Mr Blue Sky

"Sun is shinin' in the sky
There ain't a cloud in sight
It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play
And don't you know
It's a beautiful new day hey,hey"

  

A week before the wedding this was looking very unlikely; it rained everyday of April, the forecast was for thunderstorms, marquees and umbrellas winged their way from the UK - not what you want when you've travelled 9000miles across the world for your wedding. But alas the magic of Rigaud happened and the sun shone down on Angela and Edward and their glamorous guests. Angela choose a beautifully simple white and green theme for the flowers with a pop of fuchsia pink to contrast with the vibrant blue of the bridesmaid dresses.

Hot off the sewing machine the Dove grey runners were used and really helped to lift the tables in the barn, 90 wine corks were sliced to form place-card holders in keeping with our location in the heart of the Bordeaux region, paper confetti cones were rolled and stuck, the outdoor sofas were given a luxurious make-over with beautiful new cushions Mary, one half of Rigaud's winter chef team, was comissioned to write the place cards and blackboard with her fabulous handwriting. Not only that but our new-look garden themed canape tables were unveiled for the first time.... phew busy week with lots of photos to share!

Table flowers and grey table runner

Wine cork place-card holders

Bride's bouquet feauring peonies, roses, bouvardia, astilbe rosemary and eucalyptus

1 of 3 fuschia pink bridemaid's domed rose bouquets

Planted trug for vegetarian canape stand

Foie gras and bayonne ham stand dressed with tree trunk stumps

The re-styled vegetarian canape stand

Oysters and saucisson stand

Broncante shopping day purchases

Pew end

pimped up sofa cushions

Barn entrance cone and blackboard table plan

Table centres featured individual flower types in different jam-jars, candles and mirrors

Wedding Barn set-up

Beautiful wedding cake dressed with fresh flowers

Branching out

Hello 2012! What a year it is shaping up to be; 17 beautiful brides here at Chateau Rigaud, 1 lovely bride a couple of hours down the road and 1 back in Bonnie Scotland at the end of the year to top it all off. And it's not just flowers; new year = new job, drum roll please for my new role as 'Wedding Stylist!' This will encompass all elements of the look of everyones Big Day here at the Chateau and I'm really looking forward to it being a bit of a design geek (Mr E calls it 'control freak') I just like things to look perfect and if that means moving that chandelier 2 inches lower then so be it. Anyway I digress, to kick off my new role I have been sourcing and making some new items to build up an Aladdin's cave of props. Today was a trip to Rauzan to the Antique/flea/junk market where I picked up 2 vintage suitcases which will be perfect to fill with pashminas for guests to help themselves to on cooler evenings. I've also been spending many an evening cutting and sewing bunting for the barn and over the front gate. I've chosen hessian or burlap as the first material to use which I think will contrast really well in texture with the new lighting feature over the dance floor which is being created from balloons, wallpaper paste and lace doilies inspired by The Dos Family up there in Sweden.

Vintage suitcases from the flea market at Rauzan

Sewing in the sunshine

DIY lampshade in progress