Who can claim to know all the ins and outs of a reception, all the ways of organising a wedding - particularly in wedding venues in France, such as a chateau? The scope is enormous; the only limits are our imagination: age-old traditions, seduction and excess, fever and flames, costumes and lights, food and wine, music and rituals!
Let us not forget that before the wheel, man invented masks and celebrations! The principle of a "roving" wedding reception, wending its way around the chateau grounds, will surely appeal, encountering pockets of heavenly fragrance - lily, fig, teak, rose and jasmine – and flickers of fire in the night.
Chateau de Vallery, a wedding venue with accommodation, can explore ways of organising your wedding reception without the professional guidance of a wedding planner in France. Your wedding becomes a journey, a journey through time and space. Time will stand still exclusively for your celebration, for a spiritual journey into the pale light of dawn. The estate is yours alone.
The following pages will guide you. They offer a suggested programme for your fairytale wedding in France, extend a warm welcome to wedding planners, and provide plans of the halls and interactive seating plans to be downloaded, as well as thorough information on bedrooms at the chateau and accommodation nearby.
Planning your wedding
at Château de Vallery, a romantic wedding venue with accommodation
THE DAY BEFORECome to the estate with your guests on the eve of your big day and settle into the chateau's historical rooms. As afternoon fades, taste fine wines in the vaulted 12th-century cellars. When dusk falls, savour a tagine together in the pavilion with its big pool.
Then, in the lamplight and fragrances of the Orient, enjoy mint tea, honeyed pastries and maybe some belly dancing...
PRELUDESMake yourselves at home! Luxuriate in a relaxing bath. Spend time with your guests, adding the finishing touches to floral arrangements and seating plans, or getting the bridesmaids and page boys ready.
A hairdresser and make-up artist await the bride as photographer and video cameraman capture the moment.
CEREMONYFor their romantic wedding vows, some may choose the church opposite the chateau on the edge of the forest, with the mausoleum of the Princes and Princesses of Condé.
For others, a flower-laden chuppah in the Rose Garden. Or why not the orchard? Or by the big Buddha beneath his tree? Or at the foot of the sycamore with seven trunks? Spirituality is the order of the day.
DRINKS AND DINNERBuffet tables are laid out in the Closerie Garden and in the Music Rooms. Music to match the bride and groom floats over the grounds, interspersed with numbers by a jazz-band playing in the dovecot.
Later, candle-lit dinner in the Salle des Tentures with its trompe-l'oeil in sumptuous fabrics measuring over 500m2. In the grounds, a thousand torches flicker until dawn.
SPECIAL NIGHTAfter dinner, everyone steps out into the grounds or onto the front steps for a firework show set to music, or a huge bonfire.
The final tableau stars the wedding cake, paraded into the Grande Galerie, and a champagne pyramid that marks the opening of the ball. Music playing in the grounds drifts to the very fringes of the surrounding forest. The chateau is for you alone, exclusively.
DAY AFTERNights at the chateau are mellow, in rooms and suites preserved from the harshness of modernity. On the following day, savour breakfast around the big pool enveloped in fragrances rising up from the gardens.
Stroll through the forest or around the ramparts. Aperitifs served in the vaulted cellars precede salads, salmon and grilled meats to round off a sequence of life's small pleasure.
The Road to Happiness...
(Countdown to a summer wedding)
A well-conserved, authentic and romantic setting far from the bustle of the city?
Are their enough decent bedrooms on site and nearby to cater for everybody?
Are you free to choose your service providers (caterer, band, DJ, wedding planner, etc.)?
Is there a room big enough at the venue for all of your guests plus a dance floor plus a band?
Can you switch to a different room for dessert or for the first dance?
Is there enough furniture and is it included in the cost of the room hire (table, chairs, buffet tables, etc.)?
Can your venue cater for that moment of spirituality at the heart of your event, no matter the weather (church, chuppah, ceremony conducted by an officiant or witness in a park or gallery, etc.)?
A venue dedicated exclusively to your wedding... so that the only guests are those invited to your party?
Is there a perfect spot on the estate where you can gather your guests on the eve of your wedding, then lead them from one discovery to the next, from one room to another, on an itinerant drinks party, and then enjoy brunch in yet a different setting?
Are there enough facilities to entertain your guests? Pool, tennis court, wine tasting in vaulted cellars, rose garden, strolls through the forest, historical tours, etc.?
Are you free of time restrictions?
Can you dance and put the world to rights until dawn?
If you're planning your reception in a garden or a marquee, do you have a fall-back plan in case of rain or strong winds?
Is the infrastructure satisfactory (area for the children, Wi-Fi, cloakroom, toilets, spacious and discreet car park, kitchen for the caterer, cold storage, cellar for storing your wines, heating indoors and for the pool, etc.)?
When you visited the venue, was the quality of service up to your expectations? Do you have plans and maps of the estate and the rooms?
Is the website sufficiently explicit? Does the rental contract include the entire estate, the furniture, the bedrooms and the lighting without any cut-off time?
And the final criterion, which is difficult to quantify: can you see yourself in that setting? Does it tick all the boxes for you? Will it add the extra soul you are hoping for on the best day of your life?
DJ, photographer, band, video cameraman, firework technician, hairdresser, make-up artist.
Civil, religious or secular ceremony. Bridesmaids and Page Boys. Take out an option on accommodation near the venue.
Guest list. Save the date. Bride's dress (keep it secret). Floral arrangements. not forgetting the bride's bouquet, the buttonholes and the petals.
Remember to practice that first dance.
The invitation should indicate the dress code, name places to stay, state the address of the venue, provide instructions on how to get there, and stipulate a reply-by date. Choose stamps in your wedding colours! The marriage contract signed before a notary. The wedding bands with your names engraved inside. Book the honeymoon! Open your wedding list. Sugared almonds. A prestigious car or horse and carriage? Conjurer ?
If you are not using the services of a wedding planner, ask your friends and family for help and ideas. One of your attendants could be responsible for paying service providers, another could take charge of the seating plan, someone else could allocate the bedrooms, etc. Final fitting of the wedding dress and accessories. The groom's outfit.. The future bride can help her groom make a matching choice, as she alone knows what she'll be wearing! Trial runs with the hairdresser and make-up artist. Buy throw-away cameras, or polaroid cameras, to be placed on the guests' tables.
Allocating bedrooms; the seating plan; the menus.
Use a seating plan system with movable names, so that you can easily cater for any last-minute changes. Find a pretty container to use as a wedding card box.
Write the speeches and a personalised welcome note for each bedroom. Send all service providers, and your attendants or witnesses, a copy of the Run Sheet so that everyone is perfectly synchronised. Order the wine and the champagne. Get it delivered directly to the venue, where it will rest in the cellar. Send your Run Sheet to everyone concerned. Use a different colour code per service provider so that each one knows what they - and the others - need to be doing and when. If you are not using walkie talkies, make sure that all cell phone numbers are included on the Run Sheet: caterer, florist, photographer, video cameraman, wine waiter, band, sound technician, firework technician, etc. Contact the Mairie (Town Hall) to get the banns published.
Stag night and hen night.
Relax... preferably at the venue!
Wedding Day -330
Announce your news to your parents and close friends. Choose your attendants - best man, ushers and bridesmaids. Because those who've known you all your life deserve to share your joy.Wedding Day -300
The Venue. 17 questions to ask yourselves. Answer "yes" to at least 14 for peace of mind...Wedding Day -250
The Caterer. Book entertainment to amuse your guests during pre-dinner drinks.DJ, photographer, band, video cameraman, firework technician, hairdresser, make-up artist.
Civil, religious or secular ceremony. Bridesmaids and Page Boys. Take out an option on accommodation near the venue.
Wedding Day -200
Guest list. Save the date. Bride's dress (keep it secret). Floral arrangements. not forgetting the bride's bouquet, the buttonholes and the petals.
Wedding Day -100
Remember to practice that first dance.
The invitation should indicate the dress code, name places to stay, state the address of the venue, provide instructions on how to get there, and stipulate a reply-by date. Choose stamps in your wedding colours! The marriage contract signed before a notary. The wedding bands with your names engraved inside. Book the honeymoon! Open your wedding list. Sugared almonds. A prestigious car or horse and carriage? Conjurer ?
Wedding Day -60
If you are not using the services of a wedding planner, ask your friends and family for help and ideas. One of your attendants could be responsible for paying service providers, another could take charge of the seating plan, someone else could allocate the bedrooms, etc. Final fitting of the wedding dress and accessories. The groom's outfit.. The future bride can help her groom make a matching choice, as she alone knows what she'll be wearing! Trial runs with the hairdresser and make-up artist. Buy throw-away cameras, or polaroid cameras, to be placed on the guests' tables.
Wedding Day -25
Allocating bedrooms; the seating plan; the menus.
Use a seating plan system with movable names, so that you can easily cater for any last-minute changes. Find a pretty container to use as a wedding card box.
Write the speeches and a personalised welcome note for each bedroom. Send all service providers, and your attendants or witnesses, a copy of the Run Sheet so that everyone is perfectly synchronised. Order the wine and the champagne. Get it delivered directly to the venue, where it will rest in the cellar. Send your Run Sheet to everyone concerned. Use a different colour code per service provider so that each one knows what they - and the others - need to be doing and when. If you are not using walkie talkies, make sure that all cell phone numbers are included on the Run Sheet: caterer, florist, photographer, video cameraman, wine waiter, band, sound technician, firework technician, etc. Contact the Mairie (Town Hall) to get the banns published.
Wedding Day -10
Stag night and hen night.
Wedding Day -1
Relax... preferably at the venue!
