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A Romantic French Chateau Wedding Featuring Suzanne Neville’s Bloomsbury Dress

Leah and Ryan’s elegant French chateau wedding at Bastide du Roy, set amidst the charming landscape of Antibes, was the epitome of sophistication and romance.

The couple, who have been travelling to the south of France since their teenage years, instantly knew that this location was the perfect backdrop for their special day. Leah looked so incredibly elegant in the Bloomsbury dress by Suzanne Neville – a timeless design that perfectly encapsulated her love for classic Hollywood glamour, reminiscent of icons like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

With romantic drapery, candlelight, and cream florals, the intimate celebration was a masterclass in effortless elegance and captured beautifully by photographer Joan Jellett. Enjoy!

Black bride wearing a Suzanne Neville wedding dress and holding her groom's hands during the wedding ceremony. Behind her is a broken arch of white hydrangea.

Venue & Location

We have been travelling to the south of France together since we were teenagers and always had a special affiliation with the country.

When we got engaged we saw a video of Bastide du Roy online, and knew straight away we wanted to get married there. We didn’t even look at any other venues.

Bastide du Roy, French Chateau wedding venue with pool.

I love old Hollywood, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly just classic vintage style. The venue itself was also a huge inspiration and we felt we didn’t need much at all. We went for romantic drapery, candles and cream florals.

Black bride getting ready on her wedding day in hair and makeup. She wears a simple diamond pendant necklace and silk cotton pyjamas.

The Dress

Suzanne Neville


I wore the Suzanne Neville Bloomsbury dress, which I discovered at Anna Bridal. The most amazing experience and beautiful boutique – everything you ever imagine a wedding dress shop to be. Anna and Millie are so helpful and the loveliest people. I would 100% recommend.

Rainbow Club wedding shoes.

I loved the timeless, classic style of the dress and the subtle detail. I have an incredible seamstress named Alison Podrum who worked with me to make some adjustments to accentuate the corset style of the bodice.

I also wore an Italian tulle single layer veil – also punched from Anna bridal and my shoes were Elari by Rainbow Club.

Black bride in a Suzanne Neville wedding dress looking out the window.

They can be dyed after the day so you can keep wearing them. I wore a pair of Baroque Pearl Earrings from La Grotta.

My perfume was Chloe. I wanted to get a special wedding day perfume but I  have always worn Chloe and Ryan wanted me to smell like me.

My bridesmaids wore dresses from Six Stories.

Black bride in a Suzanne Neville wedding dress and bouquet of white roses. She is with her father who wears a Tuxedo and black hat.
Glamorous, heavily pregnant wedding wearing sunglasses, a fuschia pink dress and carrying a fan.

Fabric wedding sign hanging from a tree with a logo of the couple's initials and their names printed beneath.

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Did you know that we also have a shop full of hand-picked designs and curated categories that we know you’ll love? From bridal gowns, to bridesmaids dresses, veils, shoes, jewellery, hair accessories, bags – even gifts for newlyweds.

Bridesmaids in black dresses carrying small bouquets of white roses.

The Ceremony

We had pre recorded tracks to walk down the aisle to and we hired a celebrant named Muriel to officiate our ceremony.

My uncle and Ryans dad both wrote readings for the wedding ceremony. We wrote our own vows. We both made a list of promises to each other and then compared our lists.

We used the promises that we had both written and finished it off with a very subtle harry potter quote to make it even more personal (shameful Potter heads!)

Ryan sourced the diamonds and designed my engagement ring with a local jeweller.

We also had a legal ceremony in our home town in the church I was christened in.  I wore the same dress and it was the most magical and relaxed day. We had so much fun and felt so grateful that we got to do it all again. We drove ourselves away from the church in a vintage MG and even popped by our old school (were we met)  and got a passer by to take a photo! 

Emotional and emotive wedding photography of groom kissing his mum's forehead as she leans forward, eyes closed to hug him around his neck.

Our photographer was Joan Jellett – we loved the editorial style of her work when we found her online. As a bonus, we then realised that we lived in the same town and she was French! We had a video call and knew instantly that we wanted to work with Joan.

Black bride in Suzanne Neville, Goom in white tie and their guests posing for a photograph on their wedding day via a photo booth.

Joan was incredibly accommodating, fun, caring and a complete professional. She genuinely loves her work and we felt that she was also genuinely happy for us and wanting us to have the most magical day by making our photo shoot experience as stress free as possible. The portraits shoot was lovely as we got to spend some one on one time together. We would highly recommend Joan to other.

Bride and groom at Bastide du Roy, a French Chateau wedding venue. She wears Suzanne Neville and clutches a bouquet of white roses. He is in black tie. They are captured during golden hour and her veil captures the warm light of the setting sun. They are standing apart but stretching out their arms to hold hands and look at each other joyfully as they smile.

Loic Salan is the most incredible videographer. We have been blown away by the sneak peaks we have seen. He was so professional, accommodating, laid back and a pleasure to work with and be around. Highly recommended.

We also hired The Beau Tie Boys – The most incredible roaming band! They played throughout the day and completely knew how to suit the atmosphere and vibe needed for the given part of the day. They are incredible musicians.

Roaming band of double bass and guitar players. Wedding entertainment.

We met at school and have been together since we were 16! We got engaged in Morocco in April 2023. Initially we had wanted a long engagement but we both knew exactly what we wanted (and love a party)so it made sense to just do it. 

We wanted to keep decor simple so chose to accentuate the venue with candles and festoon lights.

Broken floral arch of white hydrangea is the focal point for this long table setting outside Bastide du Roy in France. Pale green shutters on the building, festoon lights trailing overhead.

The Reception

Our catering company were Le Filles du sud – they use local produce and made so many adaptations to accommodate for allergies which was amazing.

Ryan and I designed the draped seating charts and welcome signs and found a company that prints onto fabric.

We were very proud of these. We wanted to keep decor simple so chose to accentuate the venue with candles and festoon lights.

I made our invites and wedding stationery using Canva.

Evening & Dancing

We had a first dance to ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, – a Beach Boys Cover by Trousdale.

Bride dancing in her Suzanne Neville wedding dress.

We love the beach boys and 50 first dates. We thought the lyrics resonated with our story and we loved that people would be able to sing along and join in with us.

Our DJ was able to mix the cover into the original and it was so lovely that everyone could join us on the dance floor for a sing a long. 

Words of Wedded Wisdom

Take a moment with your partner to stand back and watch it all happening. 

Take all the pictures – especially with family! You will be so grateful to have them after the day. 

Use clothes pegs to sort your seating plan!  We wrote each guest name on a peg and cut out cardboard table shapes. It made it so much easier to move people around and try different seating plans. 

Bride dancing with wild abandon at her wedding

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Credits

Suppliers and venues noted with a tick are part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.

Wedding VenueBastide du Roy
VideographerLoic Salan
Wedding Dress DesignerSuzanne Neville
Bridal BoutiqueAnna Bridal Boutique
Bridal ShoesRainbow Club
EarringsLa Grotta
BridesmaidsSix Stories
Floral DesignerGama Events
EntertainmentThe Beau Ties Band
MenswearTagliatore

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