We were very excited when our friends at One & Only Paris Photography told us that Style Me Pretty would be posting photos of Angeli & Tim’s wedding from this past December. As with all press, you’re always left wondering when exactly you’ll be published – and yesterday the wait was finally over!
destination wedding
Holiday wedding – Paris in December
Angeli and Tim hail from Canada and although they were planning a large traditional wedding for February 2011, they decided to have an intimate affair in Paris so that family based in Europe could celebrate with them.
We’re always happy to have weddings to plan in the “off-season”, and it’s even more of a pleasure when we get to work with a couple who are truly great together and a joy to be around.
There were so many unique elements of this wedding: the bride’s quest for lavender Ferragamo pumps, her amazing boudoir shoot with One & Only Paris Photography, the gorgeous greenery arrangements & silk orchid bouquet (the bride is allergic to pollen!), the placecards with Eiffel Towers made out of antique stamps (the bride’s DIY touch), the keys attached to each couple’s box of Ladurée macarons… and of course the magical setting of the Place Vendôme, all lit up for the holidays.
Photos courtesy of One & Only Paris Photography
A touch of red wedding
Carla and Morgan, both from Florida, came to celebrate their special day in Paris with a couple of close friends. They exchanged vows in a small garden, near the Eiffel Tower followed by lots of little French treats.
Red shoes add some spicy flair!
Candy apple red Christian Louboutin heels
The top of the Eiffel tower as backdrop for the ceremony
Wedding ceremony in the private garden of a hôtel particulier
A special guest taking good care of the bouquet
Sweet treats
Macarons
Photos courtesy of One & Only Paris Photography
Loire Valley wedding
The story of this wedding has a happy ending… but there were definitely twists and turns along the way.
Katy and Richie had originally signed with a chateau near Blois. Due to completely unforseen circumstances they found themselves without a venue and out their deposit. A difficult situation for any bride and groom to bear, but they were troopers.
We found them another (and in our opinion much nicer) chateau – one that back in the early days of her engagement Katy had cut out a picture of for her wedding inspiration book. Another stroke of luck – the weather cooperated and they were able to hold the cocktail in the chateau’s back gardens. In the end, a very grateful and relieved bride and groom were finally able to enjoy the wedding they had spent so much effort on making happen.
Photos courtesy of David Bacher
Press room: Baltimore Sun
This spring we were contacted by the Baltimore Sun to take part in a special “Great Escapes” section. We sent along a photo from KHulett Photography and were excited to see our name in print. Which you can, if you squint hard and look at the bottom of the page.
Vacation catch-up
Fête in France enjoyed a bit of vacation and is now busybusybusy working on 2010 weddings. Anne toured around Portugal in the unceasing rain and when she returned, Nancy set off for the Basque Country and enjoyed lovely sunny springtime weather. Both indulged in the fine foods and wines of the Iberian penninsula.
We won’t bore you with all of our vacation photos – but this one was too cheesy-yet-cute not to share!
Château dinner
We were recently invited to dinner by a chateau-owner, or châtelain, who has a château about 35 minutes from Paris. Madame Châtelaine, who spends most of her time in the US, singlehandedly oversaw the entire renovation of the château, from the carefully aged tiles in the bathrooms to the antique furniture that graces each uniquely decorated room.
So it wasn’t surprising that Madame Châtelaine would be able to host a gourmet dinner for 10! And it wasn’t just the food that was remarkable – Fête in France’s dinner companions were: two blonde Eastern-Europeans/former professional tennis players; an endearing English businessman and his wife, who had the most wonderful continental European accent; a very elegant older couple who traveled the world and who were great patrons of opera and ballet; a charming French businessman from Versailles.
Despite the evident gap in age, means, and social status (alas, we do not count Lenny Kravitz or Sharon Stone among our “besties”) we had such a great time! Actually, this is one of the occasions where the word “marvelous” would do it more justice: we had such a marvelous time!
So we’re crossing our fingers that we’ll have the chance to get back to the château, whether it’s for another dinner or even better, for a wedding we’ve booked!
Château or bust
Visiting a new chateau can be a lot of fun – we get to escape from Paris for a while, enjoy the countryside and hopefully find a great new venue to propose to our clients.
We were put in contact with a chateau owner who is keen to do more weddings at his chateau in France. We, being keen to develop relationships directly with chateaus, decided to take a trip down to check out the situation. The chateau was located in the Ardèche, a department nestled between Burgundy and Provence, part of the Rhône-Alps region. The caretakers were a nice English couple who had been long-time residents of Zimbabwe – with weather a far cry from the grey-misty-coldness of French winters.
The chateau was built in the mid 1800′s and is named after the mountain that overshadows the chateau grounds. An intriguing historical anecdote is that it apparently was into this mountain that a plane carrying JFK’s sister and her lover crashed in 1948. The chateau can sleep quite a few people and has a large outdoor terrace that could accommodate an elegant outdoor reception.
Wanting to capitalize on our time away from the office, we enjoyed some well-earned glasses of Saint-Emilion and researched other possible venues we could visit on our drive back up to Paris. Thankfully there was no shortage of candidates and we decided to contact a chateau our wine merchant friend Charles had recommended to us. The chateau owner had recently inherited the estate and was happy to have us come visit.
This chateau, located between Beaune and Dole, had the symmetric elegant lines of the 17-18th century style. Despite the snowy weather and general dishevelment inside because of the renovation work, we could tell that it would be a great venue. The work is scheduled to be done for the chateau’s re-opening in May, are dates are still available for Summer/Fall 2010!
A New Year’s Wedding in Paris
An Australian couple kicked off Fête in France’s 2010 weddings. They braved the cold Parisian weather for a heart-warming ceremony with a group of close friends and spent the crisp clear winter afternoon taking pictures around Paris with One and Only Paris Photography.
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- Pinks and creams with pearl details
And the winner is…
…France!
International Living has posted its 2010 Quality of Life Index and France is on top!
Read the article and see how other countries ranked.
