YOHANN AND TRISTAN'S STUNNING CHATEAU WEDDING IN FRANCE

This beautiful destination wedding was sent over by Yohann and Tristan’s photographer – Vanja Melnik. Not only location is gorgeous but wedding is full of beautiful decorations and touches. Read what grooms told us about their big day.

HOW DID YOU MEET?

We met on a sunny summer’s day in London’s Hyde Park at a picnic gathering. We met again a few weeks later and it grew in something very special that is our loving marriage today. Marriage had never really been on the cards to start with. Yet after nine years of our love for one another growing every day, Tristan popped the question whilst on holiday in Los Cabos, Mexico and pulled all the romantic strings.

CEREMONY AND RECEPTION LOCATIONS

Yohann being French and Tristan being British, we had to decide where to get married. We found equally stunning places in both countries. So it came down to which was the most convenient in order to have our close family and friends able to attend. It came down to the size of the family. The French won, being 3 times the size of the British family. Both the symbolic ceremony and the wedding reception were held in the stunning Domaine de la Corbe, in the heart of Vendee, western France. We fell in love with the manor, its stables and gorgeous grounds. Even if it is a chateau, the venue still had a rural feel to it, which reminded us both of our childhood. And since we both had a fairly rustic upbringing, the theme of our wedding could only be country chic.

YOUR WEDDING PLANNER

Once we found Angelique, there was no looking back. We were the usual couple who wanted everything for the least money possible. That didn’t deflate her and delivered an amazing work. She is has been so attentive to our needs and when we cut the original budget down, her creativity saved the day. She always welcomed our constructive feedback without reservations. She is one of the most hard working and positive person we have met. She is the one to work with in the Vendee region.

TELL US ABOUT THE DAY! WHAT WAS THE THEME, INSPIRATION, THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST FUN PART FOR YOU?

The country chic theme was a far cry from our busy London life style, which made it even more special and fun, a way to remind of us of our roots and who we were at heart. It is quite hard to explain how you imagine your wedding day in your head and we certainly couldn’t have delivered it without the help of our wedding planner Angelique. The inspiration really came from our childhood and the venue. The surroundings made it very easy to choose the decorative materials. Well… Angelique may have a different opinion on that as we made her go back to the drawing board so many times. Country Chic doesn’t mean expensive; it’s all about using all the materials that nature has to offer: wood, jute, wild plants and flowers…

The most important part was without a doubt the ceremony. Our celebrant Magalie made us feel so relaxed about it. Choosing the right celebrant who will deliver a ceremony that matches you is a bit stressful. So we spent quite a bit of time interviewing, so to speak. It was time worth investing. She installed trust from the start and made the ceremony very special for us. We wouldn’t change a thing.
We also wanted some live music for the ceremony and the cocktail reception with contemporary songs played in a classical way so we hired Orchestre Philippe Lebel. They were so professional and flexible with our requests.

We had done some extensive research in London to find outfits that would match the venue. We couldn’t find anything that we wanted. One day we decided to drop into London’s Harrods department store, not thinking much of it apart from the fact that we could most probably not afford any of their goods. Two hours later, we came out with every single item needed and well under budget. The most challenging part was going from one brand to the next and marrying the items together. It could have been a lot worse!

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

We met Vanja through work a few years back in London before she made her career change to photography. It certainly made us feel more at ease to know the photographer personally. Although we can guarantee you that Vanja will have no problem making anyone feel at ease. She is so engaging and loves what she does. We were the first to witness it on our wedding day. She became way more than a photographer. She became like a family member on that weekend and made the photography part look like fun. People were being themselves. Our family and friends still talk about her to this day.

BAND / DJ

DJ’s are a must these days for wedding but we wanted some live music so for us, a band was a natural choice. You usually see some down times on the dance floor but our band really kept the audience going all night. The fact that Orchestre Showys mostly does festivals and concerts rather than weddings did make a big difference in the quality of their performance.

CAKE

Well, we had to keep the back the roots theme so we had the traditional French piece montee or “croquenbouche” as the Brits say. It may sound a bit cheesy and it probably was. We always said that we didn’t want any camp but we let our hair down a bit with the cake.