Photos by KT Merry

-click on photos to enlarge-

The invitations:  These truly custom invitations were a collaboration between myself and the girls at Little Bit Heart.  I was inspired by the beautiful ornate doors of Paris that you find at every turn to create a blush and gold foil invitation suite featuring laser cut doors out of rose gold glitter paper.  The doors were tied off with gold thread and a small brass skeleton key charm.  The envelope liner was a commissioned drawing of Versailles Palace from an artist in Australia, whom I found on Etsy.  The clock in the drawing was drawn at 3:00, our ceremony start time.  Custom watercolor stamps of the Paris skyline, beautiful calligraphy by Trial by Cupcakes and a wax seal finished the set.  The wax seal, which read “From Paris, With Love” featured the floral emblem that we also incorporated into our gold foil inserts, a popular French architectural detail that was carved into the ceiling of the chapel we were married in and also hand-painted on the ceiling of my grandparents home.

I rented a lovely private Paris apartment for the week next to Opera Garnier, where I stayed with my mother and my bridesmaids.  We hosted a welcome dessert reception at the apartment the first night guests were in town, featuring a private chef who made the most delicious dessert crêpes and did an interactive cooking demonstration. He also set up a beautiful table in the dining room with a lavish cheese, fruit, wine and espresso display.  There were tons of candles, and my hubby to be picked up the biggest, most gorgeous hydrangeas at a nearby flower shop to decorate the apartment for the party.  As you can see above, the apartment was a beautiful getting ready location for the morning of the wedding as well!   Eric and the guys got ready and took photos at the Hotel de Crillon – our reception location.

We got married at the Chapelle Expiatoire, which is a hidden gem in the middle of a beautiful elevated park in the center of Paris.  The chapel was built in 1816 in honor of Queen Marie-Antoinette and King Louis XVI – they were actually buried there for a short time.  Having our intimate ceremony in such a grand venue so rich in history felt truly amazing. Violinists stood on the front steps of the chapel serenading arriving guests with typical french ‘chanson’.

The back story to our wedding decor is that I’m a bit obsessed with Marie Antoinette…specifically, Sofia Coppola’s version featuring Ladurée and candy-colored costumes.  However, the whole Marie Antoinette themed wedding became a very popular trend a few years back and therefore I dismissed it as something we would ever incorporate into our wedding decor.  As a wedding planner, I felt like I needed to come up with something that hadn’t been done a million times already.  However, after learning about the history of the venues we selected (yes – I learned about the Marie connection AFTER I fell in love with the venues!), there was no way I could get around embracing it.  It was definitely meant to be.  (And how appropriate that the queen of fashion inspired our wedding day, considering it took place at the end of Paris’ fashion week?)

I wanted the wedding to be both glamorously Parisian and classically sophisticated, but most certainly not typical.  I love french decor and serious ornate architecture – I thought it would be great to balance the traditional look of our chosen historic venues with some unexpectedly modern and whimsical elements such as lucite chairs and sequins.  I would definitely describe my own personal design style as mixing unexpected styles – old and new, modern and traditional, serious and playful,  simple and extravagant.

Even though we were in Paris, I still had to have my classic ‘Father of the Bride’ moment.  The bridesmaids walked into “Chapel of Love” –  but the string/instrumental version.  Our recessional was to another American wedding classic, “Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry.”

My absolute favorite moment of the day was walking into the church with my dad, seeing all our closest family and friends who had traveled so far, the lucite chairs sparkling in the sunlight that was streaming in, and the gorgeous oversized phaelonopsis orchids dripping at the altar.  Then seeing my best friend, waiting at the end of the aisle for me – all to the tune of Canon in D.  Canon in D has special meaning to my parents and I – they played it all the time when my mom was pregnant with me.  It was such a surreal moment that I realized (as a planner) that it couldn’t have been planned more perfectly, and I couldn’t help but get a little weepy.

As an ode to Marie and Louis, a bust of Marie greeted guests at the chapel’s entrance.  After the ceremony, the string trio moved outside and played instrumental versions of current pop songs while a rather regal looking butler in 18th century costume poured velvety European drinking chocolate (a la Angelina Tea Salon) in vintage porcelain teacups in the courtyard.

Guests tossed giant gold confetti as we exited the chapel into our vintage London taxi cab, which would whisk us around Paris for the next 2 hours taking photos.

Continuing the “Meant to be Marie” connection…the very salon our reception was held in at the Hotel de Crillon is where Marie Antoinette used to take piano lessons, and the square in front of the hotel – Place de la Concorde – is where she was guillotined (morbid but true!) 

When we started toying with the idea of Paris, I quickly started scouting venues online.  About 20 venues into my search, I found the Hotel de Crillon. When I pulled up their website and saw their reception space, I froze in my chair.  My jaw dropped, heart started beating a little faster and I couldn’t help but tear up (yes, I teared up!  I didn’t cry when I found “the dress” but I teared up when I found “the venue” – I’m such a wedding planner!)

I had never seen anything so beautiful, so romantic, or so perfect for our wedding.  Everything from the soft gray curtains paired with the just right amount of gold gilding, to the beautiful original herringbone floors, from the moldings and amazing antique crystal chandeliers to the tall ceilings and french doors leading out to the balcony with black and white check marble floors and views of the Eiffel Tower.  It was stolen straight from one of my sweetest dreams.  It was as if everything floating around in my head that I wanted for our wedding, was suddenly staring back at me on the screen.  

Our reception was broken into three different segments, and took place in three different rooms that were all connected by french doors – each a tad different in style. Cocktail Hour was held in the Marie Antoinette Salon (where Marie herself took piano lessons) and included champagne colored sequin linens, a vintage French jazz band and a glossy white signature Bubbly Bar featuring sugar-rimmed cocktails and frozen fruit skewers.  Some of our amazing hors d’oeuvres included parmesan and truffle frites, raspberry and brie grilled cheese with butternut squash soup and pumpkin terrines.  The balcony off of the salon had amazing views of buzzing Place de la Concorde, Grand Palais and the Eiffel Tower.

Signature drinks at the Bubbly Bar included the French Kiss, La Vie en Rose and The Savage (a family favorite!)

Guests located their seats via a custom designed seating chart – a wall of greenery  displayed antique gold gilded mirrors with lightbulbs (like you would find on the carousel in the Tuileries) and ornate white calligraphy.

Gangham Style had just become all the rage at the time of our wedding – you will read about the foreshadowing of the above picture later on!

Guests signed sweet and savory recipe books from Laduree in lieu of a traditional guestbook

Dinner was a multi-course tasting menu held in the Batailles Salon, and started off with an amuse bouche of deconstructed french onion soup, which the chef came out to explain to guests in French, accompanied by an English translation.   The first course was Canadian lobster in a vanilla beurre blanc sauce, then a refreshing apricot sorbet Intermezzo to cleanse the palate.  The main course was sliced filet with color blocked veggies: red onion compote, bok choy, wild mushrooms and whipped potatoes.  I loved that it felt like an intimate foodie dinner party.

After a leisurely dinner (the French wouldn’t have it any other way!) and toasts were complete, everyone moved into the third and largest salon, Aigles, for dessert and dancing.  The Ladurée dessert bar was a huge hit, which featured a large gold leaf tower of dark chocolate macarons, complete with sparklers coming out the top.  Other highlights of the reception included Sofia Coppola’s ‘Marie Antoinette’ playing on the big screen as a backdrop to set the mood, our first dance to La Vie en Rose, dancing with my dad, and a hilarious surprise video.

Surprise video:  The day before our wedding, we did a group excursion to Versailles with all our friends and family.  After a few hours of touring it started raining and we figured it was a good time to leave, but Eric and I couldn’t locate most of our group for a good while.  Come to find out the next day at our wedding, they had all been in the courtyard, in the rain, making a “Gangham Style at Versailles” video (note: this was during the very beginning of the Gangham craze, when it was still new!)  It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen – partly because if you knew our families at all, you would never expect this…they’re usually so well-behaved!  My crazy cousin snuck the video in right after our wedding slideshow had completed and caught us completely off guard while everyone was all eyes on the big screen.  I’m pretty sure the video has gone viral on YouTube.  Needless to say, we spent the next little while learning how to do “Gangham Style” on the dance floor!  Not sure if Marie would’ve approved…but it was a fun time nonetheless!  (And yes, that is my brother in the opening scene 🙂

…And they lived Happily Ever After.  Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.  It was an amazing experience for our guests and a chance for our families and closest friends to really bond.  Rather than throwing a wedding, we opted for creating an experience for all of our family and friends over the course of a long weekend – an experience with memories that everyone can treasure for a lifetime.  I’ll never forget so many of our guests commenting at our wedding reception that they felt as if they’d been in a movie all day…and they were afraid if someone pinched them, they may just wakeup!  I cannot thank all of our family and friends who attended our wedding for traveling the distance with us to make it so special.

If you missed our wedding video, click here.  If you missed our Martha Stewart Weddings feature, click here.

*Please do not repost any images in this blog post without express permission.  Contact julie@strawberrymilkevents.com if you are interested in sharing/featuring.  

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Planning a wedding in Paris (and most places overseas) is a completely different experience in every way than planning a stateside affair.  While the city is one of the most beautiful and fashion-forward in the world, their wedding world is definitely not as developed as here in the U.S.  European weddings tend to be all about the food and wine, with flowers and decor serving as an afterthought. Having a planner who understands the American wedding aesthetic – with style and design being an important part of that – as well as knowing what to source locally and what to bring with you is a critical part of the process.  English-speaking couples who are dreaming of a romantic, stylish wedding in the city of love (as well as the Riviera and French countryside, and other European destinations) will now be able to tap into Julie’s knowledge and experience.  Strawberry Milk Events is already helping other brides plan their dreamy destination weddings in 2014!  Please contact us for more information.

VENDOR DREAM TEAM:
Photography: KT Merry
Wedding planner: The Bride, Julie Savage – Strawberry Milk Events
Videographer: MG Image
Ceremony Venue:  Chapelle Expiatoire
Reception Venue:  Hotel Crillon
Florist: Soly Flor
Band: Jazz Around Midnight
Ceremony music: Ivana Strings
Stationary: Little Bit Heart
Calligraphy: Trial by Cupcakes
Dress & Veil: Vera Wang via Vera Wang on Madison Ave., NYC
Bride’s Shoes: Sergio Rossi
Headpiece: custom (combined a Ban.do for BHLDN headband with a Tasha for Nordstrom fascinator)
Jewelry + Bridal clutch: vintage rhinestone clutch and bracelet, grandmother’s antique pearl ring
Grooms Tux: Hugo Boss Black
Groom’s Shoes: Ferragamo
Hair: Sonja Stein
Makeup: Sanni Sorma
Rentals: Options
Antique Rentals: Lanzani
Linens: La Tavola
Vintage Taxi Rental:  Classic Rent
Lighting: AZ Diffusion
Server in Costume at Ceremony Site: Les Menus Plaisirs
Dessert Table: Laduree pastries + Gold leaf macaron tower with sparklers
Guestbook: Laduree Sweet + Savory recipe books
Double Decker Bus: L’Open Tour