Drenched in sunlight within the traditional French gardens of a château in Provence, Jane & Philipe were married beneath towering trees. Alongside a perfectly turquoise pool, their ceremony was framed by centuries old stone columns, enveloped in vines. Built in the 1600s by the King’s advisor, history seeps from the walls at Château de Sannes in Luberson, and the enchanting estate is surrounded by olive groves, vineyards, lavender fields and cypress trees. Making the most of its natural setting, the reception dinner was held outside, two long tables dressed in white linen, floral arrangements in soft dusky hues and glittering chandeliers suspended overhead.
Our Story
Names / Jane & Philipe Gosset
Wedding Date / June 8, 2022
Guest Numbers / 75
How We Met
Our Engagement Story
We flew to Santorini, Greece for an extended weekend, the trip was a surprise for Jane. We stayed at the Perivolas Hotel where I had dinner planned on a private terrace overlooking the sea, a beautiful setting for the proposal. That very same evening the biggest hurricane in decades hit Santorini! Despite the weather (or some Greek god) unleashing its wrath, Jane said yes!
Marriage To Us Means…
Marriage just felt like the natural next step in our relationship…and a unique opportunity to throw a major party for our family and friends!
The Setting
Wedding Location
Initially, we had planned to get married in Hudson, upstate in New York. One evening though, a few weeks after attending our friend’s wedding in Italy (and a few cocktails in) Jane floated the idea of a destination wedding…in the south of France…in a castle. As I had a few cocktails myself and feeling tipsy too, I naturally agreed to this brilliant idea (it’s only later that we would realize that a destination wedding is quite an intensive project).
From there we started looking online for wedding venues in the south of France. While there are a lot of beautiful locations and options in that region, the Chateau de Sannes in the natural park of Luberon in the Provence area caught our attention. The Chateau itself was amazing, but also the whole estate was just gorgeous and enchanting! We also wanted to enjoy the outdoors as much as possible, The Chateau de Sannes estate offers many options for an outdoor ceremony, reception and dinner.
Aesthetic
When you find a venue like the Chateau de Sannes in the south of France, you have to embrace the whole countryside, lavender fields, olive trees, and cypresses aesthetic. We wanted to have a “modern chic” wedding in a laid back, natural setting.
Preparation
One thing we did and that we would strongly recommend to people looking into getting married at the Chateau de Sannes is to book the place for a few days before the wedding. We stayed at the Chateau with the bridal and groom parties and family, where we could get ready easily without too much stress. We were also able to interact with the vendors for last minute questions and decisions.
Photography
We chose Sandra Von Riekhoff of Divine Day Photography as our wedding photographer because she’s obviously amazingly talented and her stunning pictures beautifully capture memories, moments and tell a story. Before the ceremony and the guests arrived, Sandra did an amazing job gathering and coordinating us, the bridal party, the groom party and our families, to take gorgeous pictures. After that, throughout the ceremony, dinner and dancing party she snapped incredible pictures of every important moment…we suspect she has magical powers to teleport herself all over the place.
Style Notes
Ceremony Décor
We chose the main pool area of the Chateau de Sannes for the wedding ceremony. It has a beautiful layout with a view on the Alpilles (small “mountain” in the Luberon Parc). It’s also a good size area for our number of guests (75). We chose to have the ceremony in front of a centuries old little building at one end of the pool. It also has the shape of an arch, where we asked the florist to add large floral compositions in Medicis vases to create some sort of alcove.
Reception Décor
From the ceremony area, our guests followed us through the fantastic French garden to the reception area: a beautiful lawn under century old trees offering just enough shade to be comfortable under the southern France sun, between the castle and a massive fountain.
We wanted our guests to mingle and walk around to enjoy the venue while sipping champagne and rosé (if you get married in the south of France when the weather is warm from June to September, you MUST have ample quantities of champagne and rosé for your guests!).
Food was served by our caterer staff walking around with a selection of appetizers, we also had several food stations with food being prepared in front of the guests (ceviche, grilled meat, etc.) Big kudos to our caterer Roland Paix for the quality of the food, the professionalism and the genuine kindness and friendliness of the staff.
Wedding Planner & Stylist
We made the reckless decision of planning the wedding ourselves, Philippe being French we thought it wouldn’t be too complicated. While it’s doable to plan your wedding yourself, it’s actually a fair amount of work and stress, especially for a destination wedding where you have to manage things remotely.
Working with wedding vendors who already knew the venue, and knew each other, actually helped a lot. Kudos to Stéphanie from Roland Paix who coordinated everything related to catering and to the venue. Side note: Roland Paix is the only caterer allowed to work with the Chateau de Sannes, they have an exclusivity agreement with the estate owner. This actually helped a lot as we only had to deal with one vendor for both the venue and catering.
Flowers
Our florist was Virginie from L’art qui Pousse. We had a pretty good idea of the colors we wanted (blush, dusty pink, white, green), Virginie proposed several flower options and applied this palette to the bridal bouquet, the table decoration (many small bouquets on the tables) and ceremony (big compositions installed in Medicis vases). With the ceremony, reception and dinner being outdoor in a lush green environment, we didn’t need to have an extensive number of flowers, we just needed to add touches of colors to set the mood.
Stationery
We designed the stationery for the wedding ourselves (invitations, menus, etc.). That’s something we enjoy doing and we have experience using design tools (Photoshop, Illustrator). We used a professional service for the actual printout.
Favors
Each guest was gifted a Laguiole corkscrew. You can’t have an event in France without having a little something related to wine!
Cake
Food & Beverages
We chose to have a cocktail style reception after the ceremony so our guests could take time to enjoy the beautiful venue. Champagne and rosé wine was served as well as a selection of Provence inspired finger food. After the reception, we had a seated dinner with wine pairing and… more champagne for toasts and dessert.
Fashion & Beauty Notes
Bride’s Dress
I found the perfect dress from Willowby by Watters. The lace, corset bodice and whimsical tulle skirt had the romantic look I was looking for. The look of the dress was a perfect match for the chic but natural theme of the wedding.
Bride’s Shoes
I wore Stuart Weitzman, ankle strap block heel sandal embellished with pearls on the front. These shoes were comfortable, elegant and matched perfectly with my pearls and beaded wedding dress sash.
Bridesmaids’ Dresses & Shoes
Wedding Rings, Jewelry & Accessories
Hair & Makeup
People who know me would describe my style as simple and natural. I wanted to feel special on my wedding day but not overly done, so I chose to have my hair up for a romantic look and a subtle, natural make up that would emphasize my eyes and my lips.
The Details
Transport
We decided to stay at the Chateau de Sannes estate before and during the wedding.We had a car service to transport guests to/from in Aix-en-Provence (the closest town from the Chateau de Sannes).
Honeymoon
We’re still planning the honeymoon! We did take a week off in the Spanish island of Mallorca though to relax after the intense weeks of wedding preparation, and the wedding itself.
Gift Registry
Many of our guests travelled from America, Asia, Germany, UK and other countries to come to our wedding, which was for us the best gift they could offer us.
Wedding Songs
Entrance song: La Vie En Rose by Daniela Andrade
First dance: Harvest Moon by Neil Young
Entertainment
Benjamin Kliber was our amazing DJ for the event. He curated a playlist based on a list of songs we gave him for reference. Benjamin also took care of the audio and light setup for the ceremony, reception and dinner. He rocks!
Celebrant
Our Advice
A memorable moment…
There were many memorable moments during this wedding, maybe the most amazing thing for us was to have our families and friends from all over the world gather to celebrate with us, especially in a pandemic context where it was often challenging or impossible to be with our loved ones for two years.
One thing I wish I knew before I started my wedding plans…
Obviously, we would choose to work with a wedding planner to organize the whole wedding. We’ve been lucky enough to work with amazing vendors who were very understanding and helpful, especially as we had to postpone the wedding twice. Taking care of the many big and little things that make a wedding successful is time consuming and a source of stress.
If I could give other brides to be one piece of advice…
Don’t sweat the small stuff, at the end nobody will notice if a few small things don’t go as planned. Just enjoy your wedding day as it truly does go by to quickly!
Sources of inspiration…
After choosing the destination and the venue, we had a good idea of the type of wedding we would like. Wedding websites and social media (including venues, photographers, make-up artists, etc.) were a good source of information and inspiration to help us figure out the details of what we wanted and who we could work with. We also asked potential vendors who they usually work with, which helped in the selection process.
Our Contacts
Wedding Venue / Chateau De Sannes
Photography / Sandra Von Riekhoff
Bride’s Dress / Watters
Bride’s Shoes / Stuart Weitzman
Groom’s Formal Wear / Hugo Boss
Wedding Rings / Anna Sheffield
Jewelry & Accessories / Blossom Veils
Hair & Makeup/ Nathalie Perotto
Florist / Floral Design
Cake / Les delices de gladys
Catering / Roland Paix
Celebrant / Friend
Entertainment / Selective
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