Carley & Luke | Cute couples session in Les Baux de Provence, France
When visiting France, Paris may get most of the hype (and it’s well deserved, if you ask me), but don’t let your French experience start and end in Paris. This fascinating country is filled top to bottom with natural beauty, extraordinary sites of historical significance, of course–great food and wine and a beautiful language (but don’t worry if your French is minimal, most people in the tourism industry speak English).
The Provence region in France is similar to the Tuscany region in Italy, in terms of its significance, being in the south, with a lot of sunlight and nature. Provence is a land filled with beauty and wonder, and since moving part-time to Provence myself, I can attest to this being a region not to overlook. What most people don’t realize is how vast Provence is. Technically spanning from Marseille on the Mediterranean (France’s third largest city), to Nice on the French Riviera and points north, it’s a large region and while it can be explored with trains and buses, it’s best to rent a car.
That’s just what Carley and Luke did, a wonderful couple from Dallas, Texas. Spending some wonderful time exploring France, they decided to see the Provence highlights, rented a car, and stayed at a wonderful hotel in a medieval town called Les Baux de Provence.
Never heard of Les Baux? A lot of us haven’t, but this magnificent medieval city just outside of Saint-Remy-de-Provence and not far from the city of Arles, attracts more than 1.5 million visitors a year. Many visit the ruins of the chateau, and a super popular (and fantastic) spot is the Carrieres des Lumieres, where famous artworks are digitally projected onto the gigantic quarry walls (it’s stunning!). Les Baux is on the list of one of the most beautiful villages in France. There is a list of these beautiful villages in France, and it’s really a lot of fun to explore these villages.
What better place for a couples photo session, to celebrate a honeymoon, engagement, anniversary or “just because”! I was so excited to meet Carley and Luke! They turned out to be even more wonderful than I could have imagined. Bright, friendly, fun and super positive, we walked around Les Baux together and found some amazing spots for photos.
The famous mistral wind was blowing this day, quite common to this area. The mistral is a strong north wind that can gust up to 40 mph. Its most common in winter, but can happen in summer too. While it’s not good for your hairdo, it’s refreshing as the temperatures can get hot in summer (around 90F). Les Baux is not a town really where anyone lives anymore, it’s mostly a tourist site, with a small village below. Yes, it is a bit touristy, but in a “classy” way.
The view from above is incredible, where you can see the famous olive tree groves (this region produces a great quantity of olive oil for France) as well as some vineyards. There’s also really great hiking trails, and you’re nearby to other great villages.
After roaming around for Les Baux for awhile, Carley and Luke were getting a bit hungry, so we stopped and got a couple of sandwiches, and then we finished our session in the olive groves. The sun was shining, it was so pretty, and capturing this couple’s glorious love story was inspiring and fun!
If you’re coming to Provence, don’t hesitate to contact me so that we can plan your very own Provence photo session! I can’t wait to meet you.
