What made the wedding special and unique?

The wedding was most special as all our loved ones traveled from far and wide to be with us for the three-day event. As Paris is the city of love, it was the perfect backdrop and was also a perfect reflection of how we felt in our hearts both due to our guests and due to us getting wed. It was also so much fun to have everyone stay together in the Hotel La Perle Saint Germain and enjoy different activities throughout. On our first night, we held a Seine river dinner cruise as our rehearsal dinner. On the second day my bridesmaids and I went to Disneyland, whilst the bachelor party went to a Ju-Jitsu lesson in the morning (one of Keenan’s hobbies) and later explored Paris. All this was the lead up to day three, our wedding day which to us was a dream-come-true. Finally on day four we all gathered for a final breakfast before everyone headed home.

Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!

I actually found it quite a challenge to settle on a wedding dress and ended up buying two and going back and forth between which is the right one for me…. however once the Yolan Cris gown was tailored to my measurements it was a no-brainer decision to make. Keenan (who knew about the dress indecision, without seeing the dresses) was ecstatic when he saw me for the first time in the reveal and said it was perfect in every way and that he could not have pictured anything better suited, so I was over the moon.

What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?

As French regulation doesn’t allow for non-residents to get wed, we actually held an official (and Jewish traditional), family only, 12 person event prior to our wedding in France. This worked out well as when it came to the celebration, we could make it completely personalized to us.

We didn’t have a particular theme but early on I created a list of different things that had meaning to us as a couple or that were of significance to our history and started DIY projects to incorporate these throughout. Examples of these were our aisle runner which had all the important dates of relationship, or our display of wedding photos from our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings, as a sort of family tree. Additionally, a nod to our Jewish traditional ceremony was the beer and wine labels we created that had a picture from our first wedding and had L’Chaim (to life) written on them. To add a flair of Disney and a whimsical feel, we had garden games in the cocktail hour and had a Mickey and Minnie sitting on the moon as our cake topper (which also tied in well to our first dance song “Moon River”). We also chose wedding colors (pale pink, light blue, gold) to incorporate and to facilitate bringing all these elements together. Finally, we wanted to add detail to reflect the magnificent venue we were lucky enough to hold our wedding in, the Pavillon de musique de la comtesse du Barry and also some 1920s glam which funnily enough meshed well together. For the venue, some French highlights were giving everyone a macaroon favor, our champagne tower and our signature cocktail the Lavi(e) en rose, (a play on my last name), which was the simplest thing ever to make just pink bubbly and cotton candy. The 1920s elements we incorporated were a moon photo booth and  hats, masks, hairpieces (which I made) that we gave out to our guests during the band’s session (who played 1920s music and some Disney songs in that style).  It was a mish-mash of everything, perfectly depicting our personalities and it all ended up flowing seamlessly together.

What was the most memorable part of the day?

Keenan and I have two parts of the day which we consider to be the most memorable. The first was the ceremony in its entirety, having had the opportunity to completely DIY it, it felt very pure and genuinely us from thanking our parents for showing us through example what it is to have healthy marriages, to the alchemist passage we chose as a reading, to the breaking of the glass reflecting our Jewish faith and of course our vows which we revealed to each other on the day. The second moment was our first dance to the song  “Moon River” a song that has meant a lot to us throughout our relationship and encapsulates who we are as a couple. We had a choreographed routine, got our amazing band for the night Swing’it Dixieband to preform a live version of the song and all the guests held sparklers, so there was a real magical feeling in the air.

Tell us how you met and became engaged.

Keenan and I met in college (we both have different opinions as to when the first encounter was, but certainly in the first few days of our first year). We were friends for a while and even before we became a couple I would tell my friends that if we were to end up together it would likely last a long, long time. In 2010, on my birthday, we kissed and the rest was history! We were boyfriend and girlfriend for about 6 years before one night when we were visiting London to organize our move there, he popped the question in our hotel room, champagne and flowers in tow. There were lots of tears and a big ecstatic yes!

Photographer: Matthieu Bondon // Wedding planner: Laurence Beal // Flowers: Lily Paloma // Venue: Pavillon de Musique de la comtesse du Barry // Reveal/ getting ready photos: Hotel La Perle Saint Germain // Bride’s Dress: Yolan Cris // Hair and Makeup: Harold James // Catering/wedding cake: Erisay // Band: Swing’it Dixieband