GETTING MARRIED IN FRANCE, THE SUPPLIERS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT!

Are you a bride-to-be hoping to get married in France?

I thought I would share with you some of the things I have learnt about getting married here and some of the lovely suppliers and people that I have been working with. Hopefully this will help the destination brides out there to put the final pieces of your wedding jigsaw together, or even get the ball rolling if you don’t know where to start!

LEGALLY GETTING MARRIED IN FRANCE

Firstly, the legal bits, and this might come as a surprise! If you are a British citizen, it’s important to know that if you are hoping to have a legal wedding in France, you need an address in France! For both heterosexual and same sex marriages, the legal ceremony takes place in the mairie (town hall) and this must be the local town hall where either one of you, or your parents, have an address or ties to. If you do meet these requirements you can legally get married in France but as with many things French, there is a lot of paperwork including getting birth certificates professionally translated which can be a bit of a drag!

As a result of these laws, many couples who have a destination wedding in France tend to do the legal ceremony in their home town beforehand and then have a second religious or secular ceremony in France. The rules vary a little from town to town on having this symbolic ceremony actually in a church, but again, it really helps if you have a link to that church or can bring a priest that knows you with you! Symbolic outdoor ceremonies are also very popular.

ENGLISH SPEAKING CELEBRANT

Luckily for us, Olivier and I do qualify for the civil ceremony in our local mairie in Bidart, our beautiful hillside Basque village, so we are doing that a couple of days before our wedding day with a smaller crowd. Then, for the symbolic ceremony on the wedding day itself, we have found a totally lovely and bilingual celebrant based near Bordeaux, Sandie Smith. Sandie Is English but has lived in France for over 30 years and is very willing to travel for your ceremony. I am excited to get writing the vows and we have confidence that Sandie will make the words of our wedding ceremony very special!

My nearest town is Biarritz, but as French Bague-ette, matures I am starting to work with suppliers all over the South West of France. It’s often a case of finding the right supplier to fit with my clients needs, so sometimes I have to look a little further afield and the contact list expands...

CREATIVE WEDDING SUPPLIERS

I’d like to share with you some of my most favourite suppliers that I have found. Firstly, hugely talented photographer Marine Marques. I love Marine’s approach, to capture ‘wild love & light’ For me there is a presence of nature and emotion in her work which I find beautiful. Marine would be an excellent choice if you are looking for a photographer in the South West area. These photos are of a styled elopement shoot in the Basque mountains that Marine worked on. You can see the contacts for her fabulously creative team in the captions below.

Also hugely influential in the region are Ruban Collective. They are a creative wedding collective consisting of planners, a photographer, hairstylist, stationery designer and amazing florist, Lady Brindille. Lady Brindille is the queen of cool when it comes to flower arranging, known for her signature ‘twiggy’ style and beautiful wreaths. Check out her instagram h ere.

Other exceptional florists in the area are Berry based in Biarritz. They are open minded innovators currently working on a pampas grass installation for a cliff side wedding I’m planning.
I am also totally in love with the ‘flower truck’ from Loreak Kalean! ...And speaking of trucks we mustn’t forget the fantastic food trucks available! Super cool Nacho Libre to bring Mexican midnight snacks when your guests get peckish after all that dancing! Or how about La Roulotte for some cool vintage caravan styling! For photobooth fun check out Wild Stories with their wooden camera, caravan photo booth with changeable backgrounds and fun accessories packs! Lastly, for hair and make-up, it has to be Whitney from Le Brushing or beauty agency By Jodie who have a team of talented English speaking beauticians for your destination weddings all over Europe.

I hope the wedding planning is going well for all you beautiful brides and that some of this has been helpful! I would love to answer any questions you have, so feel free contact me! 

Lou x

Elopement shoot imagery credits:

- Photographer : Marine Marques
- Florist : Atelier Floral
- Vidéo : Nacmédia
- Wedding Dress : Confidentiel Création

- Makeup : Julia Marty
- Hair : Emeline Saros

- Stationary : Zemonsta
- Arch : Cactus et les Nanas
- Wedding cake : Fika
- Jewelry : Les soeurs pirates

A WEDDING PLANNER’S ENGAGEMENT PARTY

IMAGES : EDITORIALISTS WEDDING

Call me greedy but Olivier and I had two engagement parties! The casual BBQ that I told you all about in my last post, and this more formal affair. It made sense to combine the first time our parents met with the engagement party so we waited until my parents were in Biarritz visiting. We also wanted to celebrate earlier than that with our friends, hence the need for two!

Sylvie and Patrick, my future parents-in-law, were kind enough to offer us their beautiful garden as our engagement party venue. Patrick and the boys put up a sail in case of showers (one always needs a contingency plan and I’m so glad we had ours because it actually rained twice during dinner!) Friends and family came in from out of town, everyone dressed up and looked fabulous, we worked out a seating plan and menu, and speeches were written. The whole evening felt like a mini wedding! Most ‘weddingy’ of all for me was taking the time to pamper and get ready for the evening. I loved having my hair and make-up professionally done and having a photographer there to capture everything…

HAIR & MAKE-UP

Whitney, my hair and make-up artist, from @lebrushing64 was fantastic! We went for gold and iridescent colours to match my dusty-pink, sparkly dress. My hair was half–up and tousled with rose gold clips. I was so happy with the look! Whitney has the most beautifully infectious laugh and makes you enjoy yourself from the moment she walks in the room. If you’re planning a destination wedding in France and need a hair and make-up artist, then get in touch with Whitney, she’s the best!

PHOTOGRAPHER

The photographer was Rupert from @editorialists_wedding. Rupert captured the mood of the evening perfectly and was so much fun to work with! That picture of us kissing with our friends in the background expresses exactly what the evening was about - it’s getting framed immediately! That’s precisely how you should feel about your wedding/engagement photos, so make sure you take your time to choose a photographer you trust and who’s work you totally love.

THE DRESS

I ordered my dress in from an Australian company, Runway Scout. I loved the shape and cut out details on the back. The only thing is that, as I’m such a shorty, I literally had to take the scissors to it and cut off a good 15cm! It meant I lost the gorgeous scalloped edge the dress normally has, but at least I didn’t fall over it and end up a heap on the floor with my champagne all over me!

FLOWERS & STYLING

I wanted to create a stylish but still very relaxed atmosphere and I couldn’t really spend a huge amount on flowers and styling, so Sylvie and I both pulled from our supply cupboards. For the table, I went for lots of greenery with a touch of blush and copper and loads of candles. Sylvie sacrificed some of her bright blue hydrangeas growing in the garden. I should have felt guilty chopping down my future mother in laws’ home-grown glories, but then these are one of my favorite flowers, so I quickly got over it! I also spent the morning clipping down greenery for the tables and pampas grasses from the wild hedge rows. I’m not even sure if that’s legal so please don’t go telling the gendarmerie!

The only thing I bought were my 1940’s pink champagne glasses, I saw those in a brocante (French flea market) and just had to have them! I made place names by using gold pen on leaves and a sprig of golden wheat on each serviette. 

We added festoon lighting, trestle tables and benches to complete the set up.

MENU

We wanted to make the most of the local Basque delicacies so we had local cured ham, grilled pimentos and brebis (Sheep’s cheese) My brother and some of the other lads tended to the delicious mixed grill BBQ of duck, cote des boeuf and marinated chicken (We all know that the boys enjoy bonding over the BBQ) All this mixed with our fanciest salad recipes. To finish we had Gateaux Basque, a black cherry or cream filled butter pastry tart. We also took the opportunity to test some potential wedding wines – that’s the wedding planner in me!

THE PARENTS MEETING

Mum and Dad and Sylvie and Patrick got on well… Phewf! We all worked together to get things ready for the evening and they casually exchanged stories of us misbehaving when we were kids. Olivier and I both welled up when my Dad and Sylvie made their speeches and it gave us a taste of how emotional the wedding day itself will be. (Mental note to make sure I get waterproof mascara!) 

Overall, it was a fantastic night that went exactly how I planned it. I felt that I achieved the look and relaxed atmosphere that I was going for and we enjoyed every minute!

The next step for us is invitations and a wedding website. As our wedding will be a ‘destination wedding’ for all my side coming from the UK, we have quite a lot of info to give to people and so we think a website is best. We’re thinking of using the website builder and app called ‘Appy Couple.’ We’ve heard both good and bad things about it so if anyone has had any experience with them, or any other suggestions, we would love to hear them! Please add your thoughts and comments below!

As I finish writing my post, I’m literally just heading out the door to catch a flight to London for my friend Katy’s wedding. I’ll be trying on some wedding dresses whilst I’m there so I’ll let you all know how that goes…

Lou x

Photography by Rupert from @editorialists_wedding

Hair & Make-up by Whitney from @Lebrushing64

A WEDDING PLANNERS OWN WEDDING – THE NEXT STEPS

It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride since my last article and today I feel like I’m on the Waltzer!  I’m pretty sure that no ‘wedmin’ goes without some sort of hitch, whether it be the venue isn’t available on your ideal date, or the photographer you wanted will be on holiday or more alarming matters like the dress has gone missing! I’m sure we all have our own stories!

CHOOSING A WEDDING VENUE

Olivier and I had originally pencilled in September 2018 for our wedding. September is easily the best month in the Basque Country where we live. The evenings are long and balmy, most tourists have gone home and things start to get a bit more relaxed! We had decided on the perfect reception venue for us, a small, unassuming beach bar restaurant by the village of Guéthary. I was looking for a venue that would wow our guests with natural beauty and give them a taste of our lives out here, and this does just that. The venue looks onto Cenitz beach, Olivier’s favourite surf spot and where we spend a lot of our time. In the same way that our proposal site is so dear to us, so is this place and it seemed like a very natural choice… Here’s the hitch though, September was fully booked wasn’t it! – One of the bookings even being a gorgeous Welsh couple, my own clients through my destination wedding company, French Bague-ette.

The only date available was the 6th July so, although I’ll have less time to plan, we took it!  

CHOOSING A CEREMONY VENU

The next step was to choose a ceremony venue. After days of searching, I stumbled across something magical – A stunning villa on the cliff above the restaurant, it couldn’t be more prefect! Hidden in it’s own beautiful gardens I have walked passed it 100 times but had no idea it was there. With turquoise shutters, incredible sea views, countless bright blue hydrangeas lining the gravel paths and even a swimming pool. I was totally in love. We visited the property, met the owners and discussed all our plans with them. I got really emotional standing at the spot in the garden where we would say our vows. I was just overcome with happiness, looking over the sea, knowing this was where I would make my promises to Olivier…. As I write this now, I have just learnt that the owners of the villa have now decided that, although it can be used for accommodation, they don’t want anyone who is not a family member to have a wedding ceremony at the property. We are both truly gutted.

So, the search is on again! At this point it’s very hard to imagine that we will find something just as perfect, but the area is full of beautiful places so I have faith that we will find a solution, and it might be even better! Here is proof that these things don’t always line up, even for a wedding planner! So, don’t be disheartened if your big day plans don’t all fall into place right away, it’s all part of a wedding jigsaw puzzle.

The villa we lost! 

ENGAGEMENT PARTY

It hasn’t been all bad luck since my last post. Olivier and I organised an engagement BBQ at home in our garden. A beautifully relaxed moment with our friends and some of Olivier’s family. We also had the pleasure of having the incredibly talented photographer @lafemmegribouillage with us, whom I loved working with and totally recommend! We had some live music from our friend and wedding musician Andy Gregory and everyone chipped in with ‘cote des boeuf’, sausages and salads… as well as generous amounts of bubbles!

We are actually having two engagement parties, the second one is next week and will be a more formal, styled, al fresco dinner party at Olivier’s parent’s house. It will also be the first time that my parents and Olivier’s parents meet! Gulp! The language barrier might make for some rather comedy moments and I’m sure some embarrassing stories will come out from both sides! I spend a lot of time with Olivier’s family, who have been so welcoming to me. It seems strange that my parents have never met them but I guess it’s quite normal especially as we live in different countries. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

So, there’s lots to do for my wedding, and still lots to do for the other weddings I’m planning. My next mission will be the search for the dress! If you want to follow my story and find some wedding styling inspiration, check out my Instagram account and website:

Engagement party image Credits: Marika Mouh @lafemmegribouillage

www.lafemmegribouillage.paris