After a little absence, real life bride Sophie is back to catch us up on what has been going on with her wedding planning and there is a lot to catch up on!
But just before we do, if you are a real life bride planning your wedding in France, don’t forget that I am looking out for some more fabulous ladies to come and join me and share your wedding planning story. Make sure to click here to read real life brides I need you and find out how to apply.
*****
Sophie: “A wedding planner I am not, but a decision advisor I am. For first timers who plan to do it themselves, that is, without consulting recently married couples and professional wedding planners, decision making can be daunting because of the cash outlay, the uncertainties of the guest list (who will actually come), and the attention to detail. Many of these decisions are made for the first and last time.
Wedding Stationery is an important aspect of every big day. Our invitation would become the first impression our guests would receive of our special day. The stationery list… Consisted of many ideas such as a “swan heart” shaped logo, which I thought symbolised two “S’s” for “Stuart and “Sophie” facing each other, I kept in line with the colours cream and gold not to give away the rose pink colour too early on. I worked with a company called Heritage Stationery who assisted in creating my bespoke invitations; rsvp’s and order of services.
I later found out that a swan also bears messages of love and relationships. They pair for years, sometimes male-female unions are sustained for a lifetime. When the swan glides upon the waters of our awareness, it might be a symbol of love, and a reminder of the blessings found in our relationships. Therefore I searched for an appropriate swan poem and inserted this into our Order of Service.
“Swans in love they form a heart,
You’ll never see the swans apart,
Their hearts together form as one,
But you and me have just begun.
Feelings entwined and forever shared,
The love we have is now declared.
Well now we know that love can be,
Therefore you are the swan for me.”
Knowing that our wedding invitations invited guests to stay in the Chateau for three nights, I wanted to plan a wedding itinerary for our guests of our wedding schedule over the weekend, I found a company on Etsy who were able to design a lovely bespoke itinerary and insert our wedding logo in.
One of the main events of our wedding day I imagine will be when Stuart and I get to cut our wedding cake in front of all our friends and family. I imagine our cake sitting beautifully throughout our wedding reception on a cake stand I could keep afterwards, therefore I had a cake stand made for us through another Etsy vendor. Our stand has been made out of clay with our names engraved on the front.
When choosing a wedding cake I tried to match it up with our wedding colour theme and style and went for a simple three tier cake with some lace design down one side and similar coloured flowers to the bridesmaid’s bouquets. Our pastry cook in France is going to be baking our cake and because of the language barrier we have agreed with her to bake, jam, cream and sponge rather than the English traditional fruit cake.
All the inspiration I needed for wedding flowers came from magazines, internet and my Mum’s vast knowledge on flowers in general. Seeing as my florist is also based in France this task alone I found the most challenging to compile together my thoughts and pictures which portrayed the style and design I was going for. Emails went back and forth between the florist and I and I have my fingers and toes crossed that they are what I have imagined, as I will only see them on the D Day!
Our wedding photos will be one of the memories, which will remind us of our big day forever so I wanted to make sure I chose a photographer carefully. Francoise (Events Organiser) over in France suggested two photographers and I rang both up and looked over their websites, I chose David Bacher who has lived in France for years and has previously taken wedding photographs at Chateau De Reignac .David has also kindly allowed me to have copyright of my photographs afterwards so I’m able to create a wedding album back at home with a nearby photographer on more of a one to one basis.
There is no right menu for a wedding, although I do feel Francoise’s menu options within their wedding package we were spoilt for choice! We have canapés / cocktails after the ceremony and the wedding menu is as follows:
Appetiser – Mini Escalope of Fried Fois Gras served on Apple
Starter – Crown of Scallops with Green Asparagus
Main Course – Rack of lamb, in juice of thyme, served with tomato confit and potato cake
Desserts – Gourmet selection of desserts, selection of cheeses and herb salad
I organised to have the menu’s printed out on to Perspex I ended up loving them so much I had all our guests name blocks printed and with table numbers to match!”
*****
It may have been a little while but Sophie has been busy and I can’t wait to see David’s images of the big day.
Leave a Comment