A wedding in the South of France at a place as gorgeous as the Chateau d’Alphéran is like a wedding blogger’s dream come true. And when that wedding is captured by Wesley Nulens and planned by Simon Verhoeven? It all gets even prettier than you can possibly imagine. So pretty, in fact, that this collection of images doesn’t even seem real, and you’ll want to pinch yourself because you can’t believe you’re lucky enough to stumble on something so fabulous. See every gorgeous moment here.
From Simon Verhoeven…Warm weather, fields all around the location and a laid-back yet classy atmosphere. That’s what Femke and Mattias, two young professionals from Belgium, asked me when they came to me in the summer of 2012. Three months later we were looking at different chateaus in France…
And we found the perfect one! Chateau d’Alphéran in Meyreuil (5min away from Aix en Provence). Chateau d’Alpheran is an old chateau, with a beautiful courtyard in front of it. Around it, nothing but fields and the Mont Saint-Victoire, the mountain painted numerous times by painter Paul Cézanne.Quite similar like all the chateaus you would find in the Provence, but there is still one eyecather we didn’t tell you about! A beautiful orangerie with 4 enormous Oleanders at the entrance. Inside it is decorated with vintage tiles on the flour and amazing smelling jasmin on the walls. Just perfect!
The day before the wedding we were all a bit stressed out. The weatherforecast said it would rain! We came to France to have a dinner with the decor of a beautiful sunset over the lavender fields! Thank god their was a beautiful tent on the courtyard of the chateau! The morning of the wedding it still wasn’t looking good on all the apps we checked every minute on our iPhones. Only 1 out of the 7 apps said their would be no rain. And the bride decided to take a risk. So courageous of her! “We came to France, we WILL have our wedding outside!” Ten hours later we were eating and drinking outside, no rain and lots of sun! HEAVEN! We chose to have long tables in stead of round ones to create an easy going environment. Most of the details we made ourselves, inspired by the numerous blogs!
We placed a beautiful Moleskine guestbook in the chapel where people could put their self-made polaroid pictures in together with their wishes for the bride and groom. Our ceremony, menu and placement cards were all handmade. We dip-dyed the bottom of the cards with the juice of red beets, radishes and pomegrenate to give them a deep red colour. We of course bought some beautiful wood on which we wrote the name of the couples so all of our guests could easily find their way to the location. We made a seating chart heart on which we placed the placecards with the number of the table written on the back of the placecards so guests knew where to sit. Instead of throwing rice over the newlyweds after the ceremony, we gave them little bags filled with lavender. Two enormous monogram letters and painted in white were placed at the entrance of the gate.
Photographer: Wesley Nulens | Event Planning: Simon Verhoeven | Floral Design: Laetitia C. - fleurs d'atelier | Wedding Dress: Olvi's | Catering: Helen Traiteur | Make up: Ylva Langenskiold | Hair: Carol Ray Bonnet | Grooms Attire: Café Costume | Venue: Chateau D'Alphéran | Vendor: Chateau d'Alphéran