Real Wedding Planning – Paris Wedding Episode 1

At Et Voila we are currently planning a wedding in Paris for a couple who just loves France and decided to get married in Paris. The couple, who we will refer to as the bride and groom or B&G, are planning a very intimate wedding with about 50 guests. Like many couples they would like to live the real Paris experience and are after a outdoor ceremony in a beautiful park or Parisian garden. If possible the ceremony venue would be able to host their dinner and dancing party, but B&G were not against changing venues for the evening reception.

After looking at all types of venues in Paris, B&G have made their choice: They will be holding their wedding ceremony in the gardens of a magnificent Hotel particulier which is also a museum and the wedding breakfast in another one just a few miles from there.

Some venues in France will request that you have a planner and will not rent out their spaces directly to couples. This is the case of the ceremony venue B&G have chosen, so after the initial email exchange B&G have put us in contact with their venue to make all the arrangements. As this is a museum, private events are only possible after opening times, unless you pay extra to privatise the museum during normal opening times. But as all museums, there is an official closure day in the week , and this is usually when you can more freely enjoy the spaces! If you are looking to get married in an historic French chateau, it is very likely that the venue will be welcoming visitors during the day. If so, you might prefer to choose to hold your wedding there on their closure day so that you can set up and welcome your guests at any time that is convenient for you. That is what our B&G have opted for, so they will be having a weekday wedding in order to be able to have their ceremony in the afternoon (and have time to set it up from the morning) without having to privatise the whole museum for the whole day.

The difficulty when you are planning an event over more than one location is that you need to find venues that are available on the same date… this is not always easy but again, if you are planning your wedding on a Friday or a week day it makes it easier. Fortunately the two venues the couple have chosen have availability on the same spring week day our B&G had selected as their number one choice. Two phone calls, two emails and a full contract review later, they have a wedding date and wedding venues!

It is now time to look into the technical aspects of the day and the catering options… we will tell you more about that in episode 2!