french wedding chateau

A destination wedding can be a fulfillment of a fantasy like a castle wedding in a wedding chateau.   One of the most exciting things to happen in a person’s life is the wedding.

Planning for a destination wedding will take a lot of work and could be very demanding but the rewards can be worth it. Destination weddings have an unquestionable wow factor.  Your guests get to have a holiday and attend your castle wedding.

Wedding Chateau Venues

The first destination wedding factor to consider is who can attend the wedding location.

Out of town weddings are preferred by couples as a way to lessen the number of guests at the events. Sometimes, when the budget is concerned the destination wedding etiquette is to set aside money for accommodations and transportation for the immediate members of the family and entourage.  You might need to heavily subsidize or simply pay for some travel costs of a close poor relative. 

Destination weddings are usually attended by only a few children usually being immediate relatives.

Guests can turn the out of town wedding into a mini-vacation just by spending their time together at the venue. Do some research.  It is handy if the wedding couple have a wedding website so you can familiarise yourself with the location and possible sight-seeing and cultural activities on offer. 

Just like a wedding at home, family play a big part and help out as much as possible.

Wedding Castle Receptions

When selecting a destination wedding venue accessibility, price and what is included in a package will all factor in your decision. 

· Accessibility – the venue and chapel or wedding location should be near the reception area. This is a destination wedding etiquette in consideration for the family and guests who need to freshen up before the reception.

· Package – some venues offer attractive wedding packages with discounts because of the group booking. Others may include the transportation.

· Price – destination weddings can still be costly, especially if there is a theme involved. But they are typically much cheaper than a wedding in England or America.

You want to have everything sorted before the big day.  As a guideline for your destination wedding:

· Check if your wedding location requires other legal documents to process the wedding. This should be handled by an experienced wedding planner especially if there is a different language involved and you are not fluent yourself.  The last thing you want is not to be able to have your ceremony for some legal technicality.

· Is there a minimum residency requirement?  With a castle wedding most destination wedding couples get married at home in a civil wedding and have a religious or humanist wedding ceremony in a spectacular wedding venue like a luxury chateau or castle.

· Book everything in advance. Making the proper reservations for the hotel, flowers, gowns, music.

We strongly advise you to carry your wedding dress on to the plane when travelling to your destination wedding so there is no risk of it going astray.. A reputable bridal salon can pack your wedding dress for transit.

Ask for it to be wrapped in plastic so that it’s waterproof. bring in a clean towel and ask the bridal salon to  roll the dress around the towel. Insist tahat it not be hard-pressed and folded. This way there are minimum creases in the gown and it is ready to wear when it arrives at it’s destination. Never put a bridal gown in the cargo hold of a plane because you may lose it.
 
Do not iron your wedding dress yourself or you could get stains on it.At your destination wedding venue, get them to professionally press or steam yor wedding dress. 
 

horse and carriage wedding

Saying “I do” in a french wedding chateau is as fashionable as carrying the latest Louis Vuitton handbag for Hollywood celebrities today.Katie Price AKA Jordan apparently made it fashionable.

French Wedding Horse and Carriage
 
Anyone, especially non-celebrities can rent a french wedding chateau venue and get married in France and have a fairytale castle wedding of their dreams.  For the true fairy tale princess wedding, a horse drawn carriage is an essential. Cinderella, you shall get to the wedding.  

Some advice on selecting a horse and carriage for your castle wedding.

- a pair of horses makes more of a wow statement.  Also this offers you a back up if one of the horses at the last minute is lame and not able to pull the carriage.  This is of course provided the horses are of such a size to be able to pull the carriage singly.  Ask the carriage providers if both horses work in pairs and drive singly as well.Enquire whether they have both single and pairs harnesses.

- how big is the carriage.  Is it big enough for you and your wedding dress.  Carriages for smaller horses are smaller inside as well.  A carriage pulled by a pair of horses over 16 hand high is roomy and makes a great impression.  You will not feel squeezed and your wedding dress will not get all crushed. 

- think about the weather.  Does the carriage you are considering have a canopy or a glass cover.  You should ask for a Victorian carriage or a Landau for this very reason

- Ask how the carriage is going to be decorated - at the very least you should get a pair of brass lanterns and flowers. Do the horses wear plumes? Ask what colour schemes they can offer or if you can provide flowers of your colour scheme.  Because of the movement and wind, companies usually use silk flowers.  If you want additional colour real flowers can be added for your static photos. 

- Do the pair of horses match - colour, height, blaze and socks and stepping action.A pair of matching black or bay or brown horses will look much more impressive than an unmatched pairs.  Ask to see a video if at all possible.  Long white socks and blazes look stunning and are very popular.    Ask if the horses mains will be braided or flowing.  It is just my opinion but I think that Friesians albeit looking very majestic also look very funereal and over-bearing being all black with no socks or blaze to lift their appearance.  I think they are best selected for funeral processions and not weddings.

- If you are going to have a video think about the stepping action of the horses.  Horses bred with some hackney blood have a lovely knee-high stepping action which looks incredible.  Dutch bred gelderlander horses usually have some hackney blood in them for that high stepping action.  It seems a shame to go to the expense of a horse and carriage and then not have a horse that looks the part - fine and elegant.  Cobs and cart horses are more suited for pulling gypsy caravans and look more rustic.  The Dutch really know their carriage horses.  It is a national past-time.  They run the KWPN register of the most prestigous warmblood horses in the world.

- Ask what attire the driver and groom (not your man - the one holding the horses) will wear.

- Think about the distance that you need to travel.Horse drawn carriages do not travel great distances. It is time consuming and hard on the horses.You certainly do not want to spend dall of your wedding day travelling from your home to the church and then to the reception venue. 

- Think about safety.  Unfortunately in some countries wedding carriage drivers are not regulated and you get some cowboys.  Check that the harness looks symmetrical.  I have seen wedding carriage business promotion material with a horse harnessed to a carriage with the shafts being set at different heights.  I have seen carriages for shetlands hitched to a cob.  Not only does it look ridiculous but it is down right dangerous. Check that they have insurance.  Ask if the carriage has hydraulic breaks.  

Interest in the Odescalchi Castle has soared since Tom and Katie held their wedding there. Skibo Castle has a waiting list with hopeful brides paying a $40,000 initiation fee prior to a wedding booking.  Eva Longoria and Tony Park’s wedding on the auspicious 7th July 2007 at Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte has only fueled the trend. When a celebrity wedding in an exotic location makes headlines people see it and want to copy it.

However, a destination wedding at a luxury wedding castle attended by 30-40 people might run to $10,000-20,000 a day, not including airfare. 

At our french castle our horses and carriage are offered to  our wedding clients with compliments for their fairytale wedding. 

Your unique wedding ring is one of the most important parts of the ceremony. Designing a wedding on your own can be a recipe for disaster if you don’t know where to begin! Don’t worry though, wedding rings are generally fairly easy to design.

Before beginning, make sure you decide on a budget. This is vitally important as it’s very difficult to start design your wedding ring when you don’t have an idea of how much you can spend. If you want a jeweller to create a unique ring for you it will probably cost more because of the extra labour cost, so make sure you take that into account.

Your wedding ring must match or complement the engagement ring. Often, choosing the same colour metal as the engagement ring is the best option. If you go for a simple band then this makes it easy to design a ring, but if you want a more complicated design with diamonds or other gems then you must make sure they don’t clash with the engagement ring as they’ll be worn on the same finger.

The next step is to decide which gems you’d like. This is often where the cost will be increased greatly! If you’re going for diamond then you’ll have to decide what carat you want. Most women would like a single carat diamond, but it can save money getting a half carat.

Finally, always make sure that your partner likes the design before sending it the made. This will avoid disappointment on the day, and even if your partner doesn’t like it often a few simple changes made with their advice can make all the difference. While it can be nice to give them a surprise ring, it isn’t always the most sensible idea!