Our bridal couple from Virginia, are both engineers who wanted a romantic wedding at Chateau du Rivau, it has been a real an honor to bringing to life A&A American destination wedding in France.
“I was not the type of little girl to dream of her wedding day,” explained Alexandre. But this little girl had dreams, all right—she wanted to become an engineer, blaze her own path into the coveted and cutting-edge world that would come to be called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). And she had made it—building a very successful career and setting a great example for other little girls about what was possible!
In college, she met Aleks; they had been together for about a decade before that fateful vacation to Japan. “Halfway through our trip, while in Kyoto,” Alex recalled, “We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner…we showed up early to walk along the canals…Aleks pulled me aside and calmly asked if I’d be his fiancée for the remainder of the trip. I excitedly accepted and said I’d be his forever!”
Alex and Aleks set their wedding date for September 4, 2016. Now she had her wedding to plan and, yes, dream about! Sure, Alex could have engineered her wedding, but it would have felt, well…engineered. One exciting note that dawned on them as they danced happily toward their big day was the realization that their wedding date was the exact date, precisely one year later, of their arrival in Japan. The magic had begun!
The happy couple had some broad stroke ideas about what they wanted, but painting across the entire canvas of the day…and all those details…where to even begin? The certainties were honoring her francophone-Canadian heritage and his Venezuelan heritage. This pride ran deep, particularly for Alex—she was her family’s historian, with a fleur de lis tattoo on her hip as a forever-reminder of her Quebec origins. Marrying their heritage with their desire for timeless romance and garden elegance led them to the most romantic locale on the planet—the Valley of the Castles in the South of France. What princess and prince wouldn’t dream of a wedding where queens and kings strolled the gardens and hallways, ruling over all they surveyed? Chivalry, eternal love, majestic and magnificent strongholds that had stood for centuries—honest-to-goodness true, white castles—hundreds of them in this Valley of Kings a few hours south of Paris. A perfect union!
“We decided on a destination wedding and chose France because we thought it’d make for a spectacular venue to be married at a castle,” Alex said excitedly.
A destination wedding. Take your local wedding and ramp it up on a global scale. But this made sense for Alex and Aleks with family members across a multitude of locations. Destination weddings are about many things: bringing together family and friends from near and far, bridging cultures, creating memories in a uniquely distinctive venue, with perhaps a touch of the excitement of eloping (while bringing loved ones along for the journey)!
They needed professional assistance from someone local to the Loire Valley with deep roots and connections to the castles and local vendors. Someone to complete the canvas and handle all those details to make the day seamless and flawless. The key to these castles would come from Eugénie-Mélinda and Castle Key, a distinctively exciting new player in destination weddings. While destination wedding providers often seek to be everything to everyone, Castle Key focuses exclusively on weddings in white castles in France’s Loire Valley. Indeed, true fairy tale weddings in castles in the most eternally romantic locale in the world.
The planning began immediately, focusing first and foremost on the desires and personality of the happy couple and matching that to a singularly unique castle. Yes, castles have their own distinctive personalities. In the Valley of a Thousand Castles, Alex selected Chateau du Rivau because “It had the perfect combination of a beautiful castle and gardens as well as quirky sculptures throughout the grounds.”
Chateau du Rivau is a museum castle open to the public year-round who may stroll its gardens and rooms daily. It also had no professional kitchen, limited electricity throughout the grounds which would be essential to various food and beverage stations and for the musicians who would set up at select places as the wedding party enjoyed the entirety of the premises. Oh, and the rooms, not exactly cozy and generally too large for 50 guests. And those loved ones needed to be accommodated too as the happy couple prepared for the ceremony or were having their pictures taken. This was, after all, a vacation for everyone.
Just some minor concerns and another day at the office for a destination wedding planner. They worked with Alex and Aleks for months from across the pond to bring into focus the portrait of the first day of their rest of their lives together. Everything about the wedding was measured and confirmed long before the couple walked down the aisle so that when those first steps were taken, every broad stroke and endless detail of things seen and unseen flowed without a misstep.
“Castle Key Weddings did a wonderful job of uncovering our vision and bringing it to life, with some of the best vendors as well. Thank you for planning our fairy tale wedding,” Alex said.
The couple wanted a theme of romantic garden elegance with gorgeous grounds and a stunning castle with its round turrets on prominent display in colors of silver and muted red. With a magical forest and 14 distinctive, blooming and scented gardens (each designed to reflect a fairy tale story), Chateau du Rivau presented the ideal backdrop for the outdoor ceremony, cocktail stations, and food preparation and service. The exquisite grounds of Chateau du Rivau, with sweeping aisles of carpet-like green grass and imperata red baron and dahlia provided an amazing natural decoration for the processional and recessional. The wedding planners complemented the grounds with dried and fresh herb arrangements of lavender, mint, basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley, and sage; and additional decorations of a full-size wooden wine barrel, vintage crates, wicker accents, hay baskets, and fresh logs. The final touch, a bouquet of yellow roses as a wink to a beloved deceased family member. The entirety of the venue provided endless options for the wedding party to enjoy with memories and photos to cherish for a lifetime.
Of course, the centerpiece was the majestic castle with gleaming, white walls in tufa stone and rounded, silver turrets towering over and protecting the day’s ceremony. The slate of the turrets magnificently highlighted the four bridesmaids in their floor-length, pearl grey dresses and bouquets of garden roses, snowberry, cala, alchemilla, and honeysuckle. This marvelous color and fabric decision by the bride gave the wedding and pictures a certain “je ne sais quoi” that couldn’t be reproduced anywhere else! The groomsmen, in their tuxedos with buttonhole bouquets of garden roses, snowberry, cala, alchemilla, and honeysuckle, completed a dashing supporting cast. All of them wore five ribbons of different colors with their own secret meanings.
The bride wore a magnificent, full length white, beaded dress by Maggie Sottero with a fashionable train noting “I chose my dress…because I loved the way it sparkled and I felt very bridal in it!” She wore dangling earrings and two bracelets from Happily Ever Borrowed, and shoes by Nina Shoes. The groom wore a classic, black tux that matched him with his four groomsmen.
The couple exchanged vows in the grassy “aisle of fairies,” proceeding down the aisle to their processional song “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri. After their vows, during their recessional walk to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, guests sprinkled the new husband and wife with an herb mix (natural and not harmful to the environment and its flourishing creatures!). Prior to the ceremony, the guests had individually created these mixes, selecting from a dried and fresh herbal buffet to make their personal magic potions in a paper cone.
“I think the most memorable (moment) for me was when we were whisked away by our photographer for some individual photos,” Alex remembered. “It was the first time that day where Aleks and I were alone and it gave us a chance to reconnect and relax together. Plus, it was great to see everyone exploring the grounds from atop the castle!”
Standing timeless through the centuries, castles can bless one with surprises. Chateau du Rivau had a hidden well that was integrated into the wedding for the pleasure of the guests as they wandered the grounds, particularly during picture time for the newly married couple. At the full garden cocktail offering, guests were provided sweets from a basket and a glass of wine. A vintage, wrought iron framed door was conveniently situated near the basket, inviting guests to seek and discover the hidden well. Once found, they had the delicious choice of eating their sweet offering or making a wish and casting the sweet into the well. This timeless ritual of the castle proved a great surprise and wonderful joy to the guests as they pondered the decision of a treat now or potentially something more grand in their own future!
And all those daily visitors to the castle? They actually added to a touch of celebrity to the couple, and the charm and exclusivity of the wedding, with their presence as they watched silently with admiration from afar, snapping their own timeless photos of this very special occasion.
Cocktail hour after the ceremony was set up in a picturesque and magnificently fragranced orchard of medlar, apple, and cherry trees. It lasted a glorious two hours with appetizers of sphère crabe (crab with herbs and a polenta disc), roulée carotte (carrots with cream cheese and a quail egg), gazpacho “Le brûlant” (tomato gazpacho with mustard), Volute (cream curry and Serrano ham), smoked salmon cube with sesame seeds, sukiaky foie gras on a star toast, Bruxelles Waffle with curry cream and smoked ham, smoked Foie gras and magret of duck (smoked on the spot with beech wood), and Bretons oysters poached with champagne butter.
The entire wedding party ultimately strolled into the antiquated wine press for a delicious six-course meal beginning with mise en bouche (Charentais Melongazpacho, fine diced ham, and anise emulsion); followed by an iced interlude of pear sorbet and pear brandy; then the main course of duck of challans with a gingerbread crust and a vegetable gardener; followed by a cheese plate of Saint Maure de Touraine and Brie de Meauxand a salad with raspberry vinaigrette; and finally desert with crème brûlée, mille-feuillewith vanilla bourbon, a chocolate éclair, strawberry cake, and coffee. A digestifof Calvados brandy was presented as a conclusion to the meal. The wedding cake was of hazelnut and chocolate.
The wine press, a museum unto itself, had to be softened with warmth and inviting accents. It was decorated with linen and polyester drapery accented with ivy and hydrangea tiebacks. Keeping everything fresh and natural, the table runner held many low vases of green carnations, white cala, snowberry cream, levels of fruits, hypericum, mint, and hydrangea as well as endless white candles of many shapes and sizes.
The aisle of the wine press was decorated with the repositioned and refunctioned herbal buffet into a space for the ritual of the guestbook that was re-envisioned into a wooden wine box engraved with the castle and the couple’s monogram, the wedding date, meaningful quotes; and containing a Chinon wine bottle. Guests wrote special notes for the couple, sealing them in wax with the couple’s monogram. At the end of the reception, all the notes were sealed in the wooden box for the couple to open, along with the wine bottle, on a special anniversary. This re-envisioned guest book proved a terrific demonstration of the bridal couple’s unique creativity, while further solidifying their connection to their guests, and adding movement and activity to the evening.
“Don’t be afraid to start your own traditions,” Alex advised. “You define your own wedding. We had so much fun with our ribbon ceremony and herbal buffet. I wouldn’t have traded that for anything.”
Additional personalized items, available for guests to take home with them, furthered that bond between the newly married couple and their attending friends and family. These included a mini-battery charger emblazoned with the couple’s monogram and rhubarb and rose jam jars from Chateau du Rivau. Even guest name cards and the Venezuelan masquerade masks became cherished take-aways for guests.
Yes, it was time for the groom’s heritage to take center stage with the kick off of La Horal Loca (“The Crazy Hour”) and its lively music and sparkly and colorful masks everyone—including the musicians—wore. The music and visual display was meant to match and enhance the joy and celebration to be heard for miles around and lasting well into the evening. The couple’s first dance songs were “La Vie en Rose” and “Fly Me to the Moon.”
“Such a magical day that I will never forget, thank you Castle Key!” Alex declared.
The couple then whisked off to Croatia for their splendid honeymoon. “We wanted to go somewhere new that wasn’t too far away,” Alex explained. “Croatia attracted me with its turquoise waters, walled cities, and (distinctly terrific) food.”
just.ask@castlekey.com may you want to be part of the fabulous journey of the Team Experts Destination Chateaux Loire Valley France to bring to life the meaningful wedding & event of our fantastic travelling bridal couples! Or call/WhatsApp +33 6 47 35 67 42
Planning and Coordination: Castle Key Destination Weddings | Photos: Eric M. Encre Noire | Venue: Chateau du Rivau | Music: Orchestre Philippe Lebel | Florist: Frédéric Bertin | Hair and MUA bride and bridal party: Michelle Goram | Hair and MUA guests: DendB | Manicure: Virginie Boisner | Dress Maggie Sottero Brandy | Transport: Cars Millet | Beers: Triple Hop| Wines Vouvray: Domaine Gaucher-Mellier | Wedding Cake: Maison du Gâteau
