Blog

What’s it like getting married in March in Provence? We tell you more in this article

Getting married in March in Provence

When D called me, he explained that 18 March was in fact the birthday of his partner of 27 years. More than two decades later, after raising two beautiful adult daughters together, they had decided to surprise their friends. Under the guise of an invitation to his sweetheart’s half-century celebrations, the guests would discover on arrival that they were actually there to witness the union of their friends. So somewhere along the line, the date was set by the beautiful S’s birthday. As for the year, well, their wedding will be in 2024! I loved the concept and went along to help them prepare for their wedding. This was the first of our 2024 wedding season, which began on 17 March in the heart of Provence.

Provence wedding venues …. That makes people dream… but what is Provence? We tell you more here.

Wedding venues in Provence? Where are they?

A lot of people talk about Provence, but where is Provence really? Indeed, this name has become so emblematic of beauty, incredible nature, joie de vivre and quality of life that many claim it as their own. But what is it really?

Provence corresponds more or less to the south-east of France. It covers the land between the Mediterranean and the Alps on the south/north axis. Furthermore, it is also bounded to the east by the border with Italy and to the east by the Rhône River. It is therefore a relatively large area. As you can imagine, even if there are characteristics common to the whole area, there are also some specific features.

If you’re not familiar with it, you should also know that there is a region of Provence called Provence Alpes Cotes d’Azur (the PACA region). There are 13 regions in mainland France. There are also 6 French departments in the PACA region, in alphabetical order:

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04)

Hautes-Alpes (05)

Alpes-Maritimes (06)

Bouches-du-Rhône (13)

Var (83)

Vaucluse (84)

What’s more, I can promise you that you’ll find plenty of Provence wedding venues in each of these departments.

For some, the symbolic meaning is key. They want a beautiful and special place to spend their wedding night.

Where to sleep on your wedding night? Admittedly, this may not be the most important question when you decide to get married, but if you want to organise this exceptional day properly, it really is an element to be taken into account. Especially when it comes to a destination wedding in Provence! We’ll tell you more here.

The wedding night – think about it!

We’re all about authenticity here at Château la Beaumetane, which means that sometimes we’re a bit blunt. So we’re going to start this blog with just one fact that shouldn’t shock anyone…. The wedding night isn’t what it used to be. In fact, it’s rare for the wedding night to be the first night our bride and groom share their intimacy…

However, even symbolically, this wedding night remains important. It remains the first night that our beautiful cakes will spend as a married couple. For some, the symbolic meaning is key. They want a beautiful and special place to spend their wedding night. That’s why talking to your partner beforehand is important. Are you both on the same page about what you want from the night?

For some people, the intimacy and symbolism of the wedding night will not be the most important criteria for the success of this extraordinary day, evening, and night. After an exciting day filled with emotions and activity, all they desire is a peaceful and comfortable place to sleep for a few hours. Furthermore, this calm setting becomes even more important for a destination wedding. Since the bride and groom are normally already in a setting that is not entirely familiar to them, a restful night’s sleep becomes crucial.

The setting for the wedding night

Whether for symbolic or pragmatic reasons, the location of the place where you are going to spend your wedding night counts. There are several options available to you, depending on your intentions, particularly for the following day.

You may want to be closer to the airport if you are leaving early the next day for your honeymoon. However, this is more of an exception than a general rule among our brides and grooms. Even in this case, Marseille airport is so close to the château that the bride and groom stay overnight with us!

You can decide where you want to have brunch the next day. Finally, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to be in a secluded spot, just the two of you, or not too far from your guests.

Whatever the case, it’s important to find somewhere close to your reception venue. If there’s a car journey to be made, think about taking a driver… Fatigue and/or alcohol can be a problem… I know, I’m being a mum, but it’s important 😊

Another important little detail. Remember to bring the things you’ll need for the following day for our wedding night. In fact, we’ve already had a bride leave in her wedding dress the next day because she’d forgotten her bag at home!

Convenience and Romance: Why Our Newlyweds Stay On-Site

At Château la Beaumetane, we generally keep our brides and grooms. It’s often an obvious choice: the setting is beautiful, they’re having brunch the next day at the château, and they’re on site. Furthermore, their guests are close by. In fact, they are sleeping in the bedrooms of the recently renovated stables. But the bride and groom have their privacy, as they spend their wedding night in the bridal bedroom, which is in the château. Finally, all the bride and groom’s belongings are on site, as they usually get ready in the morning. Everything you need for a magical moment on the morning of the big day!

10 tips for choosing a wedding reception venue… So you are starting out on the journey towards the most important day of your life, and one of the first things you will search for is the perfect wedding venue. But the amount of information (and questions) can initially seem overwhelming, and so in this article, we give you 10 points to consider to help give you a head start.

• The date – how important is it for you?

More and more couples are increasingly flexible in order to make sure they secure the venue of their dreams. For some, this is not possible because their preferred date may have sentimental value. However, if this is not the case, it may be that varying the date by a week or two (or a month of two) may be the difference in securing their ideal venue. And for destination weddings there probably won’t be the need to tie in with a town hall or church ceremony, which makes life easier still!

• The capacity

When thinking about a venue’s capacity, it is easy to have tunnel vision based on the number of people on your guestlist. Obviously, you need to ensure there is enough space for your guests, but a venue can be too large as well as too small, especially for those with an intimate wedding in mind. Hence, can you do everything you want on-site. Also, is there a space to hold a ceremony? Furthermore, does the venue have nice spots for photos to save you having to move from the reception venue? But also, are there spaces for an apéritif, maybe for your dinner outside? Finally, is there an alternative option available in case of bad weather (but don’t forget, this is Provence so this is highly unlikely during the summer months!)?

• Location – a key point in deciding on a venue

Is the venue easily accessible? For destination weddings, being close to an airport or train station will be important, whilst having motorway links within easy distance is also key. Furthermore, for some people, a venue in a town with accommodation close-by might be important, particularly if there is not accommodation on-site. On the other hand, for others, part of the allure of a destination wedding might be a venue in the middle of the countryside.

Why an article on for how long should I hire the venue for my wedding reception?  “Oh, it goes by so quickly”! Possibly the phrase we hear the most often from our couples as they celebrate their wedding at Chateau la Beaumetane! So how long should you hire your venue for? Here are a few points to bear in mind as you grapple with this age-old question…

Hire the wedding venue for however long suits you

There is a reason the time goes by so quickly as you celebrate your wedding. You are happy, and surrounded by the people you love. You want to make the most of the time you have with everyone who has come to celebrate with you. Just one little statistic I like to use…. If you have a wedding for 120 people and you only spend two minutes with each guest, that already takes up 4 hours of your day!

So if you also count all the things you have to do on your special day, it’s not surprising that the day of your wedding reception flies by!

This is why many of our couples decide to hire the chateau for a two- or three-day wedding, especially our destination weddings. This allows them to enjoy a brunch with their guests. You can spend time with people you may not have caught up with the day before (perhaps because the photographer whisked you off for a sunset photo in the vines and olive groves). What’s more, brunch is generally more ‘low key’, with fewer obligations and things to do. So you can just take the time to be yourself and enjoy each other’s company. This is worth considering when ou hire the venue for my wedding reception.

How can I get married in France? This is a question we are often asked in our first conversations with our foreign brides and grooms. We explain it all here.

Getting married in France – what does it mean?

First of all, it’s important to know what you mean by “getting married in France”. Are you talking about a civil ceremony? A religious ceremony or a secular ceremony? Or perhaps just having your wedding in France? Because the rules are quite different, and so are the answers to the question of whether you can get married in France.

So let’s start with the simplest. If you just want to celebrate your wedding in France or in Provence, as we do here, you obviously don’t need any special authorisation. What’s more, the same applies to a secular ceremony. A ceremony has no legal, official or religious value. It is not recorded in any register. It is a symbolic and personal act performed in front of your loved ones. So in the first two cases, there are no formalities to be completed before you can get married in France.

Being relaxed for your destination wedding… brides and grooms can stress about it 😊 and yet… We tell you more in this article

Being relaxed for your destination wedding… a myth?

Let’s put things down first…. Everyone is different. Some people are anxious by nature, while others take things as they come and as they happen. So I don’t think it’s possible to ask someone who’s anxious by nature not to stress about their wedding.

However, there are things that can be done to help with this. I’ll give you a few tips in this article based on the experience we’ve had at the chateau over the last ten years accompanying our brides and grooms.

But first of all, a small point… it’s normal for there to be a lot of emotions during the preparations for a wedding and on the big day. It’s about making a commitment, doing this in front of lots of people who have come especially for you, and an event, with responsibilities and a budget… so a little stress is perfectly normal, even for the most zen of you!

Choosing the right destination wedding suppliers is absolutely essential if you want your reception to be the wonderful day of your dreams. Of course, with a destination wedding, things can be even more complicated. You may not even know our beautiful region of Provence and you may not speak French, which can make things seem very complicated. But only on the surface 🙂 We tell you more in this article

Choosing  suppliers – the basics

There are a few essential points to bear in mind when choosing your destination wedding suppliers.

The first of these is that not all reception venues in France operate in the same way. Some venues impose their own service providers or offer complete packages, organising your wedding from start to finish. On the other hand, other venues will let you choose the suppliers for your wedding entirely. Of course, between these two extremes there is a whole range of other possibilities. So we strongly recommend that you don’t book any suppliers without checking with your reception venue what is and isn’t possible.

The next two criteria to take into account are, of course, the availability of suppliers on the big day and your budget. These two criteria can easily narrow down the field of possibilities for some brides and grooms. So it’s important to establish all this as soon as you start your search.