Will you marry “moi” ?

In the seventh and penultimate installment of our up-close and personal series of interviews with Caroline Berthe-Altimani, our very own Senior Wedding Coordinator here at CVW, who is planning her own wedding in the South of France, we now find ourselves just one week from the big day! Read on to discover Caroline’s choice of theme, decoration, menu, surprises and her top tips for how to create a perfect wedding in the South of France!

CVW Blog: What atmosphere are you creating for your wedding in the South of France?

I am creating a casual and very summery wedding with a Spanish theme. I want to stay away from what I’m used to doing for my own couples and have a very non-traditional wedding day.

CVW Blog: How will you achieve this? Tell us all about the decoration…

We are planning an outdoor ceremony and have sourced some pretty red and white parasols to match our wedding colors. These will provide shade for the ladies during the ceremony. We also have some fans to distribute should it get really hot.

The decoration at the ceremony and cocktail will follow a countryside theme with old wooden boxes filled with fruit, flowers, herbs as well as some watering cans and wrought iron salad baskets to add to the old-fashioned effect. The garden flowers and herbs will smell wonderful!

For dinner, we will move inside into a big room, like a barn where market animals used to be kept. The ceiling is really high with old wooden beams painted white. We will be hanging the table center pieces from the beams, round balls of flowers in the colors of orange, fuchsia pink and red. The table names have been made using pink and red wire. The wire swirls into the name of the tables that we have named after ballroom dances as my fiancé and I are passionate about dancing. Flamenco is one of the table names for example.

As a change from the traditional head table, we have decided just to have a small table for the bride and groom, surrounded by a U shape table with all of our friends. This way, when we get up to say hello to everyone and talk, we aren’t leaving anyone alone. A table of honor is usually quite empty and I don’t really like the idea of abandoning my favorite guests all evening, so this solves the problem. J

CVW Blog: What type of wedding menu have you chosen?

We’ll be having a very long cocktail lasting about 2 hours with a Spanish theme. We’ll be serving a variety of grilled foods on “plancha” as well as a selection of tortillas, pan con tomato and some classic mozzarella and tomato skewers. There will be a huge Spanish ham cut up in front of guests, this will be fun and lively. I am sourcing some cute aprons for the waiters with Spanish stripes to make it more rustic and less formal.

After such a long and copious cocktail, we have decided to skip the starter and go direct to the main course. We have chosen to serve a giant Paella cooked in one of those huge pans measuring over 1 meter wide. Following the main course will be a cheese buffet and dessert buffet. As a change from the traditional wedding cake, we have opted for an assortment of mini French pastries that everyone will love!

CVW Blog: Will you be providing your guests with wedding favors? If so, tell us more!

First of all, a welcome letter and gift will await each guest in their hotel room. The gift is a small jar of homemade jam (strawberry or apricot) with a nice fabric cover (yellow, red and orange) with little Catalan Spanish dancers embroidered on them. A personalized label with our names and the date of the wedding will be stuck onto each jar.

The red and white parasols and fans can be kept by those who wish to keep them. Then, on the tables, we will place a small heart-shaped box containing a small scented candle on each plate.

CVW Blog: Are you planning any surprises?

Yes of course! Several actually! The first is a surprise group of 2 guitar players and a flamenco dancer who will play and dance as guests walk into the dinner hall. They will then meander throughout the room and stop to play at each table. We are sure this will really set the mood and warm up the atmosphere as we have dinner!

Tony and I have practiced the traditional first dance waltz…with a twist! Within one minute of the music starting, our dance friends will come and join us on the dance floor for a fast chachacha Spanish song. I’ve had a really cute chachacha dance dress made for me for our second dance. I can’t wait to see the look on our guests’ faces when we change from the sooo traditional waltz into a fast chachacha. It will be priceless!

CVW Blog: What are your top tips to help couples create the perfect wedding in the South of France?

This part of the South of France isn’t easy for weddings. The region is called the Pyrenees and is named after the mountain range that separates France from Spain. Not many venues are available in this region and there are only a few good caterers. My top tips for creating the perfect wedding in this region of south-west France are:

• Make sure you have a contingency plan in case of rain as this region is renowned for its storms and planning an outdoor wedding is quite risky. Although the storm will likely only last a few minutes, it will be enough to destroy all of your setup. I haven’t taken this risk for dinner, although we would have preferred a full outdoor wedding.
  
• Be patient with the wedding vendors as they don’t reply fast. Although professional, they are slow to respond and don’t seem to be in any rush to do anything until the week before your wedding. This is enough to make any bride-to-be nervous, but hang on in there, you will not be disappointed on the day of your wedding!
  
• If you need to stick to a budget, consider renting equipment and other specific services from Spain which is often much more reasonably priced. It’s just a hop over the border!
  

CVW Blog: Have you hired a Wedding Planner to take care of the on-site coordination and allow you to relax on your wedding day?

I have planned everything to date and have really enjoyed myself. However, as soon as I arrive, my two colleagues will take over all of the coordination until the day itself. I want to feel like a “guest” at my own wedding, not only for me but for my family as well. So it is really important to me that someone else takes care of all the little details on the day, although you would hope that I will have thought of everything as a professional wedding planner!

CVW Blog: How do you feel only one week before the big day?

I feel so not ready! There is still so much to do. Although my list is getting smaller every day, time is just flying by! As I really want to be able to relax with everyone as soon as I arrive a few days before, I really want everything to be all set before I leave Paris.

I’m not nervous about actually saying “Yes” or anything. I just can’t wait to see how my family and friends are moved on the day and how they react to all of our surprises. Since we were so few in Sweden, this wedding with everyone we love around us will be special in a different way and it is the reactions and emotions of everyone around us that will make it different from our intimate winter wedding in Sweden and magical in its own way.

Stay tuned for the final episode after the wedding when Caroline will share her most special moments with us!

Here is the much awaited sixth installment of our monthly interview with Caroline Berthe, Senior Wedding Coordinator at Chateau & Villa Weddings, who is not only rushed of her feet at the moment organizing other brides’ weddings but is also just over 6 weeks away from celebrating her own French wedding in the south of France.

After the excitement of her civil ceremony that took place in an Ice Chapel in Sweden in March, read on to discover how the preparations for her second wedding ceremony and party are progressing.

CVW Blog: After the emotion of your Swedish wedding, are you able to focus on the preparations of your summer wedding taking place in July in the South of France?

Actually, I am really happy we had the Swedish wedding as I feel the pressure is off now and I can look forward to the wedding this summer as more of a relaxed celebration surrounded by lots of our family and friends. I feel like a spoiled child, getting to re-live the magic and emotion of a wedding day for the second time!

CVW Blog: How many guests are you expecting at your summer wedding?

Everyone said yes! We didn’t expect this as it is on a Thursday and smack in the middle of the summer. We are currently at 121 guests but there are still a few outstanding RSVPs so we may even make it to 130! Yikes!

CVW Blog: What type of wedding ceremony are you planning? What type of celebrant will preside the symbolic ceremony?

We are planning a very different type of wedding ceremony. I have seen so many types of ceremonies from different cultures that we wanted to create a truly unique one by integrating a mixture of all of the favorite parts of other ceremonies I’ve seen during my years as a wedding planner.

We will incorporate parts of a traditional catholic service with some protestant and jewish aspects, and maybe even something like the Rwandan ceremony where the bride receives a jug of milk for prosperity and the groom a mask or a lance to protect his new bride and family. We have no relation to this culture at all but the symbolism is strong and we want guests to be surprised.

We haven’t decided how everything will flow together, but we are working on this with my mother’s best friend, a very spiritual lady, who will preside the ceremony. It means a lot to her and us that she is doing this.

CVW Blog: What type of venues have you chosen for the ceremony, cocktail and dinner?

The ceremony will take place in the gardens of an ancient chapel located in the Pyrenees mountains and surrounded by apricot and peach trees. With the famous Canigou mountain in the backdrop, it will be just beautiful. The cocktail will take place at the same place. We will then drive down to the dinner hall which is a really nice renovated room in the center of the village. Old stone walls, high ceilings with old white beams. Very rustic.

CVW Blog: How will your dress be adapted for a summer wedding?

I will be wearing the same dress as the Swedish wedding only without the fur coat. The designer will be adding a nice simple red belt with some beads and additional lace and maybe a few ribbons to give it a more Spanish feel.

CVW Blog: What are the wedding colors?

It will be a mixture of strong summer colors: red and white with a touch of orange, fushia and eggplant. I’m very confident in the florist I have chosen (my favorite and the one I recommend to all my couples!). I asked him not to tell me much about what he has planned so that I can be surprised on the day. I’m very excited about it!

CVW Blog: Are you having any bridesmaids? If so, how will they be dressed?

All of the children will be wearing white. I am having small belts made, similar to mine, that we’ll tie around their waists. They will each carry a small gerbera. They are all quite small, the oldest will be 3 years old, so we’ll see how that goes! For bridesmaids and groomsmen, we’ll have 3 each. The men will be wearing a red waistcoat with a white long sleeved shirt and black pants. No jacket or tie. For the girls, they will be wearing raspberry red dresses, to the knees. The material is really light and airy so perfect for a wedding in high-summer.

That’s all for this time! Stay tuned for the next interview when we’ll discuss the atmosphere Caroline is creating for her wedding, the decoration, menu, favors and a surprise! She’ll also share some of her top tips to help you create your own perfect wedding in the South of France!

As promised in an earlier post, here is an exclusive preview of our very own Senior Wedding Coordinator, Caroline Berthe’s, own wedding photographs.

Caroline and Tony
Hometown: Paris, France
Wedding Date: March 15, 2010
Wedding Colors: Ivory and Silver-grey

Wedding Location: Ice Chapel in Kiruna, Sweden

Wedding highlights: The quintessential winter wonderland wedding. On a cold but beautifully sunny day in March, Caroline and Tony’s intimate wedding ceremony took place in a beautiful ice chapel in Sweden. Inspired details and personal touches made the day truly unforgettable for the select group present. Photographed by Patrice Lariven Photographies, these fabulous photos bring a smile to our faces every time we look at them.

For more details about the unique gift bags Caroline made, the fun weekend activities she planned which including dog-sled riding, snowmobiling and building, and of course to find out more about Caroline’s beautiful dress, check out our exclusive series featured on this blog under the “Tales of a Wedding Planner’s Wedding” section.

Thank you for sharing these special moments with us Caroline and Tony!