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Affordable venue in the South of France

Deb11Deb11 Posts: 5
in Weddings abroad

Hi Everyone, 

I don't see too many posts on the South of France. 

After a couple of trips to Italy (Amalfi, Tuscany & Umbria) all ending without a venue selection, we've decided to look at France. 

I'm drawn to the unusual venues like Solent Forts in the UK or the beautiful but completely out of my budget Villa Cora in Florence. 

Does anyone have any suggestions for a unique quirky venue or a house with a beautiful garden?

We'd love to make a long weekend of it, but may only be able to afford the rental costs of one day. 

Our budget is around 10,000 euros for the rental of a venue for a symbolic ceremony and reception for 80 people. Our guests to stay at nearby hotels.

My french is good, but rusty so I hope to save on a wedding planner. 

We'd really appreciate any suggestions. 

 Thanks

Posts

  • MissDizzleMissDizzle Posts: 56 New bride

    We are looking at SW France too. have a look at   http://www.frenchweddingstyle.com/ They have lots of venues listed and they also have blogs of real weddings. 

    im having 50 and have found a house that accommodates all 50. The plan is to split the accomodation costs between the guests which will free up money to feed them properly. 

    what dates are you thinking? 

  • Deb11Deb11 Posts: 5

    Thanks!

    We're  thinking Spring 2018. 

  • MissDizzleMissDizzle Posts: 56 New bride

    You might struggle for next year. We're 2020 and when I have been enquiring most places are booked up for next year and taking booking for 2019. 

    Have a look through that website it's really good 

  • Margaret34Margaret34 Posts: 84 New bride

    We are getting married in a gorgeous villa near Carcassonne next September with around 60 guests.  The villa is stunning and very affordable (compared to some of the ridiculous prices I have been quoted!!) and the owner is so helpful and lovely and happy to listen to what I want to truly make it the way I want it, which has saved me a few thousand pounds on a wedding planner as she does this service as part of the deal.  We are even going to stay for a few days over the summer to meet with suppliers/caterers etc, visit some vineyards and plan out how/where we want everything to happen.

    have a look at the link for details of the villa and if you are interested I can send you the owners private email for more information.  She has a variety of wedding packages so you can either just book the villa the organise the rest yourself, or she can help,with certain things, or she can take care of everything for you.  

    https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p1921110

     

     

  • Deb11Deb11 Posts: 5

    Thank! I'll take a look. 

  • morgane2morgane2 Posts: 4 New bride

    Hello there, have you found the perfect place? I'm an event planner in the south of France, and I'd be super happy to help or advise ;)

  • Lucy385Lucy385 Posts: 3

    Hi Deb, 

    I know someone in France, whose name is Aurélie. It is a wedding planner specialized in wedding planning in France for foreigners.
    Go take a look at his site: http://www.aurelie-r-privateevents.com/ 

    I'm sure she can help you get married in the south of France. Being French, she knows many beautiful places that might interest you. :) 

     

  • Dave-2Dave-2 Posts: 3

    Hi all.

    dave here. My fiancé and I are looking for a venue in France for a small wedding. 30 guests. we are irish but live in New Zealand and have A budget of €8000 

    we would like to find somewhere small and intimate and ideally a place that can take care of everything, ceramoney accommodation food etc as trying to organise it all individualy would be a pain!

    would anyone have any suggestion??? Any help is appreciated 

  • happilyeverafter2happilyeverafter2 Posts: 3

    Looking for a planner? 

     We had such a horrible experience with Marry Me In France that we felt compelled to share our experience with potential clients. The whole planning process with Marry Me In France ended up giving us more anxiety, rather than the support a couple looks to their planner for. If you want to have a stress free wedding, I would look elsewhere for planners. We were left with such a terrible taste in our mouth that we knew we needed to post and inform others of the headache that comes with booking MMIF as planners. At the end of the day, we felt like our wedding was nothing more than a cash-grab for the company. We started off the process with the owner (Beth), then after signing the contracts, we were handed off to her aloof underling (Becky), who then wasn't even available by email the day of the wedding. We were then handed off two days prior to our wedding to an on the day coordinator who was not fully prepared or filled into any of the specifics for our special day. The whole thing felt like a bait-and-switch. After the fact, we reached out to the owner to voice our displeasure but she replied saying she was too busy to discuss or deal with until wedding season was over. 

     

    Throughout the process, we felt like we were always forced to chase down MMIF for guidance and answers which caused even more stress. Our planner was very passive and reactive and only sent answers or actually did things after we expressed concern and asked for a skype meeting to follow-up. Prior to our skype, we would finally get what we needed 5 minutes prior to the call to avoid conflict. We had to chase our planner down several times just to nail down a timeline for the wedding day, which we felt was an absolute necessity and one of the primary tasks of a wedding planner, and were met with resistance - she said we didn't need one and that these things work themselves out on their own and that a timeline can make things more stressful. We pushed back and eventually worked one out but feel we did the lion's share of creating it and received little assistance from our planner in creating it or offering us a sense of what a normal timeline should be. She assured us that a schedule was not needed in part because the vendors knew exactly what to do, and this was not at all the case. 

     

    The hand off process to the on the day coordinator was anything but smooth and felt like a way for Marry Me In France to clear themselves of any liability or blame for problems the day of - no one could be held accountable for any issues.  The venue did provide a beautiful backdrop but our on the day planner and the vendors (all referred by Marry Me In France) were unprofessional, ill-equipped,  and unprepared when it came to our requests and needs. Much of our wedding day was spent scrambling to fix mistakes which were easily avoidable-if only the coordinator was properly prepared/filled in or anyone from MMIF had been reachable the days leading up to the wedding. We have included only a handful of things that went wrong below:

     


    -Our on the day planner wasn't available for the actual wedding rehearsal so we needed to fill her in moments before we walked down the aisle on walking order and discuss song specifics with the jazz trio since MMIF never passed along this information. We were also unable to reach anyone from the Chateau or MMIF when we were without power for 18 hours. We left several messages but they did not show up to remedy this problem in any way. When the rehearsal dinner restaurant called us an hour before our dinner to tell us tha
  • ROSIE96ROSIE96 Posts: 2

    Hi Margaret34

    i know this is a few years ago now - do you have any details on this venue? did you plans work out? 

     

    Thank you 

  • catrionah321catrionah321 Posts: 1 New bride
    Margaret34 said:

    We are getting married in a gorgeous villa near Carcassonne next September with around 60 guests.  The villa is stunning and very affordable (compared to some of the ridiculous prices I have been quoted!!) and the owner is so helpful and lovely and happy to listen to what I want to truly make it the way I want it, which has saved me a few thousand pounds on a wedding planner as she does this service as part of the deal.  We are even going to stay for a few days over the summer to meet with suppliers/caterers etc, visit some vineyards and plan out how/where we want everything to happen.

    have a look at the link for details of the villa and if you are interested I can send you the owners private email for more information.  She has a variety of wedding packages so you can either just book the villa the organise the rest yourself, or she can help,with certain things, or she can take care of everything for you.  

    https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p1921110

     

     

    Margaret 

    Could you send me the email address for the owner? A stunning choice for your wedding! 

    Thanks 

    Catriona 
  • kennyibrahim_17kennyibrahim_17 Posts: 3 New bride
    MissDizzle said:

    We are looking at SW France too. have a look at   http://www.frenchweddingstyle.com/ They have lots of venues listed and they also have blogs of real weddings. 

    im having 50 and have found a house that accommodates all 50. The plan is to split the accomodation costs between the guests which will free up money to feed them properly. 

    what dates are you thinking? 

    Hello, 

    I found your comment useful. We are planning to get married between August - October 2020. We are also planning to have 50 people at our wedding. We are seriously considering South France. What venue did you use please? 

    I visited the link you posted but no concrete location came up. 

    Thanks in advance!
  • kennyibrahim_17kennyibrahim_17 Posts: 3 New bride
    morgane2 said:

    Hello there, have you found the perfect place? I'm an event planner in the south of France, and I'd be super happy to help or advise ;)

    Hello there!

    If its ok to tag on to your comment to other post, I am planning my wedding for August - October 2020. Can you contact me privately to see if we can work together please? 

    Thanks in advance!
  • SingingWaitersFranceSingingWaitersFrance Posts: 4 New bride
    MissDizzle said:

    You might struggle for next year. We're 2020 and when I have been enquiring most places are booked up for next year and taking booking for 2019. 

    Have a look through that website it's really good 

    Good luck for your wedding! If you need any surprise music entertainment - we run a company called Singing Waiters in France - we come along, pretend to be waiters and at the right moment burst into song and surprise all your guests! Making it a wedding to remember.  If you are interested have a look at our website http://bit.ly/2tU2nNn or give us a ring on 0151 316 0511 - congratulations and hope it all goes well Miss Dizzle.
    Kind regards,
    Paula
    Singing Waiters in France
  • SingingWaitersFranceSingingWaitersFrance Posts: 4 New bride
    happilyeverafter2 said:

    Looking for a planner? 

     We had such a horrible experience with Marry Me In France that we felt compelled to share our experience with potential clients. The whole planning process with Marry Me In France ended up giving us more anxiety, rather than the support a couple looks to their planner for. If you want to have a stress free wedding, I would look elsewhere for planners. We were left with such a terrible taste in our mouth that we knew we needed to post and inform others of the headache that comes with booking MMIF as planners. At the end of the day, we felt like our wedding was nothing more than a cash-grab for the company. We started off the process with the owner (Beth), then after signing the contracts, we were handed off to her aloof underling (Becky), who then wasn't even available by email the day of the wedding. We were then handed off two days prior to our wedding to an on the day coordinator who was not fully prepared or filled into any of the specifics for our special day. The whole thing felt like a bait-and-switch. After the fact, we reached out to the owner to voice our displeasure but she replied saying she was too busy to discuss or deal with until wedding season was over. 
     
    Throughout the process, we felt like we were always forced to chase down MMIF for guidance and answers which caused even more stress. Our planner was very passive and reactive and only sent answers or actually did things after we expressed concern and asked for a skype meeting to follow-up. Prior to our skype, we would finally get what we needed 5 minutes prior to the call to avoid conflict. We had to chase our planner down several times just to nail down a timeline for the wedding day, which we felt was an absolute necessity and one of the primary tasks of a wedding planner, and were met with resistance - she said we didn't need one and that these things work themselves out on their own and that a timeline can make things more stressful. We pushed back and eventually worked one out but feel we did the lion's share of creating it and received little assistance from our planner in creating it or offering us a sense of what a normal timeline should be. She assured us that a schedule was not needed in part because the vendors knew exactly what to do, and this was not at all the case. 
     
    The hand off process to the on the day coordinator was anything but smooth and felt like a way for Marry Me In France to clear themselves of any liability or blame for problems the day of - no one could be held accountable for any issues.  The venue did provide a beautiful backdrop but our on the day planner and the vendors (all referred by Marry Me In France) were unprofessional, ill-equipped,  and unprepared when it came to our requests and needs. Much of our wedding day was spent scrambling to fix mistakes which were easily avoidable-if only the coordinator was properly prepared/filled in or anyone from MMIF had been reachable the days leading up to the wedding. We have included only a handful of things that went wrong below:
     
    -Our on the day planner wasn't available for the actual wedding rehearsal so we needed to fill her in moments before we walked down the aisle on walking order and discuss song specifics with the jazz trio since MMIF never passed along this information. We were also unable to reach anyone from the Chateau or MMIF when we were without power for 18 hours. We left several messages but they did not show up to remedy this problem in any way. When the rehearsal dinner restaurant called us an hour before our dinner to tell us tha

    kennyibrahim_17 said:
    morgane2 said:

    Hello there, have you found the perfect place? I'm an event planner in the south of France, and I'd be super happy to help or advise ;)

    Hello there!

    If its ok to tag on to your comment to other post, I am planning my wedding for August - October 2020. Can you contact me privately to see if we can work together please? 

    Thanks in advance!
    kennyibrahim_17 said:
    morgane2 said:

    Hello there, have you found the perfect place? I'm an event planner in the south of France, and I'd be super happy to help or advise ;)

    Hello there!

    If its ok to tag on to your comment to other post, I am planning my wedding for August - October 2020. Can you contact me privately to see if we can work together please? 

    Thanks in advance!
    Hope it all turned out well in the end for you happyeverafter2 - sounds like a nightmare.  Best wishes for your married life together - for anyone else having problems we have a list of great independent online resources that we have found useful (and we use) - feel free to get in touch. Congratulations and Happy ever after to you all x
    Kind regards,
    Paula
    Singing Waiters in France
  • Melissa_bolandMelissa_boland Posts: 2 New bride
    Margaret34 said:

    We are getting married in a gorgeous villa near Carcassonne next September with around 60 guests.  The villa is stunning and very affordable (compared to some of the ridiculous prices I have been quoted!!) and the owner is so helpful and lovely and happy to listen to what I want to truly make it the way I want it, which has saved me a few thousand pounds on a wedding planner as she does this service as part of the deal.  We are even going to stay for a few days over the summer to meet with suppliers/caterers etc, visit some vineyards and plan out how/where we want everything to happen.

    have a look at the link for details of the villa and if you are interested I can send you the owners private email for more information.  She has a variety of wedding packages so you can either just book the villa the organise the rest yourself, or she can help,with certain things, or she can take care of everything for you.  

    https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p1921110

     

     Hi could you send me the owners details please?


    Thanks 

    Melissa

  • Melissa_bolandMelissa_boland Posts: 2 New bride
    catrionah321 said:
    Margaret34 said:

    We are getting married in a gorgeous villa near Carcassonne next September with around 60 guests.  The villa is stunning and very affordable (compared to some of the ridiculous prices I have been quoted!!) and the owner is so helpful and lovely and happy to listen to what I want to truly make it the way I want it, which has saved me a few thousand pounds on a wedding planner as she does this service as part of the deal.  We are even going to stay for a few days over the summer to meet with suppliers/caterers etc, visit some vineyards and plan out how/where we want everything to happen.

    have a look at the link for details of the villa and if you are interested I can send you the owners private email for more information.  She has a variety of wedding packages so you can either just book the villa the organise the rest yourself, or she can help,with certain things, or she can take care of everything for you.  

    https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p1921110

     

     

    Margaret 

    Could you send me the email address for the owner? A stunning choice for your wedding! 

    Thanks 

    Catriona 
    Hi carrion a, 

    Did you get the contact details?

    Thanks

    Melissa 
  • lauragarganlauragargan Posts: 1
    Margaret34 said:

    We are getting married in a gorgeous villa near Carcassonne next September with around 60 guests.  The villa is stunning and very affordable (compared to some of the ridiculous prices I have been quoted!!) and the owner is so helpful and lovely and happy to listen to what I want to truly make it the way I want it, which has saved me a few thousand pounds on a wedding planner as she does this service as part of the deal.  We are even going to stay for a few days over the summer to meet with suppliers/caterers etc, visit some vineyards and plan out how/where we want everything to happen.

    have a look at the link for details of the villa and if you are interested I can send you the owners private email for more information.  She has a variety of wedding packages so you can either just book the villa the organise the rest yourself, or she can help,with certain things, or she can take care of everything for you.  

    https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/accommodation/p1921110

     

     

    Hi Margaret,

    Would you also be able to send me on the owners email?

    The venue you chose is beautiful!

    Laura 
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