How to organize a “boho” marriage in 2 days with the You&Me Festival

This article provides some details on wedding organisation and the lessons learned from a recent festival.

Love rules the world. Sooner or later “The Day” comes and lovebirds turn into newlyweds.  In order to facilitate the wedding event organisation, HelloMonaco decided to prove that this type of organising can be possible even during the weekend. Thanks to the “You&Me” Marriage Festival that was held in Novotel Hotel in Monaco on 28-29 October, we managed to discover the ultra-fast option of lining up a marriage, which consists of 11 steps.

It’s not a secret that all event management starts with choosing the location. Amandine and her husband Arnaud, founders of “You&Me” helped HelloMonaco to consider the perfect location on the French Riviera.

Location

As a location, we offer the choice of Domain La Bastide du Roy, which is located in Antibes. The history of this magical place begins in the 16th century, when Henri IV received the domain as a wedding present in 1608. Afterwards, the name of the estate was linked to the names of counts, princes, artists, writers, stylists and even rockers, like Mick Jagger.  Here, in 1924 the fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin bought “La Bastide du Roy” as a marriage present for her daughter. This inspiring place offers an amazing labyrinth made of 365 olive trees, as well as a Jardin Espagnol measuring 630 m², a pond, ancient villa and beautiful sun porch; every part of this location could easily turn into a must-have for the marriage ceremony.

Interior rental

Be lounge is the event company renting out and installing the interior. The professional designer and consultant from Be lounge will be glad to help the couple to define and choose the best interior pieces for their wedding. In addition, the catalogue of Be lounge includes 3,000 pieces which will give a chance to everyone to choose the perfect match for their own desires.

Floral Design

Elena from Tepee Sauvage explained to us the latest trends in wedding design and what current trends can make the marriage special for both the engaged couple and their guests.

“I love non-typical flowers. My style is wild and romantic at the same time. It’s important to consider the fact that in design, details are highly important as well. So we need to focus on small elements, too. Now the “boho” chic style is very popular, brides like having flower crowns instead of a classic bridal veil, which also looks great. Everything from the crown to the bouquet plays an important role. Pastel colours are a priority nowadays too. Concerning the flowers, I think we should use not only flowers, but also herbs, which creates this natural effect and gives a feeling of something fresh and cosy, like forests or fields. What is also important in this case is to use only seasonal herbs.”

Clothes

“Love is Like a Rose” is a French prêt-à–porter brand based in Paris, which designs wedding dresses, suits for men and some delicate and playful clothing sets for kids. “Beauty in simplicity” is the principal statement made by the brand. And it’s really true, especially when you see a bohemian white long wedding dress, decorated with an enormous ribbon on the back. Every piece of clothing from this brand is decorated with the embroidered stem of a rose. As the designer of the brand said, love is something that cannot always be perfect. There is no love if it doesn’t hurt sometimes, because love is all about the emotions!

Rings

Obviously, there is no wedding ceremony without the rings. We offer our couples to have the wedding rings designed with Volterra jeweler, as this company offers and creates designs of truly unique pieces. For example, they mix a few types of gold: yellow, white and black. Its studios are located in Nice and Cannes.

HelloMonaco talked to a representative of the brand Judy to find out the most important features of the wedding ring.

“For us it’s important to know if the client has an engagement ring. If the couple already has it, the wedding ring needs to match the engagement one, in order to repeat the same style and colour. It needs to be a complementary ring. Normally, the engagement ring is solid. But our task is to achieve the perfect match and balance with the wedding ring.”

Music and special effects

As everybody knows, there is also no marriage celebration without a party and somebody to warm things up. DJ PRODIJ and DJ Sebastien Michea arrange not the music design but also all the interactive parts of the party: screen, projectors, fog machines and lights, in order to turn the dance floor into a real party atmosphere. According to Sebastien, normally, for the marriage people like to listen to the remixed latest pop hits. This is the music that makes even the laziest guests get up and dance.

Electronic music is great, but for the lovers of live-music, we offer to integrate a Divin’ Gospel Music band, too. This choir can create a real spiritual atmosphere, for example, for the official marriage ceremony.

Photo & Video

Instamatix is a device (photobot) that takes and prints pictures in 20 seconds, and it can also make videos. It’s equipped with a touch-screen and is driven by truly great photographic equipment. Anybody can take a picture standing in front of the screen of the device and as a final result you can get an instantly printed picture with “mise-en-page” adapted to the event and with personalised information on it. This is the perfect solution for guests at the marriage party. This is also an activity of the party, it’s a fun part. There is also the possibility of instant sharing of the picture on the Facebook or by email. In addition, different filters can be applied (sepia, and black&white). Thomas explains the main principal of the perfect picture, and it’s all about the light:

“I’m a photographer myself and, apparently, I have an eye for good light. That’s why I created Instamatix, where I included all the important points of photography.”

Photographer Olivia Marocco explained to HelloMonaco the most important points in photoshoots for weddings.

“Details are so important: shoes, dress, and wedding rings. As I have noticed here, in the Cote d’Azure it is better to have a session of photos outside, as the light is better, and the colours are incredible, especially in the last hour before sunset. With men it’s always a little bit more difficult, as they say pretty often that they don’t know how to pose. But it’s not important, as on the day of the wedding the couple is always in a euphoric state, they automatically relax in front of me. It’s important to say: ‘nobody except me will see you, just be yourselves and have fun!’”

For Amandine, the organiser of the You&Me festival, the most important point in the wedding ceremony is a videographer. “For me this is something incredibly important, as 20 years from now you and your husband will be sitting on the sofa, and it will be really crucial to remind yourselves how it was, your emotions and your expressions in that moment.”

According to the professional filmmaker, Vincent Tesnier, the most important part of making the video to look natural, is to stay invisible while filming, in order to let the couple and their guests feel relaxed.

Security

According to Amandine, people are always ignoring this important point, security. The importance of this can’t be dismissed, as you can never give a 100% guarantee that any unpleasant surprises might not occur. We never know what the reaction to alcohol will be for each guest, or, in some cases, if at the marriage location there is a swimming pool, there needs to be very strict surveillance to avoid an unpleasant surprise. In this case, EDV Security on the French Riviera is considered one of the best in the business, specialising in private and event security. The company portfolio includes security for the concert in Nice of the popular band U2.

Babysitter

It’s crucial not to forget that a lot of guests may come with their kids. In order to keep them under control, there should be a marked off children’s zone, with a professional nurse/child minder.

So there you have it: the key steps of express wedding organisation. Concerning the food, Amandine recommends choosing catering based on the tastes of the couple, as this point is something that needs to be chosen individually. Hopefully our advice was useful for you, and we wish you a very easy and pleasant wedding planning process. Less stress – more fun, this is certainly the key message of the wedding organisation festival!