it.

  4. A religious ceremony

    In France a church wedding may only follow the civil one, so a blessing in one of Amboise’s churches comes after your legal wedding, at home or in France. We found no published rules for couples from outside the parish: ask it well ahead. The chapel of Saint-Hubert is inside the château, and the château’s rule on weddings is the one above.

The Clos Lucé at Amboise, a manor of red brick and pale stone with pointed slate roofs and a turret, behind a wooden fence on green grass
A dark wooden footbridge over still green water in the park of the Clos Lucé, seen through trees and ivy

Portraits

Where to take your portraits

Through the year

When to marry in Amboise

Météo-France’s station at Tours, about 20 km away (1991–2020 normals), gives average highs of 23.4 °C in June and 22.1 °C in September, with rain on about 7.5 days in each. July and August are the driest months, at 6.7 and 6.6 rainy days, and the warmest, at about 26 °C, with some five days of 30 °C or more in each. May is cooler, at 19.6 °C, with rain on 9 days, and October has nearly 10. Keep an indoor or covered plan whatever the month.

Loire Valley, month by month

  1. January: Quieter
  2. February: Quieter
  3. March: Quieter
  4. April: Quieter
  5. May: Good with planning
  6. June: Best
  7. July: Best
  8. August: Best
  9. September: Best
  10. October: Good with planning
  11. November: Quieter
  12. December: Quieter

Practical

Good to know before the day

  • Getting there

    The tourist office gives about 1h30 from Paris by regional train from Austerlitz to Amboise’s own station, on the Paris–Tours line. High-speed trains from Montparnasse stop at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, about 20 km away. Tours Val de Loire airport is about 25 km off, and the drive from Paris or Nantes takes about 2h30.

  • Guests’ coaches

    Coaches over 7.5 tonnes can’t cross the town’s bridge, the Pont Leclerc: the tourist office sends them over the Pont Debré upstream. If a coach is bringing guests from the other bank, plan its route and its drop-off before the day.

  • Drones

    French rules for leisure drones ban flights over any gathering of people, at night, and over public space in a built-up area, and set a ceiling of 120 metres. That rules out the town centre for most wedding films; check the official Géoportail map for anywhere else, and ask the château or the estate before any flight over its land.

  • The legal route

    Being born here isn’t enough: France asks for a lasting link to the commune, through your home, a month’s residence or a parent’s. Proof of address must be in your name or that parent’s, and the date is fixed only with a complete file. Most couples from abroad marry legally at home and come here for the celebration; our guide to getting married in France sets out the steps.

How to marry legally in France

Questions

Questions about marrying in Amboise

Can we get married at the Château d’Amboise?

No. The château’s page on hiring its spaces says that weddings cannot be organised there, for safety reasons. Its rooms and the Terrasse de Naples are hired out for other events. You can still have it in your photographs, from the bridge and the island, or from its gardens if it agrees.

Where can we hold a wedding reception near Amboise?

The Pagode de Chanteloup, about five minutes by car, publishes that it takes wedding photographs, a vin d’honneur, private evenings and brunches in its 14-hectare park. The Clos Lucé has rooms for up to 300 people but speaks only of professional events, so ask it. Around the town, manors and wine estates host their own: the region page describes them.

Can we legally marry in Amboise as foreigners?

Only if one of you, or a parent of one of you, has a home in Amboise or has lived there for a continuous month by the time the banns are published. If not, the usual route is a legal wedding at home and a celebration here. Ask the mairie for its documents, and our guide to getting married in France has the rest.

Is Leonardo da Vinci really buried at Amboise?

He died at the Clos Lucé in 1519, and the chapel of Saint-Hubert in the château holds his presumed grave; the château itself simply calls it his burial place. We keep the word “presumed”, as the histories of the château do.

When is the best time to marry in Amboise?

June and September are the most comfortable: average highs of 22–23 °C at the Tours station and rain on about 7.5 days a month. July and August have the fewest rainy days but average about 26 °C, with some five days of 30 °C or more. June’s evenings are the longest, with sunset just before ten.

Sources (19)
  1. chateau-amboise.com/location-despaces
  2. chateau-amboise.com
  3. pagode-chanteloup.com/receptions
  4. pagode-chanteloup.com/histoire
  5. pagode-chanteloup.com
  6. vinci-closluce.com/nos-espaces-de-reception
  7. vinci-closluce.com/le-parc-leonardo-da-vinci
  8. vinci-closluce.com/le-chateau-du-clos-luce
  9. ville-amboise.fr/64/contacter-la-mairie.htm
  10. amboise-valdeloire.com/acces
  11. service-public.gouv.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F930
  12. fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amboise
  13. fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_d'Amboise
  14. fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_de_Loire
  15. assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/16/questions/QANR5L16QE3565
  16. object.files.data.gouv.fr/meteofrance/data/synchro_ftp/REF_STATION/FICHECLIM_37179001.pdf
  17. ecologie.gouv.fr/exploitation-drones-en-categorie-ouverte
  18. geoportail.gouv.fr/donnees/restrictions-uas-categorie-ouverte-et-aeromodelisme
  19. gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/calcdetails.html

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