Inside a black-tie Château de Villette wedding near Paris: an outdoor ceremony, candlelit dinner, live jazz and a rain plan redesigned on the day.
CHÂTEAU DE VILLETTE, VAL-D’OISE
Four days · 80 guests · Los Angeles
Rehearsal dinner · Welcome party · Ceremony · Black-tie dinner · Sunday brunch
Photography Constantine · Florals Atelier Mimoza · Catering Grand Chemin Traiteur
A four-day celebration in Paris, centred around a wedding at one of Île-de-France’s most remarkable private estates.
The celebrations had begun two days earlier, with an intimate rehearsal dinner followed by a welcome party on the Seine, and would end the following morning over brunch at a quintessentially Parisian café overlooking the Eiffel Tower. But Saturday belonged entirely to Château de Villette in Condécourt, a historic French château in the Val-d’Oise, just outside Paris. For our American bride and Brazilian groom, the plan was a black-tie celebration that would make full use of the estate: getting ready inside the château, a first look and portraits in the gardens, an outdoor ceremony, cocktails overlooking the grounds, dinner by candlelight and dancing late into the night. Villette is extraordinary precisely because there are so many different ways to experience it. The arrival is spectacular, the restored interiors are beautiful and the formal gardens give a wedding an immediate sense of place. But it is also a château where the sequence of the day needs to be considered very carefully — particularly when the weather changes.
When the Weather Changes the Wedding
Our original wet-weather plan had already been established. With a guest count of fewer than eighty, the château itself gave us an indoor alternative should we need it. What arrived that weekend, however, was not simply the possibility of a passing shower. Paris was experiencing exceptionally cold, persistent rain, changing not only where dinner could happen but how guests could move comfortably through an entire afternoon and evening. At 9 a.m., as the production teams arrived on site, we made the decision to activate a third version of the wedding. The Glass Room at Château de Villette was brought into the plan for dinner; cocktails would move through the château and its terraces; the after-party would take place in one of the château’s wings; and we would preserve the outdoor ceremony for as long as the weather allowed. Once that decision was made, our couple entrusted the day entirely to us. For the bride in particular, letting go was not insignificant: she had imagined getting married outside from the beginning. Our job was not simply to protect the event from the rain, but to protect as much of that original experience as possible.
A Ceremony Between the Rain
And, in the end, the gardens remained part of the day. The couple had their first look outside and were able to take portraits around the estate before joining their families for a quiet moment in Château de Villette’s small chapel — parents and grandparents together before the ceremony began. Later, guests gathered in front of the château for the vows. The rain held just long enough for us to begin outside, and then returned halfway through the ceremony. Umbrellas had already been positioned for every guest and were distributed immediately, allowing the couple to continue exactly where they were rather than moving the ceremony indoors midway through. There was something unexpectedly wonderful about it: black tie, the façade of Villette behind them, rows of umbrellas opening almost at once, and a bride who still got to say her vows outside. Afterwards, the celebration moved inside the château for cocktails, with the gardens always visible beyond the windows. Whenever the rain stopped, guests drifted back onto the terraces; when it returned, they came inside again. Rather than losing the outdoors altogether, the afternoon became a constant conversation between the château and its gardens.
Candlelight, Jazz and a Brazilian Finale
By dinner, the atmosphere had changed completely. The Glass Room became a candlelit dining space, delicate against the darkness and rain outside, with the transparency of the room allowing the estate to remain present throughout the evening. Live jazz set the tone — including a singer brought specially from Italy for the celebration — before the night gradually became less formal. A cocktail bar opened, capoeira performers introduced a first burst of Brazilian energy and, later, Brazilian dancers brought everyone onto the dance floor in a nod to the groom’s heritage. What had begun as an elegant French château wedding ended with an entirely different rhythm.
None of this was the version of the day we had drawn several months earlier. It was, however, still recognisably the wedding our couple had imagined: the gardens, the ceremony outside, the intimacy of the château, a candlelit dinner and a very good party. At a historic French château, a rain plan is rarely just another room. It is a second version of the entire wedding — sometimes a third — designed so that when circumstances change, the experience does not.
TEAM
Wedding Planner & Designer: @morganeandersonevents I Wedding Venue: @chateau_de_villette @theheritagecollection I Photography: @ksemenikhin_wed @andy.nasta.wedding I Videography: @keithscottfilms I Florals: @ateliermimozaparis I Caterer: @grandchemintraiteur I Rentals: @asdesignrental @rentaluxparis I Live Jazz Band & Technical team : @jazzaroundmidnight I Brésilien Dancers: @lesdanseusesdor I Stationery: @invitatiiloveandpaper I Hair and Makeup Artist: @makeup.bycharlene
