Classic Loire Valley Wedding at Chateau d’Artigny in France

Melissa Baran
March 28, 2019
Categories: Real Weddings, The Blog, Traditional Elegance

Today’s story of love—captured by Oliver Fly and planned by Vanessa & Caroline of Creatrices de Mariages—is the stuff fairytales are made of. A chateau with grounds so pretty you won’t believe your eyes, a Bride so lovely you’ll have a hard time not staring and a ceremony graced with the Loire Valley sun. Oh, did I mention these two cuties?! They are the cherry on top. I can’t even with their presh little faces. There is truly SO much more that I couldn’t cram into the main imagery you see below—so make sure to click through the full gallery too.

From the planner, Vanessa & Caroline Créatrice de Mariages… Amber & Jay wedding took place at the beautiful Chateau d’Artigny in Loire Valley. When we met them in Paris, we instantly connected and we knew what venue would suit them. They immediately loved Chateau d’Artigny and on their way back asked to book it! We had such an amazing time planning Amber & Jay’s wedding. They were so involved in the planning process with so many ideas and wishes. Their attention to details made us want to go further to perfect the wedding to the last little details. Everything was thought of: welcome signs, sunglasses engraved with their names, paper bags for the petal toss, the sparklers table with personalized matchboxes, the welcome boxes with chocolate and local sparkling wine…Amber and Jay wanted their guest to be pampered from the moment they arrived!

The couple love flowers and wanted to have a wedding surrounded by white flowers and greenery. The most challenging for the floral designer, Esther Lamarche, was not to use roses at all! The ambiance had to reflect the purity of their feelings and the French refinement. Amber wanted to use the Lisianthus, which was actually the flower of the season, as the main flower for all flower arrangement. Its purity and refinement reminded her of the majestic Chateau d’Artigny. A gem surrounded by nature. So, the floral designer selected very carefully some regional producers for a high quality variety of Lisianthus. The bride’s bouquet was only white lisianthus flowers which made it unique as it’s not usually a flower used for a bridal bouquet. The ceremony took place in the garden of Chateau d’Artigny and the idea was to have a wow effect with the arch, and it definitely had that effect! Everyone was amazed by this beautiful ceremony setting with the clear napoleon chairs, the arch and its crystal chandelier, the white carpet…everything was perfect.

We took time to work on the table top setting in white and gold. We wanted the table to be simple and elegant, not over the top. The menus had a touch of gold leaves and guest were offered gold macarons as well. The wedding cake was a marble cake with gold trim and was uniquely presented in a round flower arch.

Amber choose gold shades and calligraphy in order to match the delicate and romantic scenery of her wedding day. The use of gold ink for their place cards and gold leafs for their menus gave consistency to the overall while theme adding various textures to it. Also a monogram was created for their invitation and was used on the ‘day of stationery’. The choice of the paper was also quite important, as she needed the stationery to keep a modern look without shifting away from romanticism. As “details create the big picture”, Amber & Jay couldn’t go without adding custom signs for the day and little notes here and there for their guests, always while adding their signature calligraphy. Attention to details never go unnoticed, and stationery on their big day played a big factor in this.

The day started with preparations in the round room of the chateau with its spectacular arched ceiling. The ambiance was relaxed and the bridesmaids had a great time with the bride preparing for the big day. Once all the guests were seated and the groom and groomsmen were down the aisle, the bridal party made her way through the corridors to the garden approaching her groom. The processional was elegantly, accompanied by a classical duo of a harpist and violinist. The beautiful bride, Amber, with her hair down, in an all lace dressed walked down the aisle with her father by her side to the harp and violin version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. The ceremony was an emotional moment as it showed Amber and Jay’s intense love to each other. The cocktail, on the Chateau’s terrace overlooking the beautiful valley, was entertained by singer and guitar, who played as well during the reception dinner.

For the cherry on the top, the couple wanted to surprise their guests with a firework display at the end of dinner. The guests were invited to ‘sparkle’ the way for the newlyweds and after a moving toast from the groom, the fireworks surprised all the guests. Our surprise to the bride and groom was the electronic violinist who played accompanying the firework display.

The bridal party danced all night after the fireworks and it was truly a day they would cherish and remember forever!

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