A French Backdrop, an Oscar de La Renta Gown and Peonies for Days…

Abby
September 26, 2018
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, The Blog, Traditional Elegance

If I had a wedding wish list, or a wedding bucket list of some kind, I’m pretty sure that this gorgeous celebration would far exceed anything I could ever imagine. Let’s just look at the basics: An Oscar de la Renta Gown to die for, a French backdrop complete with an Eiffle Tower and white peonies as far as the eye can see by the renowned floral designer Esther La Marche. Now, let’s add in a couple so clearly in love, a ridiuclously adorable flower girl and ring bearer, the most aesthetically stunning design pulled off by planners Vannessa & Caroline you’ve ever seen, oh and a handful (or a hundred) of the most lovely images from Oliver Fly. Just make sure to scroll to the end to watch the absolutely mesmerizing video from HD Moments. This, my loves, is definitely one for the books.

What did you envision your wedding being prior to planning? Why did you choose this wedding venue?

We spent most of our lives in Australia, but currently live in Hong Kong, so we had friends scattered all over the globe. We always knew we wanted a small wedding, with our nearest and dearest in attendance. As there was no real majority of guests from any particular country, we decided a destination wedding would be the perfect excuse for us to have our dream wedding and for our guests to have a European holiday!

We started off by looking at wedding venues in Italy, as we had just gotten engaged in Lake Como. The conversation then drifted to France, and we chose Paris for its accessibility and irresistible French boudoir architecture. The Pavillon de Musique de la Comtesse du Barry (situated just half an hour from Paris) exuded French boudoir in abundance, with salons more beautiful than some chateaus we had seen and a beautiful garden to match.

What was your color palette and your style vision? What unique elements or details did you include?

I knew I wanted soft, muted tones for the wedding, and settled on a colour palette of light dusty blue, gold (to match the beautiful interiors of the Pavillon) and white (to match my feature flowers, peonies). I had always envisioned that I would illustrate and design my own wedding invites, and that it would come in a box! Tapestry Invitation were so wonderful in helping me put this vision to reality. We also wanted something a little different for our guestbook, so I had guests write their messages on acrylic plates (which had our monogram etched on them).

What was your favorite moment? Your favorite detail?

There were a few, but it was probably saying our personalised vows to each other in front of all our closest friends and family. A good friend of ours, who had been there since the beginning of our relationship and spent a lot of time together with us as a couple, also officiated our wedding, so that was really meaningful. Another friend, Karim, was the best emcee we could’ve asked for and really lifted the dinner atmosphere (and dance floor!) in the evening.

Oh, and the fact that our first dance came together without us falling all over each other was a huge relief! Dancing the Vienesse waltz to Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé’s duet of “Perfect” really couldn’t have been more perfect in that beautiful ballroom setting at the Pavillon.

Tell us about your flowers, your gown, your favors, your cake, all of the good stuff.

I ended up changing my mind so many times about my wedding gown. I never thought I would go for a mermaid/trumpet style gown, but the long train and multiple layers of intricate lace on my Oscar de la Renta instantly sold me.

I love peonies, and was lucky enough that it was peony season in May! I also loved dahlias and ranunculus, and knew I wanted a destructured look for our florals. Esther executed our vision beautifully.

The guests took home marble coasters with their names hand lettered by myself, and a luggage tag with our monogram etched in the back (following the destination wedding theme). We also had flats out on the dance floor at night in case our guests got tired.

What is one piece of advice that you would give brides-to-be?

Work out your priorities and invest in them! It wasn’t an easy feat planning a wedding in a foreign country, but our talented Wedding Planner, Vanessa, guided us along the way. She knew I placed a lot of importance on photography, stationery and details, and she could not have recommended a better photographer for our big day.

I’ve told Oliver many times that, short of marrying my husband, he was the best decision I made with regards to the wedding. We liked Oliver so much that we decided to fly him to Santorini during our honeymoon for another shoot! His passion and love for what he does, his creativity and his attention to detail really made a huge difference to our day.

I am a bit of a perfectionist, but I fully trusted Oliver’s aesthetic judgement and knew he would always somehow exceed my expectations. After receiving our wedding photos, I can definitely say that he did! Our videographers, HD Moments, were also great and we loved their unique storytelling style. They combine the perfect amount of cinematography with personal elements, so the video was like a beautiful movie yet so personalised at the same time. So many of our guests commented on how professional and fantastic our team of photographers and videographers were on the day.

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