Planning a wedding in France can seem daunting when so many options are available. So once you have decided on the region you prefer, start the search for the holy grail – a luxury wedding planned in France! And I hear you ask: “but I don’t speak French”; fear not! It isn’t because your wedding is going to be in France that your planner needs to physically be in France.
France, a magical country that encompasses such a strong feeling for everyone, whether you have been or long to go. The diversity is vast from one side to the other, whether it be geographical, culinary, meteorological or cultural. France offers it all. Well, let’s be honest, I am also a little biased, I am half French after all. Oui mes chéris, France is a thing of beauty, and I would like to insist that as much as Paris is beautiful, there is so much more! So, shall we discuss why you are here and reading this – How to plan a wedding in France.
OK, SO FIRST DECIDE WHERE YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED IN FRANCE
Do you like the mountains, the beach, the countryside, a chateau?
Planning a wedding in France can seem daunting when so many options are available. So once you have picked the region your heart is set on, let’s get you a luxury wedding planned in France ! And I hear you ask: “but I don’t speak French”; fear not! It isn’t because your wedding is going to be in France that your planner needs to physically be in France.
Nowadays, and especially since the Covid pandemic, it is very common that destination planners are not based in the countries where they work. I, for example, am based in London, and work all over the UK and Europe, specifically France, Italy and Spain as those are the four languages that I speak fluently.
So, let’s start to think about this wedding in France. You have found your planner, they could be in the same city as you, in France or in a third location – the most important thing is that they speak French!
As a French woman, I know and can say, that most French people do not have a great level of foreign languages and somehow have so much more respect for someone that speaks their own language. It’s true of most Mediterranean countries to be honest.
Once the language barrier is conquered with the French, wedding planning becomes a much smoother and enjoyable process.
I’m going to tell you about two scenarios of planning a wedding in France, both slightly different.
One was my own wedding, in Ile de Ré, on the Atlantic coast in 2018, and the other was a wedding that I organized for my clients in Paris in 2022.
I had been going to Ile de Ré, since I was about 12 years old and had dreamt of getting married at these ruins of an 11th Century Abbey that has a view of the sea. I Didn’t care who the special guy would be at the time, but I just knew it would be here. And sure enough, aged 30, my dream came true.
IT TOOK ME JUST UNDER TWO YEARS TO PLAN THE WHOLE THING TO PERFECTION.
As a luxury wedding planner in France, I needed to make sure that everything was perfect and wanted that rustic chic look but luxurious. All the details were perfect.
The biggest issue to tackle was how to get permission to get married in a public space that is the Abbey. Well, to cut a long story short, it took me about 7 months of handwritten letters with the mayor of the local village to convince him that it would be a quick set-up and take down and would not hinder any of the local summer tourists.
THEN ON TO THE RECEPTION
For 65 of our nearest and dearest, which was at an old 16th Century military fort by the sea that is a beautiful canvas but has nothing. We therefore had to call upon amazing local suppliers to create the picture I had in my head that would represent the blend of cultures that me and my husband are (I am British & French, he is Spanish). And through a lot of work, research, communication and time, we created a perfectly planned wedding in France.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, and now being an established luxury wedding planner in France, when I met Susie and Axel in 2021 via Zoom during the pandemic, they knew that they wanted to get married in or around Paris.
THEY WANTED SOMETHING SUPER SOPHISTICATED, ELEGANT, YET SIMPLE.
They wanted the luxury in the attention to detail, not ostentatious, and very French. The bride was American, and the Groom was French, which made for interesting cultural chats in the wedding planning process. The Groom completely understood that a wedding in France cannot have the same elements as a wedding in the US.
The communication of French suppliers and US suppliers is very different. And this is one of the reasons you should have someone speak fluent French to help you so that nothing can ever get lost in translation. Their wedding was everything that they wanted, beautiful, simple, elegant, long tables for their 200 guests with a huge and majestic dancefloor bang smack in the middle of their guests.
France can tick every single box on the list, but you need to know what you want when you contact us and want a luxury wedding planned in France.
Make sure that they speak French and understand the culture. Give us guidance and tell us what you want and don’t want. We can then find a way to create the French Touch that you want on your special day. That “je-ne-sais-quoi” which brought you to want to have your wedding in France in the first place.
Photo Credit: Monro Photography
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