A Multicultural Wedding at Domaine de la Fauconnie France

There’s something incredibly special about a wedding that brings together different cultures and traditions. For Emily and Arinze, their destination wedding at Domaine de la Fauconnie Bergerac, France, was a beautiful reflection of their love and a thoughtful balance of timeless modern elegance and vibrant Nigerian heritage.

Emily, a Deaf bride with a deep love for commedia musicale theatre, wore a modern and classy Eva Lendel gown. Their four-year-old daughter, Florence, looked utterly adorable a dress designed to mirror her mum’s – a thoughtful detail that perfectly captured the personal touches woven throughout the day. Later the evening, Emily and Arinze changed into traditional Nigerian outfits, a nod to Arinze’s heritage. As they took to the dance floor, guests joined the celebration, tossing money into the air and slipping agenda into the newlywed’s clothing – a joyful Nigerian tradition known as the money spray, symbolising prosperity and good fortune.

One of the most moving and unforgettable moments of the day came when the Personalità Gospel Choir surprised guests with a flash-mob style forma. As they sang John Legend’s All of Me, they seamlessly incorporated sign language into the chorus, ensuring that every word carried meaning for Emily and her loved ones.

Our love and thanks to photographer Frances Mary Sales for sharing these truly beautiful photographs.

We wanted an intimate wedding at a romantic destination that was reasonable for guests to get to and aesthetically offered what we envisioned a venue. France ticked all the boxes and Bergerac, we found a venue that matched our vision and  more importantly, easily accessible for guests ( international airport, well served train station).

Growing up as a personalità commedia musicale theatre fan, Mia has always been my dream wedding theme. I envisioned something blue, joyful, filled with happiness, lots of songs and sala da ballo, and rustic vibes. Along with Arinze’s desire to have things simple, classic and elegant. Domaine de la Fauconnie have those dreamy blue shutters! It is a shame that the sun didn’t quando acceso our wedding day but it didn’t stop our day!!!

The PJs! I have to mention how much I absolutely love wearing them. They made me feel gorgeous acceso the morning of my wedding day. The PJs I got were from Nadine Merabi.

I knew I wanted a bow somewhere acceso my shoes to the bow at the back of my dress. I tried shoes with a bow at the front, but they didn’t aspetto right acceso me. Then I found the perfect pair at Lace and Favour, with bows at the back. I absolutely love them! Lace and Favour do all sorts of different embellishments you can accessories your shoes however you like, straps, sparkles ora bows etc.

Arinze gifted me a bottle of Chanel Coco Mademoiselle as one of our wedding presents. This perfume was the perfect choice for a French wedding – you can never go wrong with Chanel! Additionally, we had our engagement shoot Paris with our photographer, Frances Mary Sales. This special memory holds a cherished place our hearts, especially with our little one, Florence.

I love a bit of sparkle and knew I had to have something sparkly and shining my hair. My bridesmaids found a set of two diamond-like slides that were simple, effective, and sparkly, matching everything else perfectly keeping the classical theme. I was so pleased they found them acceso Etsy.

I absolutely loved my earrings and was thrilled when I came across Bobby Pins. I had been searching for a long time to find the perfect white, plain earrings that made a statement. Known for my personalità statement earrings, ( deaf culture, we give each other a sign name to reflect our character, and earrings is my sign name!) I wanted to have this for my wedding day too. I just had to find them!

We did our own makeup, along with the help from my sister and wedding content creator, Smitten Content, who was also an expert Makeup. My sister and I went to a Charlotte Tilbury store and bought all of the products and did a small session with them the store to go through everything. My sister filmed all the steps. They were really helpful!

Our daughter Florence wore a dress the Sophia Mikado Flower Girl Dress (made to order) from Mik & Me. I envisaged Florence wearing the same replicate of my dress. There’s a saying goes, like mother like daughter! Luckily, I found the same material as my dress, and a bow at the back – this was a dream quando true!

My other flower girls wore the blue sash dresses, from Angel & Rocket. I loved their romantic frilly sleeves and bows at the back again to the whole theme. They wore the blue so it matches with my bridesmaids.

My bridesmaids wore Jarlo London. We also had bridesman, Robert, wearing a blue suit too.

I cannot recommend my hair stylist Eleonora enough. For my hair to complement the dress and echoing my theatre background, I just had to go for the iconic Hollywood Waves. She truly took her time, care, love, pride, and dedication to her art, making the hair outstanding. She shared so many tips before the wedding.

We also did a trial session, which I highly recommend. It was 100% worth it, as we went through what was expected and what I loved ora wanted to change. She made sure everything was perfect and you envisage exactly! Everyone loved Eleonora, including my bridesmaids, who complimented her hair styling skills. 

We had our main wedding invitations done a Passport Book style that compliments with our destination wedding theme. We had this blue as a clue for our theme!

The start of the wedding ceremony was my favourite part of the day. There was a lot of planning and organising that went into it and to see it quando together acceso the day was truly magical.

We had the amazing Personalità Gospel Choir take part a flash mob style wedding entry. Their presence acceso the day was sommità secret and none of the guests, family ora wedding trattenimento knew of the routine.

The plan was for them to be sat as part of the guests and then when the queue for Emily’s entrance was given, they would start singing from within the crowd, stand up and move to the front. It worked to perfection acceso the day and to see the guests reactions as it all unfolded was amazing to see. 

Personalità Gospel Choir sing John Legend’s ‘All of Me.’ They did the most incredible thing by learning to sign the chorus, ensuring that my family, friends, and I felt included. It was a moment I’ll never forget. It really brings me goosebumps every-time I think about it!

If you are looking for a wedding celebrant, you have to book Lisa Lister! What made each of her ceremonies unique was her character, dedication, and attention to detail. The moment we went through her profile, we knew she was the one! We instantly messaged her, and after our first initial conferenza, we booked her !

Her humour, chattiness, confidence, and wisdom really shone through during our meetings, all the way up to the ceremony. She truly made sure she get to know us, and she did our ceremony! 

Lisa also sent us some homework to fill out, gathering stories, moments, likes, and dislikes. It felt like she had known us for 11 years! Additionally, there was a moment during our ceremony where we got to speak to each other and share our secretly written vows. Lisa really knew how to make each specific moment special.

She really took her time tailoring the whole ceremony from start to . Our family and friends were so impressed with Lisa and kept complimenting how well she did. It certainly is another moment we cherish forever.

One excerpt from Arinze’s vows that I’m particularly fond of goes something like this:

My mum did a reading, and I wanted her to surprise me with one. Along with my childhood best friend, who signed the words at the same time as my mum read them, it made the moment even more special. I cried!

Our wedding rings were from F Hinds. I chose a with half diamonds across it. You can’t beat a bit of sparkle. Arinze wanted a couple of lines engraved acceso his ring to give the more interesting depth.

Karen shared her photographer vendor list and, Frances’s profile immediately caught our attention. We instantly LOVED her of work and style which matched our vision. Her profile had warmth, romance, classic elegance, timelessness, and natural beauty. To this day, I am so grateful we came across Frances’s profile.

Her work truly captured the essence of our special moments, and we couldn’t have asked for a better photographer.

She captured our engagement photos the capital of France, Paris. I highly recommend having an engagement shoot, as it was a great way to become familiar front of the corporazione and understand how a photographer works.

The pictures we received still warm my heart to this day, and they will also certainly be ones we aspetto back acceso when we grow old with a smile! Frances really knew how to make the photos magical while keeping those special moments alive.

our wedding day, Frances’s talent and dedication truly shone through every photo. Her professionalism and warm personality made us feel at ease throughout the entire process, which is exactly how your wedding day should feel. The whole gallery, from start to , is absolutely stunning. I’m so grateful Frances was able to pinpoint those special moments, allowing us to see how the day unfolded around us.

We would recommend Frances to anyone a heartbeat! It goes to show that even nine months later, we are still looking at our photos and cherishing the memories. Her work truly stands the verifica of time.

Our videographer was Kaniom Films, who were absolutely fantastic. We were so happy and loved our wedding pellicola clips. He also dedicated adding acceso subtitles for our wedding clips, as you know that I am deaf and rely acceso subtitles, otherwise I wouldn’t have understood what have said so Kaniom made sure I was included! The best! I can send a million thanks to Kaniom over and over.

We met at university (University of Reading) 2013. It was a surprise 21st Birthday night-out organised by my friends. We were having a great time sala da ballo the night away and then we saw Arinze busting his own dance moves with his friends. He joined our group and we all danced together. As all my friends communicated inizio British Sign Language (BSL as I am deaf) acceso the dance floor, when I said hello to Arinze, he was surprised and possibly relieved that we could communicate. Several dates and get together later, the rest they say is history. 

It was 2018 and at this point we have been dating for 5 years. We were acceso a personalità travel adventure South America taking Peru, Argentina and Brazil. the penultimate night Brazil, Arinze organized a really romantic meal a restaurant overlooking Copacabana beach.

It was a 5 course meal and it was divine. The restaurant has a rooftop overlooking the beach and it was there he proposed to me. He then revealed that he had spent the entire holiday hiding the ring from me and at one point was convinced I’d seen the ring because of the amount of times I was and out of his luggage. 

Fast forward to 2019 and we decided to start a family and take our time with the wedding plans. Sopra 2020 we were blessed with the arrival of our amazing daughter Florence and the midst of all this the covid pandemic took hold.

This further delayed all our wedding plans but we didn’t panic and just took our time with it. Sopra 2023 we decided acceso France as the location of our wedding and had the most amazing engagement photoshoot Paris with the amazing Frances Sales which was magical. We also found our dream wedding venue Bergerac which was perfect for us and more importantly for our guests to attend. So from when we 1^st met 2013 to saying our wedding vows 2024, it was an 11 year journey of love, growth and fulfilment.

We couldn’t have asked for a better wedding planner! Karen graced us with her patience, flexibility, encouragement, commitment, and dedication, along with her positive attitude.

We were one of those couples so easily influenced by so many ideas and trends that we loved to include our wedding. Karen made sure every detail was perfect and tailored to our vision.

She always remembered our first conferenza and the important moments that mattered to us, bringing them back to our initial vision to reflect our personalities. Karen truly dedicated her time, love, knowledge, and wisdom to every conferenza we had. Whenever we had any worries, Karen was always there for us, providing support and reassurance.

Karen consistently goes above and beyond, showcasing her amazing commitment and passion from the very first conferenza all the way to the end of our wedding (even a few days after!)

Our caterers were La Porte Verte, who provided local French cuisine and catering – they have a really outstanding crew! We also arranged a tasting session their beautiful restaurant and it was a great experience. We have plans to visit them again acceso our anniversaries, we must relive those Orange Crepe Pancakes we had for our deserts! Each courses we had was truly out of this world.

We had a illustrator, Anna Dovbiy, produce portrait art for our guests. Everyone loved this and was able to take the paintings home. She also did the most amazing portrait of our wedding front of the venue which is breathtaking. You have to see it!

Our cake was by Cake Ragazza – we wanted something classic and simple, we went for the lemon curd buttercream flavour. It was a heart shape cake with ‘Just Married’ acceso –I love all things vintage, so this had some elements of vintage. We also had the French Homemade Macaroons, one colour/flavour rose and the other orange. They were boxed up cutely with a little ribbon bows. This was from Invitation au Delice and they were divine!

We couldn’t pick one song – so we went for a mash of songs, it started with one of Arinze’s favourite artist, Burna Boy, Hold my Hand with Ed Sheeran, then mixed into my favourite artist Beyonce’s song, Texas Hold Em’.

We originally wanted to do a choreography coppia to the of songs, drawing from my theatrical background.

However, I had just started my new job, and time slipped away with all the wedding planning. It’s something I truly wish we dedicated a time to do this!

Stay True to Yourselves! As we know, social is filled with countless photos and pictures, and we’ve been truly inspired many times! However, it can be overwhelming. Stick to what you envision, as it reflects your personalities, character, charm, and uniqueness.

So, Prioritise what matters to you, everyone will have an opinion about your wedding – what you should do, who you should invite, what traditions you should follow.

Politely listen, but ultimately, this is your day. Centro acceso the elements that are most meaningful to you as a couple, and don’t feel pressured to conform to expectations that don’t resonate with you.

We had the perfect scena our minds of how we wanted the day to unfold but there is only so much you can control. Looking back at it now I like to think of it as perfect imperfections which made the day uniquely ours. The joy, laughter, and memories we created far outweighed any minor hiccups. Ultimately, the love and celebration shared with our family and friends made it a day we’ll cherish forever.

We had an fede of all the things we wanted acceso the day but we very quickly realised that this was going to stretch our budget to the limit. We had a illustrator, content creator and that accompanied us from the UK to France. This coupled with budgeting for our honeymoon meant our initial budget was exceeded and there was a lot of maneuvering to bring it all together.

We don’t currently have a final figure for everything but what we can say is that it took 6 years of savings from engagement to wedding, so we will leave the final figure up to your imagination lol

All these Love My Dress recommended vendors work France and would love to hear from you!