Classic Romantic Chateau de Reignac wedding in Loire Valley

Classic Romantic Chateau de Reignac wedding in Loire Valley

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I am starting the week of with a beautiful classic and romantic Chateau de Reignac wedding set in the stunning Loire Valley. Cora and Andy met during University and instigated their love of travel with a trip to Bermuda to celebrate one month, where Andy's Father lived at the time. During this first trip they both knew that they were destined to be together and love kept them close although they had a long distance relationship for 4.5 years.

I love the stunning architecture in Loire Valley Chateaus and Le Chateau de Reignac is no exception, with its beautiful turrets which were the former property of marquis de Lafayette. Taking advantage of the private chapel, Cara and Andy's wedding is full of timeless elegance, including Cara's couture wedding dress teamed with cozy shrug.

Bride Cara takes us through their big day: " Andy and I chose a destination wedding as we both love traveling and what better way to celebrate our marriage than by bringing together all our family and closest friends to France. We had never been to France before, but we figured that all our wedding guest would like France.

Both Andy and myself are very laid back, so with the help of my bridesmaid we choose our wedding venue. My father in law went to see our venue as he lives in England and it was a closer commute for him than for us from Canada. I didn't browse through any wedding magazines for any ideas and the only time we used online resources was for finding images for my wedding hairstyle and for finding activities for our guest during the 4 days at the chateau. We used Frommers, Fodors, Lonely Planet, and other travel guides to help plan places to see. We fell in love with our photographers as we had seen their work when they did my sister's wedding and through their website/facebook. Not only, did we think their work was great but we really like Rich and Mindi from Photography by Verdi. The Chateau was brilliant an all our other wedding suppliers such as florist and hair dresser was recommended through our wedding chateau. Since we had never been to France or speak French, it was very difficult to look for these things ourselves. I brought my wedding dress from a small independently owned clothing boutique in Queen Street, Toronto. When my sister got married, all her bridesmaids including myself had brought our bridesmaid dress from this shop and the owner designs all the dresses in the store. I purchased my stilettoes from Nine West, it was not my first choice but definitely the most affordable footwear. One of my coworkers had help my find a fur shrug through kijiji for $15. I also had one made for $100 and the general consensus was the cheaper shrug looked better. Andy had brought a new suit when he was the best man for his brother's wedding, which he wore for our wedding. He brought his dress shirt and shoes from the Hudson's Bay Company. The lead up and the very beginning of the wedding day was very stressful. Many of our wedding guest did not know each other. We wanted to be good host and ensure that everyone had people to hang out with and things to do. It wasn't until our photographers did private photos of us, did we really calm down and start to really enjoy the day. We had a ton of fun that day. It was perfect. We also got very lucky with the weather. It had been raining days leading up the wedding but we caught sunshine. Planning a wedding abroad was very difficult and I would of love to seen our wedding venue ahead of time. But we relied on trip advisor and it's high ratings to help us choose this chateau. We were so happy with it. I would also have liked to fly in earlier, not the day before the wedding, to have a hair trial. Again, I got very lucky. My hair dresser did a fantastic job. I was really happy with her. But I have heard horror stories from friends regarding their hair and make up artist the day of their wedding. Overall, Andy and I are more laid back. and we were not as picky about centrepieces, color themes, etc. We tried to make it as simple as possible for us with our main concern being ensuring that all our wedding guests had activities to do.

My advice on planning a wedding in France - DO IT! It is such a wonderful way to bring your friends and family together. It is so difficult to organize a trip that includes such a large group as everyone is so busy. A wedding is a wonderful way. Some of our guests had complaints regarding having to travel but in the end, everyone had so much fun and were so glad they came. After the wedding, a core group of 8 of us went traveling in France together. others who left early all regretted not coming along. "

Wedding Credits:

Wedding Coordinator: The couple and the exceptional staff at Chateau de Reignac // Groom's Tux or suit designer: Hudson Bay Company // Groom's shoe designer: Hudson Bay Company // Wedding ring designer: Tiffany's wedding band // Hair Stylist: [email protected] // Bridesmaid's dress: Mod Cloth // Bride's dress designer: Custom from Pam Chorley's Fashion Crimes shrug from Kijiji // Bride's Shoes: Nine West // Bride's jewelry: Tiffany's (engagement and wedding ring) // Photographer: Photography by Verdi Florist: local florist in the same town // Venue: Le Chateau de Reignac

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