Your wedding retroplanning at D-330
The Road to Happiness...
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 place
If you want to choose a chateau for your wedding, there are 17 questions to ask yourself.Answer "yes" to at least 14 for peace of mind...
- A well-conserved, authentic and romantic setting far from the bustle of the city?
- If you want to get married in a chateau, are their enough decent bedrooms on site and nearby to cater for everybody?
- Have the owners suggested an ideal date for the big day, or the best season if your wedding venue is near Paris, for example? a winter wedding date, for example...
- Are you free to choose the service providers for your reception (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 French chateau hire (table, chairs, buffet tables, etc.)?
- Can the French venue for your wedding 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 visitors 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 visitors? 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 contingency in case of rain or strong winds?
- Is the infrastructure satisfactory: area for the children, Wi-Fi, cloakroom, toilets, spacious and discreet car park possibly equipped with terminals for electric vehicles, kitchen for the caterer, cold storage, cellar for storing your wines, heated swimming pool, etc.?
- When you visited the place, was the quality of service up to your expectations? Do you have plans and maps of the estate and the rooms for your event?
- 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 provide the extra soul you hope for in your reception, on the best day of your life?
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 location.
6 months before your event
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 event 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 a wedding planner at the French venue to organise the event, 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 of your event so that everyone is perfectly synchronised. Order the wine and the champagne. Get it delivered directly to the location, 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 on the spot before your event!
