Astrid & Bela

This dreamy, intimate family wedding, complete with festoon lit pool party has seriously got me longing for a summer holiday. Destination weddings are always really appealing, the incredible venues, the sunshine, the food...it wouldn't take much to convince me to get married abroad, and Astrid and Bela's wedding day isn't really doing much to help ;) Images come from the lovely Coralie Monnet, whose ethereal style captures that golden French light to perfection.

Our Wedding

The was the bride's parents' home. It was transformed by tents and lights set up by Organic Concept. The decor was fresh and relaxed, with no particular colour scheme. The witnesses happened to wear different shades of blue and it looked nice. Flower girls were wearing lime green dresses from Petit Bateau that they previously owned. A friend of my parents, Henriette did our flowers, she was fantastic.

The Ceremony

Both friends who read a text picked children stories (Le Petit Prince and The Velveteen Rabbit). Our two closest friends were running the show, and as we were married officially in June the previous year, we wanted to make this ceremony as special as possible. Neither of us are religious so we did it our own way, they wrote the script together without telling us the details which was fantastic. To seal our union we mixed an aperol spritz in a large jar that had been standing in the front since the start of the ceremony, with ice and prosecco. We added the aperol and it all went orange. Everyone was then able to have a sip of our union drink :)

The Food & Entertainment

The party in the evening was lead by DJ Bruno, who came highly recommended by my parents who saw him set dancefloors on fire at two other weddings. He was great, took our suggestions and put his skill on this. The food by Jerome Ravel was delicious. On Sunday, the brunch was the 2nd part of the party, as people travelled we wanted them to have a full two days of fun. The Hotel Les Messugues was a fantastic venue for a day event (but now would also be good for evening as they have done some work near the pool). The food was everything one could dream of for an after party day, and we had the whole pool as ourselves and a lot of our guests were using up all the hotel for the weekend. A slice of paradise tucked away in the vineyards.

The Photography

Coralie Monnet is a magician. She captured our event with a sharpness and beauty we could never have dreamed of. She spent 2 days with us in the South of France, charming everyone from the first "hello". There aren't many people you want in that room when you're getting ready, but she turns out to be one of them. She has a positive, calm and discreet presence that is perfect to survive the tension of the "GO" moment. She isn't scared of jumping in the pool and going underwater either! The one time she "forced us" to pose for a shot (literally walking up and down the garden) the shots that came out are stunning and actually the best capture of how we felt towards each other on that day. I can't recommend Coralie enough, her talent and commitment is worth every penny. Treat her well and you'll get a lifetime of memories back!

Special Thanks

We were lucky enough to have the full support of our parents, who let us lead the project and not compromise on anything. We really thought hard about what mattered to us, and focused on that, stripping a lot of the things that are expected from us usually. It was real teamwork with the suppliers who really listened and tried their very best to make the event as amazing as it could be.