Timeless Romance in Marrakech

Photography by Bubblerock for Virginie & Tom

Romanced by the majestic ambiance of Marrakech and the familial sentiment Morocco holds for the bride, Virginie and Tom’s destination wedding was a poetic balance of delicate femininity and desert charm.

A classic palette of ivory, mint green, and lustrous gold was layered throughout the celebration, complementing their natural and earthen surroundings.

An intimate ceremony unfolded at the property’s greenhouse, where rows of white chairs framed an aisle peppered with soft petals, while guests were enveloped by the sun’s warm glow as it suffused the space.

Traditional Moroccan delicacies were served for dinner beneath a collection of exotic lanterns that cast a kaleidoscopic, golden ambience over the festivities.

Capturing all the magic from behind the lens was Bubblerock.

Our Story

Names / Virginie & Tom

Wedding Date / 18 May, 2019

Guest Numbers / 60

Budget / $55,000 USD

How We Met

We were best friends until we understood that it was more than friendship. It has been 11 years and we have two kids now.

Our Engagement Story

We went on a romantic vacation in Mauritius a few months after our second child’s birth. It was on the day of Tom’s birthday and he had planned a lovely, private dinner. He proposed to me after a bottle of my favorite champagne. I could tell that he was nervous but his speech was full of love, I wasn’t expecting a ring at all! It was perfect.

Marriage To Us Means

We have two kids together and marriage is just the confirmation of our love and commitment to one another. Also, the fact that we have the same last name now means a lot, we are a family.

The Details

Wedding Location

We got married In Marrakech. We fell In love with this place five years ago during a family trip. We discovered the Beldi Country Club and both had the same feeling and knew that if we were ever to get married, it would be there. It was really a dream to get married in this hotel, and for me, Morocco has a family significance because my father was born there and my 92-year-old grandma lived there for 30 years. It was so magical to share these moments with her, and we know she was the happiest during this family trip.

Preparation

All of our guests stayed at the Beldi Country Club so we could enjoy being together for multiple days. For the preparation, we had booked two beautiful suites. The boys were together and had champagne, cigars, and fun. The girls were all together and we had makeup, hair styling, and a lot of champagne. It was perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Overall Aesthetic / Style

One of the reasons why we chose the Beldi Country Club is because we loved all the details, decor, and imperfection of the place. It’s filled with antique vases, Moroccan furniture, rugs, candles…we really wanted to incorporate the already existing style into our wedding design.

We worked on a gold, white, and green mood board with Loli Events and Veronique Lorre for the flowers and decor. We incorporated spices, and local treasures to add to the tables.

We really loved the natural colors like the linen candle wax we ordered for the tables.

Ceremony Decor

The ceremony took place inside the beautiful hotel’s greenhouse. The space is already filled with plants and greenery, so we kept it simple with local roses cultivated at the venue for the aisle and a circle of flowers for the altar. Veronique Lorre did an amazing job.

Reception Decor

For the reception decor, we trusted Veronique Lorre. We wanted mostly white and creamy composition for the flowers and a touch of modernity for the shape of the centerpieces. I don’t really like the round and perfect bouquets and loved the touches of different textures she added.

We did round tables for the setup and added these amazing gold hanging pendants suspended to create a Moroccan night.

Wedding Planner

Our wedding planner was Loli Events for the simple reason that Coralie (the owner of the France office) is my sister! I couldn’t dream of a better team to help me and guide me through the wedding planning. On the day of, we had one of the team members as a coordinator and everything ran smoothly. I couldn’t have imagined this day without their help and really advise any future bride to select their wedding team members wisely.

Photography & Videography

For photography, we chose Steph & Robin from Bubblerock. We love their style and we had the chance to meet Stephanie in France before our big day. We hit it off immediately and by the end of the weekend, it felt like they were part of our family. Until this day, we keep in touch and are planning to use their talent again for other meaningful moments of our lives. We are so grateful for them because the way they captured our photos and our wedding movie for the three days of festivities was just perfection.

Fashion Notes

Bride’s Dress

For my wedding dress, I liked the idea of an oriental style. I loved a stylist from Israel but she was only distributed in London. So went on a mother/daughter’s weekend in England and I found the perfect dress in Blackheath near London. The shop was so lovely, we had a great time and I knew it was the right gown the minute I walked out of the dressing room! It was the ‘Alex Gown’ (Alex is my brother’s name…it was a sign!) from Flora Bride.

Bride’s Shoes

Jimmy Choo.

Bridesmaids Dresses

The bridesmaids had the choice for their dresses, I just wanted natural colors and soft dresses.

Flowergirls

Our flower girls were Mila, our four-year-old daughter, and Garance, my cousin’s daughter. They wore ballerina outfits from Repetto.

Wedding Rings

We made our own wedding bands with our family gold.

Hair & Makeup

The most talented Harold James did my hair and makeup for both the welcome event and the wedding day. I’m so grateful for him, as he made me feel beautiful from the very early stages of the planning to the end of the wedding day. I wanted to have a loose braid with flowers incorporated for my hair and soft with touches of gold for the makeup.

Style Notes

Stationery / Invitations

We created most of the wedding invitations through Cotton Bird and had Pale Press London create the day of papers including the welcome note/itinerary with handmade paper, the guest place cards with gold wax…there was a lot of different textures of paper. We also created transparent name tags with tassels for the escort cards, which hung on a Morrocan door. It was also a keepsake for the guests.

Favors

We didn’t do proper favors but offered welcome bags with a scented candle with our names on gold leather, personalised cookies, and soaps, all in a pretty basket. We bought every piece in Morroco and they were all handmade.

Flowers & Bouquet

I loved my wedding bouquet, it was soft, romantic, and modern. Veronique did an amazing job. All the bridesmaids had a flower crown and my two maids of honor had bouquets. I liked the dynamic and the fact that the girls could wear their crowns the whole night.

Cake

We hired a local company and they created an enormous cake. We didn’t really care for the actual cutting, but it was actually so much fun when they brought it out as we were not expecting such a large cake. It was also delicious, so there were no regrets at all.

Food & Beverages

Because we were in Marrakech, we decided to have a typical Morrocan menu. We had a delicious tajine as the main course and Morrocan appetizers. For drinks, we had Champagne and red wine.

Transport

Everything was on site for the wedding day. We had shuttles to take us to the welcome party in the desert the day before.

Honeymoon

We, unfortunately, haven’t gone on our honeymoon yet because of the Covid-19 restrictions but will be planning an amazing trip as soon as we can.

Wedding Songs

For the ceremony, Tom walked into the Champions League Anthem. I choose “Canon In D“. For the exit of the ceremony, we had Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough“.

For the father-daughter dance, I chose “Yesterday” by Frank Sinatra, and for our first dance as a married couple we chose, “Besame Mucho”. It was very special to have these songs live and I highly recommend it.

Entertainment

After dinner, we had a DJ.

Celebrant

My father was the celebrant…it was emotional and full of great insight into our relationship since we had been together for so long.

Readings

We had two speeches during the ceremony by my brother and sister and we read our own vows. It was full of love and we were barely able to finish them without crying, but it was worth it. Our vows were in French so they won’t be easy to share, but the one thing I can share is without us saying anything before the wedding, we both ended our readings with the same sentence: Tom said: “I love you, you are beautiful and you smell so good…” and I said: “I love you, you are beautiful too and you smell very good too”. On a private note, when we first dated, Tom kept saying to me that I was so beautiful and that I smelled so good…it was a little reminder and was super meaningful to us.

Special Details

Sources of Inspiration

Mostly Pinterest and Instagram.

A Memorable Moment

The thing I will always be grateful for is that my grandmother was able to come and share all these amazing moments with us. I know she had an amazing time, she even went to the Souk and negotiated a cooking dish like she was 20 years old. She sadly passed away six months later and we now have all these beautiful pictures and a film to keep forever.