Two Dresses For A Chic French Wedding By The Sea

Good morning gorgeous girls, can you believe it’s August already? The summer seems to slipping by at an alarming speed and hurtling towards autumn much faster than is decently polite

Today however, I’ve got a late summer celebration to share with you that’s been giving me a serious case of wanderlust. The stunningly beautiful union of Gwenn, a fashion buyer about to launch her own wedding dress line, and Thibault, a social media manager took place on 10th September 2016 at Au QG De La Mer in France.

“We wanted something elegant, simple and slightly bohemian. We didn’t want a colour scheme so we went for white and natural tones; lots of wood, foliage and white flowers. Our venue was an oyster farm and an outdoor restaurant on Ile de Ré in France. The venue is magical with a panoramic view of the sea, and one of the few locations that could host our 180 person wedding in a tent on their property.”

Photography by Wild Sparrow

Gwenn wore an incredibly chic short dress for her legal union, created by her designer friend Sarah Lakthara, which she paired with white shoes from Jonak, a French high street brand. I adore this look paired with her sleek ponytail and berry-hued lip – the pleated skirt, the cute t-shirt style sleeved and the delicate buttons leading to a deep V back.

“We each wrote our own vows and didn’t show each other before reading them at the ceremony. They were simple and heartfelt. I tried a few jokes in mine (which worked!) I wrote them a week before the wedding mainly on public transport and copied them onto a pretty card on the morning of the wedding.”

Gold shoes from Sezane perfectly set off the delicate lace of Gwenn’s gown and her long, luscious waves were crowned with a beautiful artificial flower circlet from Chapeautée. Our bride’s hair was styled by Coraline, the daughter of her mum’s friend, and her make-up was done by Fanny from La Belle de Ré. A spritz of the aptly named Love Story by Chloe was the finishing touch.

“I just wore a pair simple gold hoop earrings and my engagement ring of course, an antique ring that I saw in a antique shop in Saint Malo once and loved. Thibaut bought it in secret a few weeks later and proposed to me.”

Thibaut wore a suit from Sandro with an Agnes B tie for the town hall ceremony, which he traded for a tailor-made suit and shirt from L’Apieceur and shoes from Paul Smith for their ceremony. Both the groom and his best men wore a mix of ties and bow ties in the same fabric from Le Colonel Moutarde.

“Thibaut and I walked down the aisle together to Heartbeats by José Gonzales, with three little girls and three little boys before us. We had two poems read during the ceremony, we chose them together a few days before the wedding. One was found online and the other in a small book of poems about love that I had bought. We also had our brothers give speeches during the ceremony and that was probably the most moving part. Each one crafted a beautiful speech that went straight to our hearts.”

“We met on the island during the summer of 2010 through mutual friends and started dating soon after.”

“We moved in together in Paris after six months and he (finally!) proposed after almost five years together in June 2015. He proposed, at home, and we got married a little more than a year later.”

“My wedding dress was from Elise Hameau. I tried of lot of dresses and this was the one that fitted me best and was the better fit with my personality and the atmosphere of our wedding. It was chic and precious yet with a boho vibe.”

The gorgeous newlyweds exchanged matching simple gold wedding bands, purchased from the jewellers in Galerie Lafayette. They chose to have their wedding date engraved  inside their rings – such a lovely touch.

“The ceremony was very special and moving so I think that was our favuorite part. We arrived on our bike and then had those beautiful speeches, ours vows and ring exchange, and then the big explosion of joy and love from everyone there at the end.”

Gwenn and Thibaut were showered with rice confetti before taking a walk with their photographs to capture the most divine couple shots in the dusky evening light. The romantic pinks and blues of the September skies are beautifully accentuated by her bridesmaids structured dress, lovingly made by the bride’s designer friend. Her best girls also wore fresh flower crowns of gypsophila, mimicked in the delicate circlets worn by the flower girls in their gold Carrément Beau frocks.

“Marie and Sebastien from Wild Sparrow were our photographers. Marie does photography and Sebastien does the video. We loved their wonderful pictures and videos and now highly recommend them for their personalities too. They are the loveliest couple you could imagine; so reassuring, professional, discreet and nice. And they capture the best moments.”

Long banqueting tables adorned with fresh white blooms and foliage were the setting for the newlywed’s wedding breakfast, the feasting concluded with a luscious raspberry tart. Gwenn and Thibaut hired ‘the expert of the island’, Mélanie Grassy, to take care of coordinating suppliers and arranging their beautiful decor.

“We totally relied on the wedding planner for the decor. We showed her Pinterest boards and she made suggestions. She has great taste and made everything so pretty; the boards, the lights, the flower arrangement, all the little details. She owns or make most of the things herself so we didn’t have to buy much. We only had one specific request – our seat backs had hanging signs saying ‘I love you’ on mine and ‘I know’ on Thibaut’s – which is a Star Wars quote.” 

“Our caterers created the whole cocktail hour and dinner (except the oysters which were from the oyster farm). We had a long cocktail hour with lots of bits to eat and a three-course meal, with cheese of course! Everything was delicious. We wished that the cocktail time could have lasted longer because there are so many people to see and talk to and hug.”

“We didn’t really want to have a first dance as we are not good dancers. We met in a club while out with mutual friends and we were the only two not dancing. To stay true to that we decided that we would play and sing a song instead. We sung ‘I got you babe’ by Sonny and Cher. We took guitar lessons for four or five months before the wedding and we didn’t tell anyone. Only the photographers, wedding planner and the sound guy knew.”

A photobooth station allowed the couple’s guests to take pictures and print them instantly – a group of guests who quite awesomely formed a flashmob during the cocktail hour to Marry You by Bruno Mars and prepared speeches for the happy couple.

“We made a CD of the soundtrack of our wedding. There are ten songs which were all played at important moments – coming out of town hall, arriving at the ceremony, walking down the aisle, during the ceremony, end of the ceremony, cocktail, beginning of dinner, our ‘first dance’, party and brunch. There were a lot of discussions to agree on each song. Also my mom made homemade apricot jam jars.”

The merry-making continued well into the early hours of the next day and with most of the couple’s friends and family staying in the island, there was every excuse for them to delay the end of such a joyful day. Gwenn and Thibaut arranged shuttles to take their loved ones home throughout the evening, but with so many people still revelling, there wasn’t enough space on the last transfer and a group of the couple’s friends had to walk the 1.5km back to their accommodation! Surely the sign of a good party!?

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“I would advise to do what you want and stick to what you think your wedding should look and feel like. Our family were a little sad at first that we weren’t getting married religiously but we held our ground and in the end everything was wonderful and our families were good enough not to try and make us change our minds.”

“Everyone has an opinion on everything so don’t listen, but do listen to your partner. It is your day and he/she should feel equally involved in the decision making. We were lucky to agree on most things right away.”

“If you can, hire a wedding planner, you will save yourself a lot of worry and unnecessary fights. And it is just great to arrive to your wedding venue and discover it at the same time without having done anything. It does require a lot of trust and some ability to let go.”

“Finally, details won’t matter on the day. The flowers weren’t quite what we wanted and I must have thought about it for half a second on the day.”

That just leaves me to that the very gorgeous Gwenn and Thibaut, as well as Wild Sparrow, for sharing this stunning celebration with us all. You can find Gwenn on Instagram and Thibaut too – fair warning, their gorgeous feeds are going to make you need a holiday.

With love,

Em x