Quite Luxury Style at Airelles’ La Bastide de Gordes

Michael proposed on August 12, 2020, in Chianti, Tuscany, Just between the two Covid waves, we were able to get out of London and went to spend a month in the sunny South of France followed by a week in Tuscany. After a few days of exploring Firenze, we went to the Chianti region and Michael had arranged for us to stay at what I found, when we arrived, one of the most beautiful and serene places. It was set right in the heart of Chianti, overlooking endless vineyards and the city of Siena. On our last evening there, we went down for aperitivo and after being extremely particular about where we should sit, Michael asked if I wanted to go for a walk to take some pictures of the sunset over the hills. As I was walking behind him, all of a sudden, he stopped and went down on one knee holding an engagement ring box and started reciting this beautiful speech that I made him repeat after because I was too shocked to hear anything the first time. It was just so natural and perfect. Just the two of us and a magnificent sunset setting over the vineyards and olive groves of the Tuscan hills.

The main words I constantly used to search for inspiration or describe what I wanted for my wedding dress were: modern but classic, simple but sophisticated and with some sort of subtle statement details. Not very straightforward, right? I thought I knew what I wanted but I ended up going to four different bridal stores that had the designers I was interested in. I had gone back for second visits two times as I thought I had found my dress, twice, but I was not fully head over heels either time. I then analysed what those two dresses that I thought were “THE dress” had, and found that the first was very simple but had quite pompous sleeves that I loved and the second had a very elegant cut and a fabulous, quite heavy silk fabric. That’s what I wanted and I thought I would have to alter either the first or the second to combine them somehow but then, as a miracle,I found Danielle Frankel and specifically the Ruby dress… I was so in love with it from the second I saw it. I had to order it online as none of the London stores had their dresses at the time and going to NYC to see and try it on was impossible because of Covid but that did not bother me as I knew it was the dress for me. The Danielle Frankel team was very helpful throughout the process also. The moment I tried on the dress, even though it was not the right size, I remember I was ecstatic and started swirling around and bouncing the sleeves up and down, thinking “this is so me”. I then paired it with a simple, golden pair of Manolo Blahnik sandals which were made to order; a bespoke mesh veil that covered half of my face and that was twisted around a low bun; gold tone triple pearl studs from Jennifer Behr and I finished my look off with a scent that I found perfect for the occasion, Gentle Fluidity from Maison Francis Kurkdijan.

For our mothers, I envisioned soft tones but wanted them to feel beautiful and comfortable so they were free to choose.They both chose similar powder rose shades. My mother wore a flowing silk sleeved dress that had a similar detail to my sleeved tulle. I had my best friend as my maid of honour and my younger sister as my bridesmaid. Their moodboard illustrated warm yellows, soft blues, peach and light pink tones and the text said “La dolce vita chic - light and summery fabrics” but I left the style open to each one of them as I also wanted them to feel confident. My sister chose a tiered floral print dress from Needle & Thread and wore it with a pair of dainty earrings I had gifted her on the day and my best friend wore an elegant, one shoulder soft blue gown with pearl drop earrings,similar to mine, also gifted on the day. They both wore identical gold slim necklaces I had gifted them before the wedding as well. My sister’s dress perfectly tied in together, colour wise, the dresses of our mothers, my bestfriend and my sister in law.

Michael wore a black, classic Tom Ford tuxedo that had subtle wool silk details. He paired it with a simple black silk bow tie and shoes from TF also. To finish his look, I gifted him a pair of round pearl detail cufflinks from Lanvin on the day. Both our fathers, Michael’s brother and his groomsmen had also worn black tuxedos that they paired with individually personalised cufflinks Michael had gifted them.

The Bride and Groom had local hors d'oeuvre, Champagne and signature cocktails inspired by their story upon the cocktail reception, followed by a 4-course dinner prepared by La Bastide de Gordes Chef.

To give our guests a feel for what our wedding would be like beforehand, I designed a website which included useful information and had illustrative touches of lemons and olive branches that went in line with my vision for the bespoke invitation suite and the overall fresh wedding look & feel. All of the stationery was realised with the help of the very talented Christelle from Creme de Papier. Together we created a small, minimalistic three fold booklet as part of our welcome pack in which a beautiful watercolour illustration of Gordes created by Christelle highlighted the three relevant wedding events locations as well as other attraction recommendations we had prepared for our guests. It was one of the many details I really loved.

Instead of a wedding cake, Luiza and Michael had a French croquembouche prepared by the pastry Chef of La Bastide de Gordes

2. We chose one of Michael’s closest friends, who quickly became one of my closest friends too when Michael and I started dating, as our celebrant. He was there when we first met and he knew us both very well. He slipped into his speech that at the time we met Michael had said to him “I am going to marry that girl” right after we spoke which was, of course, a very sweet detail. 3. We wanted to give our mothers a chance to share their excitement for our day so we asked if they would like to speak instead of my/our fathers. They were both thrilled and gave the sweetest,most beautiful speeches with light fun moments that made our evening even more special than it already was.

I had little gifts and handwritten letters for Michael, my parents, my sister and best friend that I handed on the wedding day to express my love and appreciation for them. I did not know, however, that Michael also had a small handwritten letter which he had sent me through my bestfriend on the day. It was such a special way to share everything we felt just between the two of us, aside from the vows we were going to share in front of our family & friends.