Intimate French Chateau Wedding Featuring A Beautiful Bride In A Jenny Packham Wedding Dress

The Suits

Neale and his best man, as well as my father, had their suits made at a small shop in Reading called, which Neale goes to every year. They did an amazing job, and the boys were very handsome!

The Dress

I wanted to wear something loose and vintage. I chose a Jenny Packham dress that was a little bit vintage. I did not want to wear a veil, so I got a vintage headband. I also wanted fancy shoes, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. I wore the grey pair I already owned.

I did not want bridesmaids because I didn’t want the wedding to be too big. However, about three weeks before the ceremony, I asked my oldest and dearest friend to do the honor. I bought her the dress she wanted to wear and admitted to her over a glass of wine that I needed her assistance!

The Photographer

I saw that Dasha had previously photographed a wedding in Chateau Lagorce and fell instantly in love with her photos. As a professional photographer, I knew I’d get a sense of a photographer. I did with Dasha. I booked her immediately after I spoke to her. We are so happy with our photos.

The Flowers

I only told the florist to use seasonal flowers and pastel colors and make them look a little messy.

I chose Scottish Thistles for the buttonholes of the boys. It was random, but because I have many Scottish friends, it’s something that they’ve always used at their weddings. The colors also matched the ties.

My father wanted all the men to wear buttonholes. I thought it was unnecessary, but after seeing it in action, I have to admit that it looked super stylish.

The Refreshments

While planning the wedding, I saw mason jars filled with pastel-colored juice and was eager to use them as they would be very hot. However, the celebrant arrived late, so the pots were a hit.

Because it was a destination wedding, we couldn’t do a tasting session of the food. We had to rely instead on Anna, the wedding coordinator at Chateau Lagorce. The food there was delicious, so that wasn’t a problem.

As a surprise, my mum had a friend make me a wedding cake. He did an amazing job adding his touch to a classic design. I love chocolate, so we served that along with a traditional French Croquembouche.

Decor & Details

The venue was so beautiful I didn’t think it needed much decoration. We decided on welcome bags filled with goodies as we were expecting our guests to stay at the chateau for over three days.

The place cards we used were vintage luggage tags with different designs in French on the reverse side of each card. The front of each card was hand-stamped with the guests’ names (it took me literally hours to do this), and they looked beautiful.

My mum and her friends picked 60 pieces of fresh lavender the morning before the wedding. I thought that it would be lovely to have a little lavender at each place setting.

My friends and I decorated the jars for the centerpieces with ribbons and lace the day before our wedding.

My very talented bridesmaid hand-wrote the table plan as well as various blackboards throughout the venue. Flip-flops were provided to make sure that no one could stop dancing.

We knew that our male guests would enjoy the wheelbarrow full of beer during the champagne and appetizers. And they did.

The Wedding Music

Neale’s and my favorite song ‘First Day of My Life’ by Bright Eyes, has been a favorite for many years. It was, therefore, easy to choose a song as our first dance.

I have a friend who is a man and couldn’t be too involved in the wedding. I would have loved for him to be my second bridesmaid, but he wouldn’t allow it. Neale, my husband, and I decided that it would be great if he played guitar as I walked up the aisle. He had only been playing the instrument for two months when asked, but he was not interested.

For the recessional walk, he played the song “I’m Yours” by Jason Moraz – mainly because it was the only other good song he knew!