Lara & John

Picturesque views that go on for miles, and an adorable love story culminating in a luxe wedding at La Bastide de Gordes in Provence, France. It doesn't get much better than that right? Styled to perfection by Haute Weddings Planners, especially the outdoor wedding ceremony with it's blush pink and white floral arch and aisle floral arrangements on wooden barrels. It is the epitome of wedding goals. Then there's the super sleek, super stylish fashion with groomsmen in Tuxedos and the bridal party wearing elegant fitted gowns from Carolina Herrera and Amanda Wakeley. Who together look like they've just strolled off a catwalk. Each moment pictured is just as heavenly as the day, with all the beauty being captured by John Barwood Photography. And if you've fallen for this wedding as much as us, you should also check out Stefanie & Ravi's luxe day at La Bastide de Gordes too.

Dress

Lara the Bride: At first, searching for a wedding dress in a city as big as London felt like an intimidating task, but as soon as I found The Wedding Club, I felt instantly at home. As soon as I tried on the Carolina Herrera dress at their South Kensington store, I knew that I had found the dress I wanted to get married in. The staff were so kind and helpful and made the whole experience a lot of fun. They had an amazing range of accessories and the veil we eventually chose was the perfect complement to the simplicity of the dress. My jewellery and shoes were a very generous gift from my parents and my sister was my make-up artist for the day.

Grooms Attire

John the Groom: I wear suits day to day for work, so I wanted something a bit more special for my wedding day – I knew that I wanted to wear a tuxedo and that I wanted something that was made specifically for me. I had heard great things about Edit Suits from a friend. I went for a consultation and was instantly impressed. I knew exactly what I wanted (midnight blue tuxedo with black lapels), and they talked me through all the options for a fully made to measure suit. I had about one appointment to get measured, and then about 3 or 4 meetings to have various nips and tucks made to get the suit fitting perfectly. They also made my made to measure shirt and pocket square as well. I’ve always appreciated how great Paul Smith clothes and accessories are, so I got pretty much all of my accessories from Paul Smith – shoes, socks, cufflinks etc, apart from my Tissot watch.

The Venue

Lara the Bride: We'd been on holiday to Provence a number of times so it’s a very special place for us. We’d spent a week in Gordes about 4 years ago, and had gone back to visit quite a few times as well. When it came to thinking about where we wanted to get married, it became clear that Gordes was absolutely top of our list. It’s impossible to go to Gordes and not be aware of La Bastide de Gordes. It’s such an iconic hotel, built into the rock on one side of the valley, over many different levels. We’d actually seen a beautiful wedding take place at La Bastide when we were on holiday in Gordes one time and both joked “Oh wow, this would be a great place to get married someday…!”.

Colour Scheme/Décor

The venue was already in such a stunning location, we wanted to keep the décor and colour scheme to be simple and elegant, allowing the beautiful setting to speak for itself. We kept to a theme of white and dark pink flowers to accent the silver and greys of the dresses and wedding stationery. Monica and her team from Haute Weddings knew exactly how to bring our ideas to life and we couldn’t have been happier with how perfect the setting turned out to be.

Flowers

We decided to get married outside in the hotel’s garden overlooking the valley below. Laeticia from Fleur d’Atelier created a beautiful flower arch of white, pinks and green to act as a centre piece for the ceremony with wine barrels marking the aisle entrance. Lanterns and candles placed in the gardens and the stunning fireplace arrangement in the room where the reception dinner was held really created the intimate and romantic feel that we were hoping to achieve. She also created floral displays to accompany our ‘aperol spritz’ cocktail reception, which took place before the ceremony began.

Wedding Party Fashion

All off the three bridesmaids wore silver silk dresses from Amanda Wakeley. Each dress was a slightly different style but was made from the same material. We really wanted the bridesmaids to wear something special and unique, that felt a like beautiful evening dress that they could wear again, rather than a ‘bridesmaid outfit’ and these stunning backless dresses were the first ones we found! The groomsmen wore matching midnight blue tuxedos from Kenneth Cole to complement John’s outfit and make them stand out from the rest of the guests.

Ceremony

Our ceremony took place in the garden of La Bastide, overlooking the valley. John’s uncle, Alan, officiated the ceremony. It meant so much to us that we had someone so close to us lead our wedding, he made the whole ceremony so personal to us. We had quite a few readings…! Colossians 3:12-17 Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 12:31 – 13:8 Gospel - John 17:20-23 Scaffolding, Seamus Heaney Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda The final two poems, Scaffolding and Sonnet XVII are beautiful and are particularly special to us.

Entertainment

We had an amazing string quartet, The Firebyrds, perform as guests took their seats, as I walked down the aisle, and during the cocktails that followed the ceremony. In the evening after speeches our excellent DJ, Nick Boot, took over. We sent him a list of sample songs that we like and he used those and some of his own choices to make sure everyone was on the dancefloor…until 4am!

Food

The food was supplied by the restaurant at La Bastide de Gordes. Pauline Malfosse and her team did a fantastic job of organising canapes and a beautiful three course dinner with wine selected by their sommelier. All of the food was absolutely delicious and stunningly presented. The dessert buffet was the star of the show and a huge hit with our guests. Our huge “croquembouche” French wedding cake was specially created by the kitchen’s head patisserie chef and a complete surprise to us until it arrived from the kitchen! The following day we nursed our hangovers with a champagne brunch buffet on the hotels terraces overlooking the valley below.

Canapes: Tomato and mozzarella Melon and ham Green and black olive tapenade Mini provencal pies Salmon and cheese mouse Starter Salad of Cavaillon melon, gambas, crystallized tomatoes and avocado or Millefeuille of trio of tomatoes (tomatoes Pineapple, black of Grimé, Green zebra) and mozzarella (vegetarian) Main Course Roasted leg of lamb with navarin juice, young vegetables candied with rosemary or Poultry supreme, chanterelles, mashed potatoes with green olives or Spelt risotto from Sault with morel mushrooms (vegetarian) Dessert Dessert buffet, featuring croquembouche, lots of very fancy pastries, chocolate cakes, fruit tarts, cheesecakes etc.

Photographer

We were given a great reference for John Barwood from another photographer and it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made! What’s so great is that he works with his wife, Sophie and the two of them work together on the day to capture every angle. They are both so friendly – all of our guests just assumed they were friends of ours! Their photographs genuinely blew us away. They put so much effort into getting live action shots, as well as finding some amazing locations nearby for us to have a few staged photographs which look amazing!

Videographer

Sebastian Thomas from Motion Craft Creative did a fantastic job of capturing the fun and happiness of the day. He managed to capture some extremely special moments between us and our bridesmaids and groomsmen as we got ready, and some breathtaking shots of the setting with the help of his drone.