Vacation Herald

Destination weddings are filling a need among engaged couples. Statistically one out of every six couples getting married for the first time choose a destination wedding. Incredibly that number rises to 61% for couples getting remarried. For most folks, destination weddings offer a chance to celebrate in style.

A destination wedding is more romantic since it takes it out of a ballroom or catering hall to a setting with some spectacular vista.

For those seeking seclusion, destination weddings are the best way to guarantee privacy on the wedding day. If you want to have an incredible wedding, you can’t beat a destination wedding. They are definitely a trend and growing every second.

The modern world draws no insurmountable lines. Imagine the appeal of a wedding abroad, with your friends and family re-creating the traditions from home…What a new, amazing perspective– replacing the setting with the sweet oak forest, or sunflower fields, scented by the sweet smell of grapes harvested in late September…
Let your fantasies wander, imagine your wedding with the historical backdrop of significant cultural importance, or in a luxurious wedding castle which has been home to important artists and noble families in France.

The whole wedding experience is about creating an incomparable individual event– a magical and inspiring journey. The Wedding Couples’ intimate wish is cherishing the memory of their Wedding Day, the most important event in their life– making it unforgettable and extraordinary, their families and friends joining the event of a lifetime.

If you do not have $11 000 lying around to fly in your wedding cake from Los Angeles ? No problem just have your dedicated wedding planner research the best caterers, bakers and pastry chefs in France. French chocolate is to die for. Or you could consider atraditional French wedding cake known as a pièce montée, literally “mounted piece,” which is an intricate pyramid of hundreds of individual macaroons, meringues or cream puffs. It is an lovely part of any French celebration.

Your Wedding Planner can recommend a photographer, hair stylist, florist, musicians etc. The entire concept is to try to make planning a wedding as easy, fun and hassle free as possible for you.

If you have a bottomless purse, the top end of the french chateau wedding market is Chateau de Vaux Vicomte which holds about 4 weddings a year. This exquisite property was featured in such films as Marie Antoinette and was the setting for Eva Longoria and Tony Parker’s exchange of vows in July 2007. A wedding on this site’s 100 hedge-trimmed and landscaped acres will cost a minimum of 39,205 euros ($57,893) for five hours, but depending on your guest list (the site holds between 400 and 800 people) catering will boost your bill up to 144,000 euros ($212,021) more. The only drawback is that the castle offers no overnight packages, but Paris and all it has to offer in excellent lodging is a mere 34 miles away.

You’d think all that money would buy you a headache-free few days. Not so.

These prices don’t include a lot of things that to-be-weds would want to also have at their wedding like welcome gift bags for their guests, wedding favours, their own wedding dress and tux.

France is a truly wonderful destination for a wedding abroad and you and your guests will be captivated by its charms. In fact if you choose to have your wedding in France one of the most challenging aspects is deciding which of the many beautiful locations and venues will set the scene for your big day.

Unfortunately France has some of the most stringent residency requirements of all the European countries. If you or your affianced can not satisfy the 40 day residency requirement, you can simply have a “secret” civil ceremony in your home country prior to your wedding day and then have a highly personalised wedding ceremony on the day of our wedding. Don’t let the residency requirements discourage you from having your castle wedding in France. Consider alternative options such as a blessing or a humanist wedding ceremony before settling on a different location.

Some Advice from couples who had their weddings in France.

Get the legalities right – it could be disastrous if you find 3 weeks before the wedding that you can’t get married and people have booked flights and accommodation.

Don’t expect things to work the same way as they do in your home country. Ask as many questions as many times as you need to in order to make sure you get the answers you need.

If you enjoy learning about the pioneer days of central Oregon plus like seeing a variety of interesting wildlife up close, you’ll enjoy visiting the High Desert Museum. The High Desert Museum is a fun and educational attraction located near Bend in Central Oregon.

Wildlife such as owls, eagles, hawks, reptiles, wild cats and more are kept on site and featured in exhibits at the Museum. In addition to the Wildlife housed here, there are many fascinating exhibits related to various cultures and their experiences in the High Desert region.

Native American cultures, European Basque culture, and the experiences of settlers and pioneers are all topics explored throughout the Museum. Living history exhibits focus on pioneer experiences, and there are several of these fun, educational exhibits on site.

In addition to viewing wildlife up close and touring exhibits related to cultures of the High Desert, there are paved nature trails to explore and enjoy on the grounds of the Museum, as well.

Usually children are the focal point and delight of any marriage. But this is not to say that they are particularly suited to weddings. Often a wedding is an adult occasion - which can create some problems.

When all of your arrangements have been made: the venue, cars and entertainment booked, and an exotic honeymoon on the horizon, don’t overlook a subject that could possibly mar the wedding - children and whether they should attend.

Certainly, inviting children may cause problems. Let’s be honest about this. To the average small child, weddings are a total bore. They have to spend hour after hour hanging around in unfamiliar smart clothes. A church service is not exactly designed as children’s entertainment (after all, even some of the adult visitors find it a trifle boring…) The events of the day which are often the very opposite of their usual routine at home hardly fit in with their routine. Children’s demands for attention are ignored because people are too busy with the wedding formalities - or meeting people they haven’t seen in years.

All this makes children very receptive to the general air of excitement around them - and this is when high spirits can take over.

With all the tons of advice published about wedding arrangements, you will find little or nothing about how to deal with the children.

Yousimply have three choices.

1. You could introduce a ‘no children’ rule, at your wedding without guilt.

Some wedding horror stories include a wedding where the top table was completely demolished, cake and all, by children careering around and pulling at the tablecloth … During the speeches, they ran up and down the hall around the tables, squealing and shrieking. … Occasionally a guest - not a parent - tried to stop them. They thought that was part of the game - and got worse …None of their parents made a move to stop them. Nobody could hear a word.

Unfortunately you can not guarantee parents will be responsible and keep control of their children. You may be one of a handful of unfortunate couples who “offend” some people by imposing a “no children” rule at their wedding. But do not fret as it is usually only the parents of totally unruly children that are offended. But stand fast and remember it is your day not theirs. True friends will go along with whatever you choose to make your special day a happy one.

To promote better understanding, you couldring up to explain your decision, rather than merely adding a bald statement to the invitation.

Do not feel bad, lots of parents would prefer to go to a wedding with a babysitter at home looking after their precious children. Lots of children are at weddings, because relatives think that the little ones are expected to attend, not because the parents want them to be there cramping their style and quashing their enjoyment of an adult celebration.

2. You could allow children at your wedding but remember this is not a kiddies birthday party so if possible keep their numbers as low as possible.

Remember that at a wedding, the responsibility has to be on the parent of the child to make sure that a child’s behaviour does not cause worry and distress to anyone at the wedding.

So, here are some hopefully helpful suggestions which might be useful to distribute to parents -if you can do so diplomatically…

* Parents should decide beforehand, who will be the one to take a fretful son or daughter out of the church.
* Ask parents with small children to sit near the back of the church if possible so that you can leave with a minimum of fuss.
* Parents should take small, quiet toys or books into the church for young child to play with.
* Little packets of raisins can be eaten without making a mess and too much sound and will fill another 10 minutes.
* Ask someone to make sure that parents with children where the toilets are before the service starts.
* Appoint a guest a special usher to assist parents at the church service - this person should help the parents with children to an appropriate place towards the back of the churh, explain where the toilets are and hand out little kiddy welcome packs to help pass the time during the service
* For the reception dinner, make sure that there are child friendly meals for all children. Not all kids like foie gras or salmon with asparagus. Ask the caterers what child’s meals they offer and make sure that parents are given the options.
* If parents have a child who is a particularly fastidious faddy eater, then sugest that they take along a sandwich for him to have at the reception.
* An excited hungry child is much worse than just an excited child
* Make sure that parents are told if punch is alcoholic so that young kids are given strict instructs and do not get paralytic and have to be rushed to hospital
* Enquirewhether there is a place where kids can run off steam and all of their excitement
* Is there a tranquil spot available so that young children can have their usual afternoon [/spin]sleep|nap[/spin].
* Young children simply are not capable of sitting and listening to long speeches so if they are not asleep parents should be expected to take turns to entertain them or walk around with them
* if a child becomes tired and over-excited it is time for the parents to leave or to hand the tired little angel over to a resident babysitter

3. You could invite only a handful of children and limit children to only close relatives. Hopefully you know these children well and will have some idea how they will behave and how responsible their parents will be. Often children just attend the church service and are handed to a babysitter for the reception. This is a great compromise. The kiddies can be there for some group family photographs and not possibly mar the evening celebration.

At our wedding chateau we can have a creche set up for you so you can enjoy your chateau wedding without interruption. You can have your castle wedding with or without children.