My love affair with Paris has been life long. But I’m here to say it has officially been trumped by my love affair with this Parisian wedding, which pairs beautifully my favorite city with my favorite thing. You might remember it from our second SMP Fashion & Beauty Magazine, but if not, prepare yourself, because ladies and gents, it doesn’t get more gorgeous than this. With images from Clary Pfeiffer so pretty I want to hang them on my walls, and style that is purely perfect – this, my lovelies, is as good as it gets. See even more here.
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From the Bride… Combining our love of travel and desire for an intimate affair in a beautiful setting, a destination wedding in Paris seemed the perfect choice, and not least because Paris holds a special place in our hearts – it was the first city that we had visited together as a couple and we knew we would be back on our first trip as husband and wife.
Bevan and I always dreamed of getting married in a church and we chose The American Church in Paris, located in the heart of Paris, for its beautiful gothic architecture. We wanted our intimate ceremony to be personal and meaningful so we opted for personally-written vows as well as traditional ones, and had a dear friend recite my favourite poem, “I carry your heart with me” by E. E. Cummings.
We wanted to treat our guests to an amazing meal and knew Hotel Le Meurice, home to a 3 Michelin star restaurant, was the venue for us. The landmark hotel has not only an incredible menu but also a breathtaking reception room – the Pompadour Salon. It was the timeless Salon itself on which we based our wedding colour palette of gold, champagne and ivory. To complement the Salon’s ornate gold panelling and chandeliers, the dinner table was lined with candlelit candelabras, cream peonies and David Austin roses, as well as place cards in gold frames. We honoured our families by displaying their wedding photos on a feature table in the Salon. To embrace the French tradition, we chose a traditional croquembouche as our wedding cake – with sparklers and all!
Designing our wedding stationery and monogram was a labour of love and it was an amazing feeling to see all our ideas and hard work come to fruition. In keeping with our wedding colour palette, we chose to print our stationery in raised gold ink and on ivory stock card.
My very sweet and talented mother made our flower girl’s dress as well as my “something blue” – an ivory lace garter with a delicate blue ribbon bow. My “something borrowed” was the dressing gown that I wore on the morning of our wedding day, which my sister had worn on her wedding day ten years earlier. My “something old” were vintage crystal earrings that Bevan had gifted to me for my birthday and my “something new” was my parents’ wedding gift to me – a diamond bracelet.
We wanted to leave something special of ours behind in Paris to find many years later so we engraved the words, “I carry your heart with me. I carry it in my heart”, along with our monogram, names and wedding date, onto a padlock which we attached to a railing on the Pont des Arts. In keeping with the love padlock tradition, we threw the keys into the Seine river as a gesture of our commitment to each other. We plan on returning to the bridge on our anniversary to find our padlock!
As for my dress, I knew I wanted it to be traditional and befitting of a black tie affair, but it also needed to embody my personality as well. I chose Vera Wang’s “Emmeline” for its ballgown silhouette and beautiful layers of tulle and organza as well as its stunning metallic gold hand-painted floral detailing on the skirt. To make the dress my own, I had the bodice altered into a sweetheart neckline and added a french and italian lace bolero to complete the look.
We chose to have a private first dance following the reception. We danced under the stars on a terrace at the hotel with the most incredible view, overlooking the City of Lights. There was no band and no music. It was just the two of us, quietly singing and humming to each other. It was perfect.
The most memorable part of the day for me was the look on Bevan’s face when I walked down the aisle towards him. His eyes were full of love and pride and he had tears running down his face. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
I had envisioned our wedding day to be a celebration of love and family over a candlelit dinner, with the most important people in our lives, seated at a single table, eating, laughing and sharing memories of the years gone by. The magnificent chandeliers atop the table, the lobster and foie gras, the elegant backdrop reminiscent of another era, my favourite flowers, and 15 of our nearest and dearest dressed to the nines, were more than we could have ever hoped for. Our wedding day was truly the happiest day of our lives.
Photography: Clary Pfeiffer Photography | Cinematography: Studio Artifice | Ceremony Venue: American Church In Paris | Reception Venue: Hotel Le Meurice | Bride's Shoes: Jimmy Choo | Hair and Makeup: Lexi Derock | Bouquet floral design: Sol Y Flor | Bridal car: Anciennes de Prestige | Bride's Bolero: Angelika Liv | Brides Dress and Veil: Vera Wang | Designed by the Bride and printed by Thermowest: Thermowest | Groom Tuxedo: Z by Zegna | Reception floral design: Hale Koa phineas Estate