If you follow the blog from the UK, I hope that you had a lovely Jubilee weekend and enjoyed the wonderful celebrations!!

I have an enchanting real life wedding Carcasonne Citadel to share with you today from the South of France.  When I first visited Languedoc area and Carcassonne a couple of years ago, I instantly fell in love with the town, the citadel and the mysteries and history surrounding the Cathars.  If you visit the area a trip to the Citadel is highly recommended, although if you are walking be prepared for the hills on the way up.

The citadel and more specifically La Cité Hotel is the setting for today’s destination wedding captured by Ben Stirling Photography.

Bride Gillian talks us through her big day: “We always wanted to have a wedding which was set apart from others and having it in France was the perfect option. It was particularly poignant as we have a family holiday home just outside Carcassonne and so we have a real attachment to the area. Forus the there was no contest with regard to venue – the stunning Hôtel de la in the medieval citadel of Carcassonne was just perfect. La Cité itself is such a fairytale place and one which we love going back to time after time, so it was the perfect location. Our friends and family were only too happy to make a long weekend of it and join us for the big day, so much so that we had close to 100 guests from the UK, Germany and Russia. 

French Wedding Style Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Ben Stirling Photography

From a practical perspective it was easy to split wedding preparations between the UK and France. For example, my wedding dress was from a boutique in London where I could go for my regular dress fittings and was no trouble to get over to France given the close the proximity to the UK. Whilst the cake, the flowers and the entertainment were all sourced locally. The Hotel has a Michelin star restaurant, La Barbacane, where we held our wedding reception, which has its own pastry chef and so when it came to the cake, we gave him free reign. The result was fantastic, it was worlds apart from a typical wedding cake in the UK and all our guests said it was the best they had ever seen. We hired a local harpist to play during our ceremony which was just perfect for the setting, and we danced the night away with a local jazz band. Needless to say the food and wine were just heavenly. 

Our photographer Ben Stirling is UK based but splits his time between the UK and South of France which was perfect as we could meet up in London to discuss ideas, yet his first hand knowledge of the area means that he knows how to make the most of the beautiful light and scenery.

It was such a magical day for us and all of our guests and I would just love to do it all over again!”

Looking at the photos of Carcassonne I can’t wait to go back!

Monique x x