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10 tips for choosing a wedding reception venue

 

 

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.

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For how long should I hire the venue for my wedding reception?

 

 

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.

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Being relaxed for your destination wedding

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!

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Remembering why you decided to get married

 

 

Remembering why you decided to get married… it’s important… This is linked to another article we published called “Being relaxed for your wedding”, which you can find here. I’ll tell you more in that article.

 

 

Remembering why you decided to get married – what an absurd idea!

 

It’s true that the subject of this blog post seems somewhat absurd…. Of course you know why you decided to get married! I’m not trying to offend the intelligence of our future brides and grooms…. In fact, I’m referring to an observation we’ve made regularly over the ten years since we decided to accompany our brides and grooms at the Château la Beaumetane en Provence.

 

Our future brides and grooms are always young (or not so young) people who are intelligent. They have a deep and fundamental understanding of the reasons why they have decided to get married. They have no doubts about their feelings for each other. Things have been weighed and decided.

 

However, we sometimes find our brides and grooms in a state of advanced stress and anxiety during the preparations for their wedding. This is particularly true as the big day approaches. This can be even more the case for a destination wedding. The bride and groom also sometimes have the emotional and moral responsibility (which they may impose on themselves!) of ensuring that everything goes smoothly for their family and friends who have made the effort to come from so far away for their wedding in Provence.

The most important thing when the time comes

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Choosing your destination wedding suppliers

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.

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wedding dinner outdoors or indoors in Provence

 

 

 

 

Should you have your wedding dinner outdoors or indoors in Provence? This is another of the big questions that brides and grooms regularly ask themselves. However, it’s true that for our destination weddings, for our overseas brides and grooms who come to Provence to get married, it’s usually because they want to dine outdoors. So, in this article, I’ll explain why it’s important to ask yourself this question, even for a destination wedding in Provence.

 

 

 

Wedding dinner outdoors in Provence

 

 

 

It’s true, however, that future brides and grooms often visit the château with a view to dining outdoors for their wedding dinner. This is certainly even truer for our brides and grooms who come from abroad to get married in Provence. The setting of the château lends itself well to this, with its park just in front of our beautiful building, shaded by its plane trees. Cocktails are usually served on the lawn, on the side where you can enjoy the sunset over the vines.

 

Of course, this option is only feasible when the weather is fine and the temperature allows it. Also, without wishing to shatter the dreams of future brides and grooms, we would like to make it clear to them that according to our experience of ten years of weddings in Provence, this is possible with us. Taking all the different parameters into account, we realise that the time frame for doing so is not that great. We generally manage to offer this option to all our brides and grooms who decide to do so.

 

It’s true that dining outdoors for your wedding can be a very pleasant experience in summer. Under the guinguette lights, you can enjoy the drop in temperature and the last songs of the cicadas. What’s more, the aesthetic setting can suit a variety of themes, especially the more country-style weddings.

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How many people at my destination wedding

How many people at my destination wedding: is there an ideal size? This is one of the questions that future brides and grooms often ask themselves…. I’d like to give you some advice based on our 10 years’ experience of accompanying our brides and grooms at Château la Beaumetane.

 

 

 

 

How many people at my destination wedding: is there an ideal size?

 

 

As always, I would say that your wedding should reflect your image and how you ideally see your wedding.

 

Some people imagine it to be pompous with lots of people, while others are looking for a more intimate setting to celebrate their union. There is no right or wrong choice.

 

Certain criteria will also influence the size of your  wedding in Provence. Here is a selection:

Are you both very family-oriented and how big is your family?
What do you understand by family? Direct family or extended family?
How big is your circle of friends?
Do your friends belong to different spheres of your life and do you want them all to be present at your wedding?
What about your colleagues and work relations?
If your parents are contributing to your wedding, are there people they also want to invite personally?

And of course, all this is affected by the distance between the place where your wedding will be held and the place where the people attending the wedding live…. So this is even more relevant for a wedding overseas. It’s possible that not everyone can take the time to go and celebrate a wedding in Provence because their friends or relatives are getting married abroad. The day or time of year can also influence this.

 

Château la Beaumetane is known for its rather intimate weddings. The smallest we had was 17 people. On average, there are around 70/80 people at a wedding at La Beaumetane and the maximum we accept is 120. The average size for our destinatio weddings in Provence at the Chateau is more about 30to 40 people (this is also because we can accomodate up to 45 people here on site).

 

It’s also very important to have an idea of how many people you want at a wedding so that you can choose a venue that matches that size…. And then you have to stick to it….

 

A wedding with a small number of people in a huge hall is difficult to organise, and a small reception venue will be limited in size. So this is one of the criteria you need to think about.

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How to choose your wedding date

 

 

How to choose your wedding date, a real question. For some couples the date is everything – maybe an anniversary, maybe a birthday, or some other date that has fond memories. For others, the date is flexible, depending on the availability of the dream venue, or maybe the availability of close friends and family. In this article, we give you some advice on the questions to ask yourself when choosing your wedding date.

 

Choosing the date for your wedding – thinking about the essentials

  • A symbolic date

 

You may choose a date that has special meaning for both of you – perhaps the date you met, or your engagement date. This can be a key factor in choosing your wedding date.

  • Your professional commitments can have an impact on the decision to choose the date of your wedding.

 

For some people, their job will dictate the wedding date – it isn’t easy for teachers to take time off during term time, however much they’d love to! So be realistic about what you can and can’t do. As I am also a winemaker, my colleagues would not be impressed if I had decided to get married in August or September because of the grape harvest!

  • The personal, professional or educational commitments of key friends and family

 

Let’s be honest, your wedding just wouldn’t be the same if your bestie couldn’t be there to share your happiness, and so if there are people who you can’t imagine celebrating your big day without, you will want to check their commitments and availability.

  • Give advance notice

 

Don’t stress too much about the idea of getting married on a weekday. Every now and then, for one reason or another, this can actually provide you with some real opportunities. Service providers often offer discounts during the week, plus there is less chance your preferred venue or photographer will already be booked. Remember, your guests will be the people who care about you the most, and if you tell them you want to be at your wedding a few months in advance, they will usually make the effort to take the necessary days off work to be at your wedding.

  • Don’t worry too much about the weather

 

The dates that generally benefit from the best weather are often the first to be booked for a wedding. Couples generally hope for good weather so they can make the most of the day and take beautiful photos with a perfect sunset. However, this is not the case for everyone. What’s more, you have to accept that Mother Nature will do as she pleases on the big day. So even a midsummer day in Provence can be a rainy day (although not very often, if we’re honest!). If you want to know more about this, you can read the story of our couple from a few years ago here or in this other article.

  • Seasonal charm

 

Those sunny summer days are also the period when the days are longest. However, unless you absolutely want to dine outdoors, you might consider celebrating your wedding at a different time of year. With the shorter days, your reception venue lit up at night can add even more charm to your special day (not to mention your photos!). What’s more, the charm of autumnal colours can also be a real wow factor! And then, of course, there are those who love winter decorations, which add yet another special touch to a warm, intimate wedding.

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An exceptional interior thanks to Émilie Maltoff, Eminent Interior Designer

When we renovated our 19th-century stables into accommodation, the interior was a blank canvas, requiring a complete overhaul from scratch. So it was vital to find a renowned interior designer, and we had the excellent idea of calling on Émilie Maltoff, founder of EM Architecture & Design.

Who is Émilie Maltoff ?

First, Émilie explored scenography as a decorating assistant. She then turned to architecture, working in various agencies such as SD Concept and Culture in Architecture. For a decade she worked brilliantly with Julie Gauthron at Exquise Esquisse.

Today, Émilie runs her own company, EM Architecture & Design. Émilie has a passion for materials, colours and volumes, and designs spaces that optimise every nook and cranny while respecting constraints. Her exceptional talent and dedication to excellence make her one of the best interior designers.

 

Emilie, an essential partner for an exceptional interior

 

Indeed, Émilie played an invaluable role in our project at the Château. Thanks to her artistic talent and interior design expertise, Émilie succeeded in transforming this historic site into a modern, welcoming space, while preserving its old-world charm. Her creative and innovative approach made the most of the space and materials. The result is a functional and aesthetically pleasing space that perfectly meets the needs of its occupants.

 

 

From concept to completion, Emilie meticulously oversaw every stage of the project, ensuring that every detail was carefully considered. Through her commitment to excellence, Emilie has created a remarkable accommodation space, combining luxury and history.

Finally, find out about other valuable partners involved in this project, such as DeltaBuy, Sylvio Moizo (ECL) and Ekilux.

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Successful business events with the Gimdis agency

We are delighted to be working with events agency Gimdis, founded by Marc Gimenez in 2019. Gimdis stands out for its ability to create unique and memorable business events, catering for all occasions and needs.

Gimdis’ Commitment to Unique and Personalised Events

In a recent interview, Marc Gimenez, founder of Gimdis, expressed his passion for event management and his desire to offer his customers a unique and unforgettable experience: “It was over time that I, Marc Gimenez, got the idea of offering my customers and future customers the possibility of organising events of all kinds and for all occasions, simply, efficiently and, above all, in a way that would satisfy all their desires!”

Gimdis offers tailor-made services to companies, managers and individuals: seminars, team-building, evening events and special events. With its expertise and network, Gimdis ensures perfect planning and execution of events to meet customer expectations.

 

creer-lien-clients-assemblee-generale-lieu-reception-parc-chateau-verriere-reunion-soiree-13

 

Gimdis: An exceptional events agency for successful business events at Château la Beaumetane

The Gimdis agency meets an essential need in the professional world: turning ideas into successful events. Despite time and organisational constraints, Gimdis is dedicated to delivering successful events. Marc Gimenez underlines this reality: “The desire to organise a business dinner or a seminar with your teams is often not what is missing… but time is a rare commodity, not to mention the fact that we don’t always have the right addresses or the right contacts to ensure that everything runs smoothly.”

By choosing Gimdis, companies benefit from a dedicated team, managing every aspect from logistical details to on-site services. In fact, Marc Gimenez says he is prepared to go the extra mile: “Entrust the organisation of your seminars, your annual staff dinner or your seaside outing with your loyal customers to an events agency like Gimdis, and I, Marc Gimenez, will be delighted to see your project through to the end and much more besides!”

Gimdis and its founder, Marc Gimenez, bring real added value to the Château’s events projects. Their skills, commitment and creativity ensure the success of every event, leaving participants with unforgettable memories.

 

Finally, discover our partners: Sébastien Cabanes (photographer), Aumer Traiteur and many others.

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