A Fairy-tale Wedding at Schloss Schadau, Thun | Fanny & Corentin
- Jun 6
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Schloss Schadau: Switzerland's most enchanting castle wedding venue
Schloss Schadau sits on the southern shore of Lake Thun, at the foot of the Bernese Oberland, with the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau visible on clear days behind it. Built in the 19th century in the style of a Loire Valley château, it is intimate where other castle venues are imposing, all magnificent woodwork, soaring ceilings, and lake-facing terraces, making it one of the most distinctive wedding venues in Switzerland.
It is also, as Fanny and Corentin discovered, the kind of place that remembers you.
How they found it and why it was the only choice
Fanny and Corentin first saw Schloss Schadau in 2020, on a walk through Thun in the early months of their relationship. They didn't know it was a wedding venue. They simply saw a castle by a lake and kept walking. Years later, searching for a place to get married, they found it again. The coincidence felt too significant to ignore.
"It was such an enormous coincidence that we couldn't ignore it. When we first visited in January 2025, we loved the fairy-tale atmosphere, not too big, more like a mansion, with magnificent woodworks and the most important thing: the lake view." said Fanny
This is one of the things I love most about my work as a destination wedding photographer in Switzerland. The couples who find their way here often do so through a story, through a memory, a walk, a moment that attached itself to a place. Schloss Schadau is exactly the kind of venue that creates those moments.
My unique approach to this wedding at Schloss Schadau, tailored to the bride and groom's vision
From the very beginning, Fanny and Corentin told me about their love for fairy tales and movies, and the vibe they wanted. So I adapted my workflow to fit their vision: I did not use a flash aside from certain moments by the staircase to keep the light natural and closer to what a movie would look like. It was certainly challenging to shoot a party so differently but I am happy with the result, which you can see below.
I'll leave the highlights of the day here for you to see, and then will elaborate more on their wedding day.
The theme: fairy-tales, cinema, and a love that shows in every detail
Fanny and Corentin's wedding drew from two worlds: Disney fairy-tales and the films they watch together, at the cinema, at least once a week. The result was not a costume party or a themed event in the conventional sense. It was a wedding saturated with private meaning, details that guests who loved them would recognise, and details that only the two of them could fully understand.
The pastel palette, soft pinks and blues, was chosen because pink is Fanny's signature colour and blue is Corentin's. Together they became the visual identity of the day. The wedding cake was decorated with butterflies, flowers, and piping royal icing echoing the castle's intricate woodwork. The film boards at each table represented chapters of their lives, separately and together, through love films they had watched side by side.
Fanny's dress, full of flowers and sparkles, was chosen because it made her feel like a real princess. Corentin dressed in a style suited to the château: classic, considered, timeless. Her father arrived in something that resembled, closely, a James Bond suit. He has not admitted this.
The handmade book, the tarot cards, and the Cinderella secret
Some of the most beautiful details at this wedding were made by hand. The guest book was crafted by Fanny's mother, bookbinding is her hobby since retiring, and designed to resemble the opening pages of a Disney film, with the castle on the cover modified to look like Schloss Schadau itself. It is the kind of object that will outlast everything else from the day.
At each place setting: a deck of cat tarot cards, a reference to their three cats at home and their habit of drawing cards together to see what the future holds. The cards were used during the reception to draw the winner of a painting made by Corentin's aunt's husband — a detail so specific it could only exist at this wedding.
And because Cinderella is Corentin's favourite Disney film, Fanny secretly arranged with their animation coordinator, Lauraline, to weave references to it throughout the ceremony and celebrations. Crystal shoes appeared as part of an animation. The references were layered, private, and perfectly placed.
Photographing a Schloss Schadau wedding
As a destination wedding photographer based in Switzerland, I have worked at many venues across the country. Schloss Schadau is one of the handful I return to with genuine excitement each time. The interior light, filtered through tall windows onto dark wood, is unlike anywhere else. The terrace in late afternoon, with the lake catching the light and the Alps behind it, is one of the most naturally beautiful settings for couple portraits in the entire Bernese Oberland.
For Fanny and Corentin's wedding, I focused on the details as much as the moments, because their wedding was built on details. The tarot cards. The book. The film boards. The matching pastel tones on a table they had designed together. These are the images that will matter most in twenty years.
Planning a wedding at Schloss Schadau
Schloss Schadau is one of the most sought-after wedding venues in the Bernese Oberland, and for good reason: it combines the architecture of a Swiss castle with the intimacy of a private estate. It accommodates both intimate celebrations and larger gatherings, and its position on Lake Thun, with direct access to the water and unobstructed views of the Alps, makes it exceptional for both ceremonies and photography.
If you are considering Schloss Schadau for your destination wedding in Switzerland, I would be glad to share more about the venue, the light throughout the year, and what to expect on the day. As a photographer based in Switzerland year-round, I work with international couples from the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and across Europe who are planning their wedding here, and I handle far more than the photography.
If you've been drawn to Schloss Schadau, or to Switzerland as a wedding destination, I'd love to hear about your plans. Let's start talking about your dreamt wedding day, reach out here.
Credits:
Venue: Schloss Schadau
Makeup and hairstyling: Anais Pisanello
Florals: Blumen Kaspar
Cake: Susses Glueck
Dress: Rosa Clara
Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Singer and Dj: Wedding voices Schweiz
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