There’s nothing quite like the romance-filled air at a chateau wedding in Provence. And when you’ve got Lavender & Rose behind all the pretty planning? It’s bound to be flawless. From Laetita C‘s sweet blooms to the pop-of-pink macaron box favors and all the gorgeous portraits from Caught The Light, you can get your swoon on right here.
From the beautiful Bride… How did you meet? We got introduced by a friend at a birthday party in Miami.
Why did you choose to marry in France? Omer proposed to me on a beautiful swing in front of a lake near lavender fields in Provence. We fell in love with the area and immediately decided to get married there. We did a lot of research on the internet, as we don’t live in France. Right after seeing some pictures of Chateau du Martinet online, it became my first choice. We spoke to our wedding planners and they highly recommended the chateau, we then immediately scheduled a visit to make the final decision. When we saw it, we knew it was the place.
As soon as I entered the venue the first time, I was breath-taken: it was better than what I had always dreamed of. The chateau was decorated very elegantly and effortlessly French-chic inside and out. We knew we would have good wine, and amazing food with exceptionally good value!
The ceremony area was so magical; a long aisle lined with huge cypress trees on each side. Walking down the aisle was my most memorable moment, seeing the excitement on the faces of our family and friends. We had to hold the legal ceremony in our country of birth, so we had a humorous symbolic ceremony in France where the celebrant was groom’s brother in law. We wanted it to be romantic, elegant. We also wanted it to be very natural, so our guests to feel very warm, welcomed and loved. We chose a colour palette of light pink, green, cantaloupe, white. We wanted a soft, natural cosy look. In order to create a romantic feel with our flowers, we used light colored roses and hydrangeas. I love peonies, but it wasn’t the right season for them, so my lovely florist recommended David Austin roses that looked very similar to peonies. I wanted the nature and the big trees of the courtyard to be reflected at the tables, that’s why we used dark green leaves and boxwood trees. My bouquet was made up of lily of the valley, David Austin roses and white bouvardia.
Our timing was perfect for the ceremony and evening and the sun set exactly after the grand entrance. We were also very happy that the layout of the tables we drew and planned worked out perfectly and exactly as we had envisioned. Our florist and caterers were brilliant and recommended to us by our wedding planners, Lavender & Rose.
We love bicycle riding as a couple. Our save the dates had 2 bicycles printed and Jennifer, one of our wedding planners, had the idea of getting a vintage bike just for photos, she found one in an antique market in France. I sourced our escort fans from a calligrapher in Istanbul and had them printed at a local printing house in Istanbul. Guests used them to cool down and to find their seat too.
We selected each and every detail on the table, starting from chairs, tablecloth, glasses, cutlery, plates and our florist supplied all the candles and vases based on our taste. I created the design of the Menus, and had it printed in a local printing store, which was a bargain. We dined on lobster tail with honey lavender sauce, asparagus risotto with truffles, Herb crusted lamb chops, followed by a fantastic French Dessert Buffet. For wedding favours, we had macaroon boxes, which had to be shipped from United States to Turkey.
We had an extravagant photo-booth backdrop completely from fresh pink roses and props for our guests to hold. The photo-booth printed 2 photos of the same picture, 1 to be kept and the other to be put in our wedding notebook, where guests signed and wrote their wishes to us. It was a huge success, definitely recommended and provided by Alban Pichon. We had asked for the hallway to be filled with black and white round balloons, and our guests loved them and carried them to the reception area and of course to the dance floor.
If you are having a wedding abroad, make sure to organize a dinner or an activity, on each day of the weekend for your guests. Give them a welcome hand-book with details, and timeline of the weekend. The best thing about our weekend was traveling together with family and friends, enjoying and celebrating our marriage the whole weekend.
Photography: Caught The Light | Videography: Can Kinalikaya | Event Planning: Lavender and Rose | Flowers: Laetitia C. - fleurs d'atelier | Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier | Cake: Delphine Tollari | Catering: Marrou | Makeup: Camille Bonardi Hair & Make-Up Artist | Hair: Tony Guy Istanbul | DJ: Aydin Katircioglu | Groom's Attire: Ralph Lauren | Wedding Venue: Chateau Du Martinet | Flower Girl Shoes: Repetto | Furniture Hire: Options | Groom's Accessories: Cartier | Groom's Shoes: Christian Dior | Groom's Tie: Papillone | Page Boy Suit: J.Crew | Purse: Judith Leiber | Sound & Light: Tropical Fun | Veil: Mark Ingram Atelier