Fun | You May French Kiss The Bride

I don’t know if you remember the wonderful pictures of Marcio and I on our bikes that Dragos and Laura (aka Be Light Photography) took last year? Well, this post inspired Jaye and Thomas to come straight from Australia to have their elopement in Paris, by bike, and have the whole thing covered by the Be Light Photography team. How adorable? I also love that they dropped their initial idea to have a big castle wedding to organize something more intimate and casual that would correspond better to their personalities.

Their day included riding bikes (obviously), stopping by a well-known jewellery to buy Jaye’s wedding ring, and finally eloping at the door of a retro bookstore… and the latter choice was no coincidence: since Jaye and Thomas first met, each month they buy a book for one another. This July they decided to buy it from Paris’ famous Shakespeare and Co bookshop and while there, get married right out the front! Photos by Dragos for Be Light Photography.

•••

The wedding took place on July, 11, 2014 in Paris, France.

What Jaye and I always wanted for our wedding was a mixture of intimacy, uniqueness and plenty of fun – something that reflected our personalities, our relationship and our life more generally.

We started with a grand plan in mind – renting an old Chateaux in the Bordeaux area and throwing a small intimate party long into the night. Imagine if you can: sitting under a big oak tree nestled around some trestle tables, good home made food and plenty of french wine. However, as we started to delve a little further, we discovered that if we were to remain true to ourselves, what we really wanted was something less formal, and more authentic and active. Neither of us are known for being able to sit still or stay in one spot for too long.

Over a weekend, we hatched the plan to celebrate our wedding in Paris. Everything was organised over the net, including our photographer Dragos Ludusan. The day would be typically Parisian from dawn to dusk.

The day played out something like this: Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Pain Raisin and coffee for breakfast (of course plenty of red wine the night before) followed by a walk to pick up our bikes, where we would ride across Paris for the day, take lunch in a typically french bistro (what else but steak and frites), before getting married in front of Shakespeare and Co bookshop and spending the night opposite the Eiffel Tower. Low key, packed full of highlights and on the go.

Our ride took us to Boucheron Jewellers to pick up Jaye’s wedding ring – a gorgeous experience, in a perfect setting just down rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. Different, unique and typically French. We rode past too many Paris sights to name them all, but if you can think of one, I bet we rode past it.

A couple of close friends flew from around the globe to join us on our special day. Scott and Kirty are very special to us and we feel blessed that they travelled to Europe from Australia with 9 month old Patrick. Likewise, Tomoko, Simon and Isaac joined us from London for the day.

Everyone got into the spirit of the day, riding through Paris with limited direction, no helmets and sprinkles of rain here and there.

The night ended with a beautifully designed room at the Hotel Sezz, located on the River Seine’s right bank, 900 metres from the Eiffel Tower. It had an amazing bathroom and wonderfully soft and luscious bed.

Name one thing you regret…

A cliche but true: we honestly don’t regret anything….the day was simple, fun and relaxed. It was better than we had imagined.

… And one thing that makes you proud.

How everything just came together on the day without being over planned, over thought and without too much fuss! It really was a jam-packed, fun filled day. Even the early morning rain couldn’t hold us back from exploring Paris by bike. Having friends share the day with us also made us very happy.

Last but not least, it was an absolute pleasure to meet and get to know our photographer, Dragos Ludusan. We actually found Dragos through the French Kiss the Bride website and knew straight away that he was the one that we wanted to capture the day, telling the natural story through his lens. What a great guy – professional, adaptable and all round bloody good photographer! Dragos went with the flow, working with us to beautifully capture the true essence of our special day.

The word of the photographer.

Meeting Jaye & Thomas in Paris was an incredible cultural and photographic experience. I love photographing people to whom I can connect and relate to and who relate really good with each other. I always thought that chemistry is photogenic and I think that this is what makes Thomas & Jaye’s pictures so special. Their elopement in Paris sure was an adventure and I’m always in for adventures!

I’m so happy to share with you the wonderful and fun wedding of Jil and Jul. This wedding has it all: some really fun newly weds and guests, a beautiful decoration (I LOVE the contrast of the multicolor flowers with those white tables), entertainment, and the key ingredient – some really stunning pictures! Photography by Benjamin Le Du out of France.

•••

The wedding took place on August 22, 2014 in Brittany, France (Querrien and Pont Aven to be precise).

We’ve been together for 11 years and Julien proposed to me during a trip to the Rodrigues Island we made last year to celebrate our 10 years together. We started the day with some snorkeling in a turquoise water; the skipper stopped us on a little desert island called the cat Island. We were walking around when Julien made his proposal: He took a photo of us two, but had previously placed the engagement ring beside my neck; then when I looked at what the picture had given I saw it! I say Yes, of course. We were both shaking like a leaf… It was perfect!

Name one thing you regret…

The bride: That I didn’t serve the oignon soup!… long story. Do not hesitate to delegate, but take some time before the wedding to organize everything and be able to give every piece of information needed. This helps a lot on the D day (and the D-1 day).

The groom: That I didn’t dance a lot. I spent a lot of time outside with the non-dancers. We had a very intimate wedding, we could afford to spend some time with each and everyone of our guests, but still, we can’t be everywhere at the same time, and it’s normal.

And one thing that makes you happy or proud.

We aren’t very organised people, and planning this wedding was a challenge. We are very proud we did all the decoration ourselves, the aperitive, the bouqet, the favours, the invitations and save the date. We also worked the whole year on the playlists – no DJ but a computer and 2 good speakers!
Second, our surprise dance at the city hall!!
But one thing’s for sure, if we were to do it again, we wouldn’t change a thing!