Fairytale Bastide Wedding
Gordes, France
Lexie & Jack
This hard-working East Coast couple works in the finance industry and they dreamed of a destination wedding that really gave their guests a glimpse into a beautiful slower lifestyle. We helped them plan a beautiful fairytale bastide wedding in Gordes that did just that!
Lexie & Jack wanted to have a wedding that really gave their guests a destination experience and so they planned the dates perfectly with an American holiday to give everyone several days to revel in this little piece of heaven on earth. Provence is very special to Lexie because she grew up visiting her grandparents in their country home not too far from the wedding venue.
The couple privatized the entire property in the village of Gordes allowing them to feel at home in this gorgeous part of the world. Perched on a hilltop the bastide glistens at sunset from the famous viewpoint across the way. The little village is known for the sprawling vineyard views, art galleries, cobblestone streets, and sunny terraces.
Lexie’s heart has always been set on having an outdoor wedding ceremony in the gardens, cocktail hour overlooking the magnificent views, dinner al fresco under fairy lights & the stars – these things were so important to her. The weather in Provence is usually quite predictable… sun, sun and more sun. On the morning of the wedding, the skies were bright blue as the bride got ready with her mother and grandmother, however, local weather reports did mention a possible 5% chance of showers later in the afternoon.
The floral arch and ceremony chairs were was set-up in front of the pool, dining tables elegantly set outdoors in the garden. However, about 15 minutes before the ceremony was to begin dark menacing clouds crept closer and closer to the village. We already knew to take precautions in the morning, even if chances were extremely low that it would actually rain. You can never be too prepared and wary of what may come! Literally 5 minutes before the bride was to walk down the aisle the heavens opened up and it started to pour…it even hailed for a few moments!!
Thanks to our pre-determined plan B and the help of assistants and the wonderful staff at the venue, we moved the entire outdoor dining set up indoors in literally a matter of minutes. The outdoor ceremony chairs were quickly covered by sheets and sheets of plastic…Guests were invited to go inside to have the cocktail hour & canapés before the ceremony to wait for the storm to pass… In the meantime, the wedding planners liaised with the couple, and a dozen more weather reports to see what the rest of the afternoon and evening had in store. Shall we move the ceremony set-up indoors, wait it out, if so for how long? That minimal 5% chance of rain actually came to life, so the decision needed to be made on how to proceed from here.
Lexie’s dream of an outdoor wedding still had hope. There was a break in the rain and we scrambled with the team to take advantage of the window of opportunity we had. We dried all the seats and the bride wore her brightest smile because her dream of marrying Jack outside was coming true!
The guests were also fortunate to have a few glasses of champagne outside after the ceremony before heading indoors for dinner. Light sprinkles of rain still slipped through the clouds and the decision to dine indoors was the right choice.
A light magical night wind swept the remaining clouds away after dinner and the couple led everyone outside for their first dance beneath the twinkle of the fairy lights and stars. Just as they finished the dance an elegant 3-tiered wedding cake was brought out to the garden and everyone lit their sparklers on cue to add to the magic of the moment!
After enjoying their slice of cake guests hit the dance floor! A live band played all of their American favorites as everyone partied until the wee hours of the morning.
An incredible wedding for the sweetest couple makes our hearts flutter and all the hard work and behind-the-scenes stress 100% worthwhile!
