It is such an honour to share in the journey of brides planning their weddings in France, and today is a super exciting day as I get to introduce not 1, not 2, but 3 new Belle Brides who will be sharing their wedding planning journeys with us for their 2017 weddings!

Thank you once again for all of the lovely applications, I loved personally reading each and every one and thank you for taking the time to email in. I could only choose three, but always feel free to email in, comment on the blog, post updates on the Facebook page with the nuances in your wedding planning journey.

But let's not wait any long as here are our three new Belle Brides!

Introducing Victoria
Getting married 17th June 2017

" Hi everyone and thank you Monique, I'm very excited to share our journey with you during the next year. Indeed, French Wedding Style has been an amazing inspiration and I am really happy to be able to contribute to help you as well with my experience, share ideas and receive your advises.

I am Victoria, and on the 19th of November, Maxime proposed to me after 3 years together, we were all dressed up, ready to head to a charity gala, when he put his knee down and ... I don't remember I was too surprised and excited but I said YES ! We met in June 2007, in Groningen, Netherlands. I was studying there with my dear friend Thibaut, and his best friend, Maxime, was visiting him for a week. 3 years later, I was invited to Thibaut 25th Birthday in November 2012 (I had shaved my head the night before), and when I got there I ended up spending the all night talking and laughing with Maxime. In December, he came several week-ends in Paris, visiting me and I showed him the city, we both share interest for history and architecture. We had our first kiss the 13th of January 2013 and he moved in with me in April. After 1 year and half in Paris, we moved in Halifax, Canada in September 2014 and we've been happily living there since then.

We are both 28 years old Leo, we are different but at the same time agree about fundamentals, which make our couple evolve and our love growing every day. We love Lego, TV shows, travels, good food, music, board games and spending time with our friends."

" As much as we wanted an intimate wedding, we realized that most of our friends were couples and we hit 80 guests pretty quickly. But we will invite only people we truly love and want to share this special moment with. For the theme and the colors we chose elegant and simple, green, white, natural (wood, paper, kraft) and touches of gold. We will have a non religious ceremony after the city hall, officiated by my best friend.

As we love food, it's important for us than both Canadian and French traditions are represented, so we would like a french tradition cocktail (charcuterie, cheese, bread) and for the diner something less conventional like ribs or burgers, on the Sunday we will try to organize a picnic BBQ. We want to keep fun and emotion the core of this amazing week-end, and as we love games, we will set up pétanque and foosball activities.

Next step, I will come back to France to try THE dress in May, in my hometown, Montpellier. As it will be the only time one of us will be in France before the wedding, I will also taste the cake and the food, meet with the floral artist and with the hairdresser / make up artist. "

Introducing Tracey
Getting married summer 2017

Tracey: " Thomas and I met at the Gare de Vichy. Before I left the US for my year of study abroad in France, I told myself "No French boys! You will study and work hard and.. and.."

Thomas had volunteered to pick up the international students at the train station. Our meeting couldn't have been more perfect, he was the first one I saw when I stepped off the train. I remember the light beaming through the station roof and instantly falling in love with his shy, humble smile. I also joke that I married the first French that would pick up my two 50 pound bags. Two years later, we road tripped to Vegas and, with a couple of friends in the backseat, got married at the Little White Wedding Chapel. I was officially engaged for just a couple of days, as he proposed to me just before in the desert outside of Vegas. Finally, now that we're a bit more stable and getting older, we're ready to have the wedding we wanted to have with our family and friends present. We have a trip planned this May in France, where we will revisit family, friends, and find a wedding venue! The plan is to get married in a Catholic church in Vichy, and head to a reception nearby for eating and dancing all night. A few of the locations I plan to scope out in May are: Chateau de Gerbe, Chateau d'Effiat, Chateau du Guerinet, Chateau de la Caniere...

I'm thinking French romantic, traditional (like dressing up children instead of having bridesmaids), countryside..with French blue, lavender, greys, and whites. "

On becoming a Belle Bride Tracey said:

" I am extremely honored that Monique selected me to be a Belle bride! There is so much love out there, and so many beautiful couples with their own unique and special stories, that it must have been a very difficult choice. After admiring the beautiful showcases of love at FWS, I'm thrilled to add the story of Thomas and I, and eager to help other brides overcome the challenges that I am and will continue to face while planning my wedding in France.

Following our drive-through wedding, my dad only asked that he have a chance to walk me down the aisle, and it has been our dream to be able to bring our two families together for one epic party. It's finally happening! I'm so excited to share the journey with you all, and be there to help or inspire your own French wedding! "

Introducing Jess
Getting married 24th June 2017

Image by Mark Shipperlee - Lightchaser Photography

" Dane (29) and I (26) live in a small harbour town in the North East of England called Amble. We both met in 2008 and share a passion for travelling and seeing new places. We have travelled to many places together and lived in Australia for a while. However, our hobbies and interests aside from that are very different. Dane likes to play golf, go for breakfast guy dates with his and friends and absolutely loves football. Most of his weekend is spent playing or watching football. Whereas my interests include cake making, home decor/design, and chats over tea with friends. Another passion of mine is music and particularly country music and this had a lot to do with our proposal.

For a long time i had been wanting to get married and always wondered if the proposal would come at each big occasion or holiday we were going on. Everyone around us used to check my finger for a ring every time we came back. One weekend we were going down to London for a country music festival called Country2Country in the O2 arena. We had been going for the last few years and was my favourite event of the year. We were leaving early in the morning to drive down and i had my alarm set for 6am, little did i know Dane has set his for 5am. He had got up early and i just assumed he was going for his usual morning bath. I went back to sleep until i was awoken by him again. This time he was down on his knee and had place a ring box in front of me. He started a romantic and real speech about how he wanted to start this weekend as an engaged couple and that he had asked me this early in the morning because he knew i wasn't great with early mornings. He thought that if he asked me now after the early awakening that this would be my true and honest answer. He continued to say how he loved me and wanted to marry me. I looked at the ring and couldn't get over how sparkly it was and the fact that he had actually picked a beautiful ring and was the right size! Of Course i said yes. We then went downstairs and he had a big bunch of flowers with a card and rose petals laid out. He had set the table for breakfast. I hardly spoke for the first time ever - i was still half asleep and in shock. This was the least expected time i thought he would propose but the most perfect.

We went on to enjoy a fabulous weekend with other surprises and amazing moments. It was a weekend i will never forget."

Our wedding plans...

We hadn't thought too much about the wedding since we got engaged in March as we had a lot going on and had a big engagement party. We knew we wanted to get married abroad but hadn't really thought where. In September we booked our venue after only a few days of looking. We chose France because we love the french culture and lifestyle. France has some amazing vineyards and countryside scenery. It has amazing food and isn't too far for our guests to travel, and the weather will hopefully be a little warmer than the UK. But what really sold it to us was the venue we found. We discovered Chateau Soulac via an Instagram post and immediately knew it was the right place. Every time i looked at it online i got teary as i could really see our wedding here.

Our wedding date is the 24th June 2017 however, we have the venue for four days. In this time we hope to have activities going on around the big day such a visit to a local vineyard, brunches, a rehearsal meal and visiting the local villages. I have always been very creative and want to try and do as much of the planning and decorating myself - i am going to be making my own wedding cake. The style of wedding we would like is relaxed with a country rustic elegance and a party to celebrate at the end of the evening. We would love as much as possible of the day to be outdoor. "