Elegant & Intimate French Village Wedding in the Spring

Constance and Nial were joined by just four guests for their May wedding in the bride’s childhood village of Manonviller, in the east of France. They celebrated at the bride’s parents’ country house – a place full of memories and meaning – and chose to keep things small, simple and deeply personal.

Every detail of the day felt thoughtful and considered, from the flowers picked from the garden to the vintage-style cake from a much-loved local patisserie. Constance wore a non-traditional two-piece by Annina Dirndl – a chic and romantic choice that perfectly suited the quiet beauty of the setting.

The day was captured beautifully by Camille Huguenot, a wonderfully talented French wedding photographer and valued member of our directory. Her images reflect the intimacy, warmth and effortless style of this very special celebration.

If you’re planning something intimate, or simply leaning into the kind of celebration that feels most like you, I hope this heartfelt French village wedding brings you inspiration and joy.

The first time Nial came to Manonviller was over Easter in 2019, he had met my parents before (who absolutely adore him), but I was really keen for him to come to the house and experience its peaceful atmosphere, and understand why it means so much to me. We have a lot of traditions with my parents (even if it is only the three of us), and Easter lunch is always special – in the past all my grandparents attended, my godmother also, and it was very festive. Now only my granny (on my dad’s side) and my godmother are there, my granny is 92 so every moment we get to spend with her is special. She met Nial there for the first time and instantly loved him. They share a special bond. 

This first Easter with Nial was exactly as it always is, a delicious lunch, gorgeous French wines, conversation and laughter, and a strawberry charlotte for dessert. He loved it a lot, and we often spoke about how this Sunday lunch captured the essence of the house and of our family. So when we started thinking about getting married, we knew that we wanted to replicate somehow the vibe of that first Easter Sunday together – simple, elegant, peaceful, intimate, and in a place that means the world to me.

I’m incredibly close to my parents, and I am so grateful to Nial for embracing and loving them and loving the house I love so much. 

Nial and I walked together hand in hand to the townhall, where mom, dad, my granny and my godmother were waiting for us. 

My mom officiated our wedding ceremony. We had a civil wedding in the townhall, in France it is a short ceremony usually performed by the local mayor. My mom is a councillor in the local town council, and it’s a function that is allowed to officiate weddings. She and the mayor are very friendly, and he kindly offered her to do it.

She was delighted and so proud, and it made the day so special. She wore the official tricolor sash, and did it all amazingly. We were legally mandated to have an interpreter for Nial, but at the last minute they had a family emergency and couldn’t be there. Luckily, my mom’s best friend was attending with her partner, who is a professor of English literature, and he stepped in and did the translation.

My grandparents, and my great-grand parents all got married in this village and in this townhall. They are all buried there too. And I was baptised in the church on top of the hill – it meant so much to also get married there and to deepen our connection to this place. It felt so special, and we felt truly at home. And the mayor was very proud to have the first international wedding of the region happen in his village – it even made it into the local newspaper!

We didn’t do vows, but Nial had prepared a speech that he shared during lunch. It was so moving and beautiful, my heart was literally bursting with love. I was translating it simultaneously, and it was hard to keep my composure. Somehow it felt like, as we were saying it together, him in English and me in French, that I was also expressing my feelings for him. 

When we decided to get married, Nial suggested I start looking for my engagement ring before we went and tried it on together so he’d be sure I’d have something I really loved. I love Art Deco style, and knew that I wanted a colored stone rather than a diamond, but it wasn’t easy at first to find something both timeless and different.

I stumbled upon the website of a French jeweler, Perouse, based in Paris, and while a few of their rings caught my eye, one in particular stood out. Its design is geometrical, Art deco inspired, with a deep red spinella surround by garnets and diamonds, set in rose gold. We went together to try it and voila, that was it! We had “N to C” engraved inside it. 

We loved the experience, how kind, patient and professional they were, so naturally we went back together to buy our wedding bands. Nial chose a platinum band, and I, a simple rose gold band. My name is engraved in his, and his name in mine, along with our wedding date. 

We looked at a few wedding photographers and Camille Huguenot instantly stood out. The two of us met on zoom, about a year before getting married, as we were so keen to have her as our photographer and wanted to secure a date, if she agreed to be our photographer! We instantly clicked – we loved her personality, kindness, her vision, her style, how poetic and dreamlike her pictures are.

She has an amazing eye, and we were truly blown away by how she captured the simple beauty of the house, and the joyful and magical atmosphere of the day. It was wonderful to have her with us, and we couldn’t recommend her enough. 

We met in October 2017 in Cork (Ireland) during the Jazz festival – I had moved to Ireland just a couple months before. We both worked for the same company (Guinness…) and we were working during that weekend at various events.

We crossed path during a team lunch where we randomly sat across from each other and proceeded to chat and ignore everyone else the entire time. We kept bumping into each other over the weekend, talking more and being more and more interested in each other. Long story short, once the weekend was over, we went for dinner on the Monday night, and basically have been inseparable since. 

We got engaged in April 2023 after talking about it for a few months. We decided to get married over a Sunday roast in our favourite pub in Dublin, and that we’d go together buy a ring – the feeling of pure elation and happiness, and how safe, trustful and confident I felt with him in this moment is something I’ll never forget.

We went to pick the ring in Paris a few weeks later, on Good Friday, and Nial very sweetly asked my parents for their blessing during Easter lunch. Everyone cried! We were so happy. We went back to Cork, where it all started, the last weekend of April 2023, and had a beautiful day walking around the city before formally getting engaged in the snug of our favourite bar before going to dinner. It was perfect!

We held a small champagne reception for our neighbors in the village after the ceremony. In the house, we set the table with antique serveware, glassware and cutlery – all family heirlooms that I have seen part of the house since as long as I can remember.

My mom is very talented at so many things, and she always arranges the most gorgeous bouquets with flowers from the garden – dad is a keen gardener and has planted stunning roses over the years. I wanted my bouquet to come from the garden, so mom picked a bunch of roses the morning of the wedding and arranged them with sweet peas, and tied it all with ivy, to symbolize eternal love. It was the most gracious thing.

For the decoration, we asked Ludivine of Hellébores & Mandragores, who is an incredibly talented young florist in the small town nearest to the village to prepare something for the lunch table, for the dining room and for the reception room in the townhall. I shared a few images with her of the style of bouquets that inspire me (French florist Christian Tortu, Nikki Tibbles from Wild at Heart, and The Garden in Dublin) but gave her carte blanche, and she created something magical and very dreamy. 

One of Nial’s friends designed our wedding invitations based on a picture Nial took of the garden, and I calligraphied the text inside. He also designed for us a coat of arms, including symbols of France and Ireland (the Irish shamrock and the French lily) and nods to our favourite things – oysters, lobsters, Guinness and champagne! We used them on our menus, which I also calligraphied, and on our post-wedding cards. But I’d reuse it everywhere if I could!

We had a small champagne reception after the ceremony for neighbours in the village, who’ve all known me since I was a child. It was so sweet that they came and shared their good wishes. And the mayor gave us the medal of the village – a tradition for all newlyweds! We have it at home now. 

We asked a local caterer to prepare a traditional lunch for us (even if we had our wedding at home, neither me nor my mom felt like cooking!). It was perfect and very appropriate for spring – we had smoked salmon and jambon en croute, cheese and salad before the cake. And dad chose two different champagnes to go with it – I was born in the Champagne region and it is my favourite drink, so it was fitting!

I love vintage style cakes. My mom asked the patisserie in the nearest town, Patisserie Burduche in Luneville – where she has been buying cakes for the past 40 years – to create something for us. Something small enough for six people, with a vintage flair. They made the prettiest fraisier (my favourite!) covered in white icing, with “Just Married” written on it as a nod to my English-speaking husband. It was delicious, and we ate it all. 

There were so many beautiful moments, hard to choose just one! I have a few that stand out: before going to the townhall, we had a coffee together around 11am, sitting in the sun in the courtyard. It was such a relaxed and playful moment. It was nice to sit together, all dressed up, and look forward to the day. 

The second moment was at the end of the day, we put on some jeans to take a walk in the countryside and I put my wedding bouquet on my grandparents’ grave, as a sign that I was thinking about them and asking for their blessing.

And finally during lunch, my dad gave the most gorgeous and emotional speech. He gave Nial my grandfather’s pocket watch that he had received from my granny the day he married my mom, and wished that it would count the hours of the days during our life together as happily for us as it did for him. The tears!

Focus on the joy of the day! And don’t let other people distract you from what you want or influence your decision. At the end of the day, you are the one getting married, and people should be happy for you and love and support you whatever you decide to do.

We felt so happy and elated because the day we had was exactly what we hoped for, and reflected who we are as people and as a couple – so you do you!

We didn’t really have a budget perse, as it was so small, with only six people (including us), and in my house. There was no big surprise really, or anything we didn’t foresee. We spread the costs over a year, and kept it quite reasonable!

I wouldn’t change a thing. It was so perfect. We were so lucky to feel supported from the very beginning by Nial’s family, mine and our friends to have the wedding we wanted to have, which was super small and intimate. We really felt the love. 

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