A French Chateau Wedding for a Bride in Vintage Lace…

Good morning my lovely Blog followers 🙂 I hope your weekends were wonderful and that you all got time to relax 🙂 I spent this weekend with my family in the Midlands, but I also got to meet the amazing UK Wedding and Portrait Photographer Gill Taylor – Wow! What a super fabulous and lovely lady she is! We spent time talking Weddings, Photography and the growing influence of wedding blogs in the UK wedding industry. Being away from home meant my usual blogging schedule went out the window however, but I simply couldn't wait for the opportunity to return to my MacBook Pro and write about this latest feature and share it with you all, for it captures a beautiful beaming Bride looking elegant and chic on her wedding day.

This is the wedding of Heidi and Shane, who tied the knot on 17 September 2010 at La Roche Courbon, St Porchaire, Charente Maritime in France.  I love the rustic and yet palatial style the venue provided on the day, it's quite beautiful!

Heidi's dress is from Da Vinci Couture in Stuttgart, Germany…"I thought it would be really difficult finding a dress.  However as soon as I tried my dress on, I knew instantly it was the one.  I loved the timeless classic styling of something that my great grand mother could have worn and the vintage lace look, but it also had a contempory twist with the panelling around my torso being partly see-through.  It was a one-off design and I had to drop dress sizes to fit into it, which at the time was difficult but well worth it…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog ~ All Imagery Copyright (c) 2010, Annamarie Stepney

Huge thanks to Sussex Wedding Photographer Annamarie Stepney for submitting this wedding.  Bride Heidi told me…  

"Our photographer was Annamarie Stepney, who captured our day perfectly.  Despite being so in demand, she was amazingly flexible as we only asked her a couple of weeks before the wedding date.  Both her and her husband, Paul were very professional and immediately made us feel at ease infront of the camera."

 Heidi's lovely silver strappy heels were by LK Bennet…

"…I loved the simple yet stylish design of them…"

Utterly beautiful vintage French lace….

"I wore a necklace and earrings that were borrowed from a friend of the family – they had been passed down through generations and were gold with lime green and pink jewels…"

A lucky sixpence...

"I brought the Bridesmaids dresses off the internet from Coast.  What attracted me to them was the colour – a flamboyant fuschia pink.  It was very difficult, with me living in Germany, one bridesmaid in Brighton, one in Torquay, and one in Australia. 

I knew I wanted to customise the dresses and added an ivory tulle to the under-skirt which could be seen when worn and ivory corsages to the belts. Two out of the three bridesmaids were unable to try their dresses on until two nights before the wedding – thank goodness they fittted perfectly !!!!"

"Each of my Bridesmaids wore fuschia pink fascinators with pink feathers which I also customised by sewing small ivory roses onto to match the rose corsages on their belts.  My Bridesmaids were able to choose their own jewellery (as long as it wasn't silver)"

The couple nearly didn't get their wedding day florals…

"The flowers were are only disappointment of the wedding, (not including the button holes – as we got these last minute from a different florist).  The flowers were not what we intended, whether this was due to language barriers or differing expectations we don't know!"

But they're still beautiful and fit well with the elegant and chic style of the day…

Heidis ivory scalloped edge veil with clear beading was by Da Vinci Bridal.

"I did my own make up and hired a local mobile hairdresser.  I specifically liked my Mac false eyelashes…"

The couple's chosen wedding venue was La Roche Courbon, St Porchaire, Charente Maritime in France…

"My parents retired to France five years ago. We love the area, the food, the weather and the wine.  I knew I wanted an outdoor ceremony and as we also no longer live in the UK it seemed like the perfect solution.  Also it was not too far and expensive for our guests.

The gardens there were beautiful and had a mirror lake with swans and the Chateau itself looked like Cinderella's castle. I'd always dreamed of a fairytale wedding and what better venue than the La Roche Courbon."

"The ceremony was held outside under an archway of large old trees.  We collected paper laterns, silver wire hearts, wicker hearts, and little white doves sitting within floral hearts.  These were tied together with ivory satin ribbon and suspended from the tree branches overhanging where the ceremony took place.  We also purchased an archway from the internet and decorated this with ivy stolen from neighbours gardens and floral garlands, as well as butterflies."

"I asked each of my bridesmaids to choose their own shoes, ivory in colour…"

Lovely little girls! 🙂

"Flowergirls dresses were ivory from BHS, with fuschia pink corsages on their belts and fuschia pink and ivory headband…"

Heidi was transported to the wedding ceremony via beautiful horse and carriage…

"When it came to rings, we both went for simple matching platinum bands, bought from Hatton Gardens, London.   I chose my ring, as it is complemented my engagement ring.  Shane didn't want anything too fussy."

"The reception was held in the Chateau's theatre.  We wanted lots of candles on all of the tables, which we bought from ikea and we painstakingly individually decorated each one with pearls, lace and gold sequins. As the old theatre had such a high ceiling, I knew I wanted tall centre pieces, filled with roses and big beautiful ostrich plumes . the colours being pale pink, dark pink, ivory and gold.  It was important to keep the decorations in keeping with the place.  Contemporary colours and decorations would have looked wrong in such an old building."  

Inside the theatre on one wall was a huge painting of cavaliers with large feathers in their hats and flamboyant costumes.  This is where the idea of using ostrich plumes in my centre pieces, which I bought from the internet and gave to the florist.  I also wanted the reception to have an opulent and flamboyant yet elegant feel to it, much like the painting. 

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"f you are getting married abroad, having all my ideas in a "mood book" certainly helped me to communicate your wishes to suppliers, especially if there is a language barrier. Also bring copies to leave with them.  

So many things went wrong in the weeks before the wedding, ie, the Hotel had no record of our booking, the Florist brought the wrong colour bouquets, the shop called to say they could only supply one flower girl dress instead of two, people missing flights, the list goes on!! However, some things happen for a reason and often, every cloud has a silver lining, as what can seem disastrous at the time can often have something better waiting around the corner.  When things go wrong, and inevitably they will, keep smiling and continue to work hard and things will work out okay in the end.

With all the dramas leading up to the wedding day, the day itself couldn't have run any smoother or been more perfect."

Well, what a beautiful day!  A gogeous vintage lace wedding dress, a stunning Bride and a beautiful back-drop if ever there was one. 

Thank you so much Heidi for telling us all about your simply beautifull day! Huge congratulations to you and Shane 🙂

Huge thanks to the fabulous Sussex Wedding Photographer, Annamarie Stepney, for sharing her work with Love My Dress today :)  You can see more Photography from Annamarie Stepney on the Love My Dress Wedding Blog here.

Anyone out there planning a wedding in France?

Much love,

Annabel xXx

♥