Marine
Today it's Marine's turn to tell us all about her magnificent wedding with the theme of the sea.
Photo credit : Camille Llamas et Marine Vitet
The meeting and the proposal :
We met 6 years ago on the Île d'Oléron thanks to a mutual friend. It was a beautiful summer evening, I arrived on the terrace of the bar and as soon as I saw him, I thought to myself, "He's the one !" I can't explain why or how, it was love at first sight !
For the proposal, we were on the Basque Coast, in Biarritz, our favorite destination! After a meal at a restaurant, we walked along the seashore to reach Port Vieux Beach, our favorite beach! We gazed at the gentle waves and the sunset... and a few minutes later, he knelt down and proposed to me. A magical moment !
What marked them :
One of the moments that really stood out for me was when we got to know each other, just the two of us. I had butterflies in my stomach and stars in my eyes at the thought of meeting him again, it was like the 1st day ! And when I saw him, I was the happiest - he was gorgeous! I was so proud. We then got into our beautiful Mehari to drive to the Town Hall, and we were like children! When we saw all our guests waiting outside the Town Hall, our hearts started to race and we realised that all these people were there for the happiest day of our lives and that we were lucky !
Another memorable moment was when we threw the bottle into the sea! To inaugurate our cocktail, and as a sort of ritual, we threw this bottle into the sea. Heading into the unknown! The guests loved it! We hope one day to receive a nice surprise.
The venue :
We both share a passion for the ocean, we have always lived by the sea, and we couldn't do without it. It was obvious for us and we dreamed of having a venue located by the ocean. We all gathered at the Citadel of the Château d'Oléron located on the Île d'Oléron ! A magnificent place full of history overlooking the ocean ! A real gem !
We took our group photos on a tiny beach at the foot of the Citadel, the cocktail hour took place on the terrace overlooking the ocean, and we set up a photobooth area to be photographed facing the sea. The dinner was held in the reception hall, with a view of the Citadel on one side and the ocean on the other. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the tide was high, we could hear the sound of the waves and the cries of seagulls. The atmosphere was warm, friendly, and very festive, with tears of joy and bursts of laughter.
Their inspirations :
I had been dreaming about this wedding for so long that I knew exactly what I wanted.
I wrote, pasted and copied all our ideas into a cardboard folder, and like any bride-to-be, I also took inspiration from Pinterest, blogs and websites specialising in decorating. We wanted to stick to the theme of the sea and the nautical side of things, so it was a very obvious choice for us! Our favourite colour is blue, so we decorated in shades of navy, sky blue, turquoise and white.
We did everything with our own little hands, and we really enjoyed it. Our invitations featured a boat, so we collected driftwood from the beautiful beach of La Perroche for the centrepieces, gathered shells from our past trips (Biarritz, St-Malo) so that I could make my seashell bouquet (with the help of my super best friend), and collected a few pebbles for our guest book. We refurbished an optimist for our seating plan, made little wooden boats with fabric sails for the table numbers and painted floats to use as place cards.
For our outfits, Mister wore a navy blue 3-piece suit from Serge Blanco, with a bow tie and a navy blue fabric clutch bag with white sea anchors from Colonel Moutarde, and pretty silver sea anchor cufflinks.
For myself, I wanted an original dress that was short, flowing with lace and a touch of navy blue. To achieve this, I turned to Atelier 2B, and discovered Sandra & Amandine, two lovely and adorable designers who are brimming over with creativity and work in a great mood! Thanks to their fairy fingers, I was able to wear a dress that was uniquely me !
The shoe creation :
Once again, I knew what I wanted, I dreamt of seeing that pair of shoes in a shop window but to no avail. I discovered Dessine-Moi Un Soulier on the Internet and when I clicked on the ‘I create my own accessories’ section, I thought ‘Wow, this is amazing, you can create anything!
As I didn't have a shop in Toulouse, I decided to do everything remotely. I was very well looked after, and I recommend that you order the samples because it's great, it's easier to get an idea of the material and the colour. I fell for the Salomé model, platformless, navy velvet and silver glitter slingbacks with an 8cm chunky heel. I placed my order at the end of October, and received my lovely shoes at the beginning of December in a very pretty packaging ! My shoes fitted my little feet straight away and we were able to spend the whole day together until the early hours of the morning ! And that's thanks to the comfort of the sole and the heel !
For me, the shoes were the most important part of my outfit, but I must admit I also fell for the Dessine Moi Un Soulier barrette ! A very girly accessory that added an extra touch of originality to my outfit. And to match, I paired it with my shoes! (Navy blue velvet and silver glitter). It was really easy to put in my hair and lasted until the morning !
Their favorite service providers :
The Bride's Dress : Atelier 2B
The Groom's Suit : Serge Blanco
The Bride's Shoes : Dessine-moi un soulier
The Groom's Bow Tie : Colonel Moutarde
The venue : Citadelle du Château d’Oléron
The caterer : Philippe Gault
The DJ : Kreativ Events
The Decoration : Sky Lantern, Badaboum, Instemporel
Marine's advice :
My first piece of advice is about organisation! It's essential ! It's in my blood to be organised, but not necessarily Julien's ! So right away I insisted on buying a few ‘special wedding’ books, and drew up a back-plan, and step by step Julien followed me and we created a MARRIAGE folder on the computer with a multitude of Word and Excel files (guest list, list of service providers, decoration elements, provisional budget, list of tasks for the big day, and so on). I even had a little silver glitter notebook in which I wrote down everything (Julien can confirm this, I took it with me everywhere for 1 year), appointments with service providers, crazy ideas for decoration, menu ideas, music that was playing on the radio for our future DJ, website references, and I even went so far as to stick labels with the reference numbers of certain products (in case they were out of stock!). We brainstormed together, exchanged ideas and desires (and sometimes went a bit crazy!), and we had a great time !
Any other advice ? The choice of witnesses ! It's crucial !
We each had 3 witnesses, and we talked to them a lot, confided in each other and shared all our ideas! 2 months before the wedding we sent them a power point with a recap of how the big day would run, a table with the list of things to do on the big day, the list of service providers, the list of group photos and a reminder of how to get from the town hall to the reception venue, plus a few photos. The day before the wedding, we offered to show them around the venue, and they were delighted ! There was nothing left to do ... If we had such a beautiful wedding, it was mainly thanks to them ! (and their partners). A real dream team ! The organisation was perfect.
Finally, my last piece of advice, or rather our last piece of advice, is to ENJOY ! The day goes by so quickly that you have to make the most of every moment. Trust your witnesses and your service providers. And for once, think only of yourselves - it's your day ! We stayed together all day, we were able to enjoy all the guests by chatting to them during the cocktail party and at dinner, we were able to exchange glances, kisses, smiles, sweet words, and that's the most important thing, you have to live in the moment.
What's more, we continued to enjoy ourselves after the wedding! (After 5 minutes of nostalgia, let's face it). We organised a honeymoon getaway on the Ile of Noirmoutier! For 4 days, the two of us got together as husband and wife and it did us a world of good ! If your honeymoon isn't planned straight away, plan a honeymoon getaway ! It's essential before the start of the new year.
