Destination Wedding at Chateau de Varennes

Hello lovely readers! Today on the blog we are sharing Matt and Alex’s destination wedding at Chateau de Varennes on the blog today, captured by Ian Holmes Photography.

The couple planned their big day at the beautiful Chateau de Varennes in Burgundy and the moment that we saw the pictures, we knew we had to feature.

Bride Alex takes us through their love story and big day: “Matt and I met in Dubai and after 7 years of courting he proposed at Emirates Palace in February 2015.

We still live in Dubai and whilst we love it I couldn’t see myself getting married there and the weather is so unreliable in the UK! I had my heart set on a destination wedding so that we could spend 4 days with all our closest family and friends in the sunshine.

We finally decided on France, so in the summer of 2015 we went venue hunting around Burgundy. After surviving travelling over 1500 KM in a heat wave, we visited the beautiful location of Chateau de Varennes in Burgundy and immediately fell in love with it and the nearby town Beaune.

We really liked that the Chateau had been handed down through the generations and is still run by the same family. Sonia and Aymeric were very accommodating and helped us plan the big day every step of the way.

We were very clear in our minds about what type of vendors we were looking for and were fortunate enough to fly back in the winter of 2015 and sample the food of Kookin and the wedding cake and cupcakes by Cakes in the City. The menu was exactly what we wanted – classical French.

We spent weeks trying to find a band that suited our style and after much research we stumbled across The Little Soul Club. We were absolutely delighted by their playlist and they even offered to learn additional songs for us.

Ian Holmes and Zen Filmworks took care of capturing the day – we couldn’t have asked for nicer guys that made us feel relaxed and comfortable on the day.

One of the main things that I had picked up from other weddings I’d been to is that the attention to detail is key. We really wanted to create fond memories for people and do something a little bit different. With this in mind, one of my favourite elements of the wedding was the caricature artist. Our guests loved having their pictures drawn and it also meant that everyone had a special keepsake to take home with them. Another one of my favourite details was naming our tables after places that meant something to us in Dubai so we were able to take people through our story.

The 18 months of planning was all worth it – the end result was 4 magical days involving wine tasting, sunshine, French countryside and of course the most amazing wedding day. ”

Destination Wedding at Chateau de Varennes