Macaroons, baguettes, and berets are not the only amazing things you’ll find in France. The language, the people, the romance – all these truly make France a beautiful place to be, which was, of course, one of the reasons why our featured couple held their wedding there. They looked like monarchs of France – Brianna with her whimsical structural ball gown and Pierre in his dapper gray tux. And the chateau glued the whole look together, it was elegant but fairytale-like. Definitely a wedding every little girl dreamed of having.
A summary of the day from the bride, Brianna:
Our outdoor wedding ceremony started at 4pm in the afternoon. It was a warm, sunny summer day in June. There were 100 guests in attendance, and the cocktail session proceeded immediately after the ceremony within the garden. The cocktail lasted about 3 hours, and then everyone proceeded to the dining room for dinner. The dinner lasted a while. After the dinner, we cut the cake and served it to our guests just after the cheese plate entree. Then, the guests danced the night away until 7am the next morning.
Background on how you met:
We met in San Francisco at a house party. Pierre was visiting SF with his best friend when we met at the house party. My friend knew the host throwing the party, and Pierre’s bestfriend also knew the host of the party. Needless to say, we met randomly at the house party through mutual friends. When we met at the house party, there was this instant connection and mutual attraction we had for each other. Pierre asked me out for a date for that weekend, and we exchange numbers to meet on Sunday for drinks. We decided to meet for drinks at a French place called Cafe de La Presse and ended up having dinner there since the date was going so well. We then spontaneously decided to go to karaoke after dinner. It was a nice date, but we both knew that it had to end at some point. Pierre had to fly back to Paris to go home, and we kept in touch every day since he left, San Francisco. After six months of long distance dating, Pierre decided to move to SF so that we can be together and live in the same city. Later that same year, we got married at City Hall in SF for the civil ceremony and had our formal wedding in France a year later.
Proposal stories:
Pierre proposed to me on Valentine’s Day at home. We just had dinner, which he cooked, and he asked me if I wanted to marry him while I was washing the dishes. I was surprised but so happy that he asked. Of course, I said yes!
The reasons behind the decision for a destination wedding:
Pierre’s relatives are in France, and we wanted to have a wedding there to celebrate with his family and friends that could not be there for our US wedding in SF. In addition, France is such a beautiful country, and I always dreamt of having a wedding there someday, so that was another reason we decided to have a French wedding.
Why did you chose that specific location:
We were looking for a château wedding with a French countryside theme and decided to go with our venue we chose, Château de Razay because the owner was nice and easy to work. In addition, the cost of the venue was within our budget for the wedding, so that was another contributing factor as to why we chose it. We had also heard from friends that they had great experiences with the venue either as a wedding guest or getting married there.
What style of wedding you wanted to plan, special meanings and how you decided on the style of the wedding:
We chose the French countryside/Castle wedding theme, so we planned our wedding based on that concept. We got ideas from Pinterest, French Wedding Style and Pictours Paris.
How did you choose your wedding suppliers:
Pierre’s mother and sister helped us plan our wedding since they were physically in France to meet with suppliers on our behalf in the beginning stages of planning. They both knew suppliers in the Loire Valley region, so we relied on them to help provide suppliers to us to choose.
Information on the wedding dress, accessories and grooms attire:
I chose a Rosa Clara wedding dress based on a picture I found on a French website. It was the first dress I tried on at the bridal shop in SF, and I knew it was the one instantly. I did not try on any other dress after that! The grooms bought their suits based on the color we provided to them. Our colors were gray and red. The bridesmaids and grooms wore gray.
Any issues you had with planning a wedding in France/ abroad or in your domestic country:
Surprisingly, there were no issues in planning our wedding in France. Everything went smoothly, so we were happy about that.
Any advice you have for couples planning their wedding in France:
Book your venue at least a year in advance. Once your venue is booked, and you have a date selected, everything else will fall into place. The second thing that you want to take care of right away is booking the caterer.
VENDORS
Photographer: Pictours Paris
Venue: Château de Razay
Dress: Rosa Clara
Florist: Tour Flower Market
This is some interesting reading that I hope you take note of. Everything said is the truth. Chateau Le Mung in France is run by a cult family. They lie, cheat and steal and will do so with anyone. If they ask for money, it will not be used for what they tell you it will be used for. They have a lot of legal issues, quite frankly. You may choose to ignore this at your own risk, you have been warned. They have done a good job restoring but they have bad ulterior motives behind it all.
These are the only true stories about the chateau that you will hear. All the stories the family cult have told in the past and the present are full of lies in all the print media stories, they are all lies from start to finish. There are 2 sides to every story, this is the truth and then you get all the lies from the family cult. There is no jealousy involved in any way with the chateau. This is a warning I would like to share with as many people as I possibly can.
They have already destroyed the life of the person that put up all the funds to do this project. His inheritance was completely used up by this cult family and he had no say in any of the projects. They were given access to his funds and instead of respecting that used it for their own greedy agendas, with total disregard for his wishes. He currently has moved away from the Chateau, with his life in taters, as this is what they do to people. If you think this is fine you need a morality check. The rest of you who think this is wrong, do not support this site any longer.
The family cult when still in Australia, freeloaded off the goodness of a good people. They did not pay any rent in the luxury apartment that was offered to them, ruining the furniture. All they had before moving to France was a couple cars and some furniture. They did not own any PROPERTY in Australia or anywhere else. They had debts with numerous people and places and moved to avoid paying them. That does not afford you a Chateau in France. The Chateau was paid for by the person I mentioned previously, who’s life they have destroyed after his money ran out. The family cult have not spent anything on the project. Do you honestly think this is good character? Would you really want people like this taking your hard earned money and hosting your holiday or wedding?