Oh my goodness are you going to LOVE today’s wedding. I have literally just spent the last few hours, whilst putting this feature together, smiling my little heart out as it is just so gorgeous and happy and full of so many details that I know will inspire you all.

Charlotte and Andy said I do on the 5th August 2017 at the beautiful Chateau Du Puits Es Pratx in France. Their destination wedding was captured so beautifully by Kirsty Mackenzie Photography, and was the perfect eclectic mix of French boho style and surfy beach vibes. We are in love with it!

Dubbed as their only little ‘French Fest,’ their wedding was spread over four days where they enjoyed great music, yummy food, delicious wine and plenty of sunshine with all of the people they love the most. With the chateau and vineyards as their backdrop, the entire long weekend just sounds so idyllic…

We both attended a wedding in Italy the year before and knew that if we were to get married a destination wedding would be our choice! We loved that we got to spend time with all the guests in the days leading up-to and after the big day and it feeling like a mini holiday was the icing on the cake. I follow loads of boho style wedding Instagrams, including Festival Brides, so knew we wanted a day that would be super relaxed and boho. We wanted the wedding to reflect our personalities so made sure we added hints of these in all our choices.

With a stunning Daughters of Simone lace wedding dress, flower crowns for a every guest, mismatching dusty pink bridesmaid dresses, a piñata full of mini-alcohol bottles (I mean come on – this wedding just rocks), a glitter and face painting bar and a groom with the coolest of styles – can this wedding get any better? We will leave that for you to decide.

Enjoy this one my lovelies. It is most definitely a keeper!

Dubai, An Incredible Dinner, A Balcony and One Knee….

We had been living in Kuwait for a couple of years and had not seen much of our friends and family so we planned a month long holiday. We started in Dubai with just us two, Ibiza for a week with our friends and then back to London and Swansea to visit family and friends. We are crazy foodies, so in Dubai Andy booked an incredible tasting dinner in the Armani restaurant that’s in the Burj Khalifa overlooking the fountains. Half way through dinner we went out onto the balcony and he proposed. It was a total surprise and made such a great start to the holiday! My engagement ring he designed and had made by a local jewellery designer in kuwait. Yellow diamond with smaller diamonds surrounding it so it looks like a daisy.

Every Box Ticked And More….

I (Charlotte) always holidayed in France every summer with my family so it was a no brainer that this would be the destination. Living and working in kuwait meant that traveling to visit venues would be tricky and expensive so after about a month of research I had it down to two venues. I couldn’t go and visit so it was up-to Andy to go and make the final choice. Andy and Alex (Andy’s best mate who married us) booked a ‘lads’ trip to check out the one of the Venues….Chateau du Puits es Pratx. The venue we wanted needed to have a very relax French vibe and that would be in keeping with the surfy/boho feel we wanted the wedding to have. We wanted to have our guests be able to stay at the venue with us so it had to have enough accommodation for everyone and a pool to relax by to nurse the hangovers. Big ask!

We didn’t want the typical standard wedding day or arrangements (I don’t like anything super cheesy) no cutting the cake, no first dance. Ideally the whole day to take place outside with lots of food, drink and laughs.

It ticked every box and more! Andy booked it after the first day of his trip. I never got to go and visit the venue before the wedding but I didn’t need too I had such good vibes from FaceTime and photos they sent.

My Love Opens The Door….

Legally it’s a bit tricky to get married in France so we decided to have a small (just family and a couple of friends) church wedding and mini reception the weekend before in Topsham Devon. We were married in the same church my grandparents and parents were married in.

This meant that we could tailor the ceremony in France exactly how we wanted. We decided to ask Alex who is one of Andy’s oldest mates to marry us and let him decide the tone but to keep it a secret from us. We would just tell him who would be doing the readings. Best idea ever! He absolutely nailed it and the guests loved it too. He added a rap at the end that had us all dying of laughter. It was so personal and fun. My brother John read a quote from Albert Einstein about love and relativity and Andy’s sister Kelly read a verse from Winnie the poo. The day was split into four parts and used every inch of the venues outside areas and gardens. The ceremony was held behind the old wine barn overlooking the old vineyards, we had flowers everywhere and the guests sat under a flowering tree along the terrace.

My dad walked me down the steps to the theme tune of Jurassic Park and that really set the tone for the day, incredible piece of music and smiles all round. We were married under a flower filled gazebo/archway with white material to add some shade. We walked back up the steps too Pete Townsend My love opens the door.

A Beautiful Lace Wedding Dress by Daughters Of Simone….

I’d been searching Instagram for the perfect dress and kept liking the same one over and over. It was by San Francisco wedding designers Daughters of Simone. We had just moved from Kuwait to Dubai and nowhere in the Middle East stocked these dresses. After some quick research I found a bridal shop that stocked it in London, Heart Aflutter bridal boutique. I booked in the appointment and then booked my flights. As soon as I tried it on and saw it in real life (not Instagram life lol) I knew it was the dress for me. Off the shoulder, hippy and boho vibe and beautiful lace. So comfy and within my budget. Done!

A Pin Stripped Suit and 2 Colourful Shirts….

A custom fit Navy pin stripped suit from Hugo Boss. Yellow and navy bow tie with a yellow shirt. Very colourful Christian Louboutin shoes.

Shirt was changed to a red flower one half way through. All the groom men’s outfits Andy picked out to match their style and personality. Including the bow ties! Most of the male guests wore bow ties as they know Andy to always wear them to every event, so a really thoughtful touch.

Paper Pom Poms, Beautiful Flowers in Tea Pots, Lanterns and Flowers Crowns….

After the ceremony the guests were walked over to the beautiful garden in front of the main chateau where we had decorated the trees with loads of pastel coloured paper poms. There we had beers and champagne with yummy canapés and some pictures.

The venue provided almost all the props. Sasha the owner of the chateau used to be a prominent costume and wedding dress designer in London so she had a workshop literally filled with everything anyone would need for every type of wedding. With the whole day being outside we decided that keeping it simple by just highlighting the backdrop around us and filling any gaps with beautiful flower arrangements was all that was needed. The reception was held in the courtyard and the tables surrounded the beautiful fountain, tea pots and glass jars filled with flowers were the table centres and over head we had paper lanterns hanging across the yard from barn to barn. Every place setting had a flower crown for guests to wear.

DIY Table Plan and A Face Painting Glitter Bar….

Flowers were picked from a local flower man, he literally drove up to the venue the day before in a mini lorry filled with the most incredible flowers and we picked whatever we liked, like kids in a candy shop! Sasha also did all the flower arrangements including all the flower crowns myself and bridesmaids wore….stunning! Myself and made of honour Jo made the table plan that morning and strung it up on the tree outside and my mum Kate made the table names with paper, gold pen and Daisy’s.

We found a beautiful old French side table that we made into a face painting glitter bar so we could cover our faces in gems and glitter to dance the night away in.

A Mediterranean French Feast….

The meal was a Mediterranean French feast served to the tables and as all French dinners this was a long affair with speeches in between and a bit of sneaking out for twilight photos.

Andy’s Mum passed away from cancer the April before the wedding so as our wedding favours we decided to make a donation to cancer research on behalf of every guest and in the evening we served all the guests the cake of cheeses and fresh French bread with her famous recipe for Hot toddy’s and toasted to her memory.

The music was provided by a local DJ ‘DJ Tony’ and we danced all night inside the old barn and outside in the vineyard.

A Cheese Cake and Piñata full of sweets and alcohol….

Our ‘cake’ was loads of yummy cheese that looked like a wedding cake with a Harry Potter quote “Always” as our cake topper. We didn’t do a cutting of the cake and decided to smash open a dinosaur piñata full of sweets and mini alcohol bottles, so much fun!

Beautiful Photos Captured Perfectly….

Kirsty Mackenzie Photography captured the day perfectly. I found her through Instagram and felt her style of photography was exactly what we wanted and knew she would nail it. We wanted the photos to feel natural and capture the vibe of the day and boy did she deliver. She made us and the guests feel so comfortable and when the photos arrived I couldn’t stop smiling, still can’t stop smiling every time I look at them. My guests loved the photos and one friend booked her for their wedding! Definitely made a friend in her and her husband to be Greg – great photographer too! Love love love her!

Mismatched Dusty Pink Bridesmaid Dresses…..

They were all given a budget and could pick whatever they wanted, the only requirement was that it included some lace and was a pastel colour. They all picked a dusky pink shade and all worked in beautifully with each other style and personality. It was important to me that they felt comfortable all day and loved their outfits. Most of the outfits were found through Asos and one was a Grace loves lace (obsessed with their collection). 18. Bridesmaids accessories.

They all had flower crowns with matching bouquets. They also wore sliver and turquoise bangles, earrings and anklet I gave them as gifts that morning. They had white T-bar heels for the ceremony and cream strappy sandals for the rest of the day. My two flower girls, my niece Abbie and made of honours daughter Emmy wore dresses my niece chose herself from Ted Baker and flower crowns from monsoon accessories.