We recently shared with you this adventurous couple’s four-day-long engagement roundtrip through the Shetland Islands in Scotland. In concluding this two-part blog series, please enjoy the story of Perle & Baptiste’s intimate mountain wedding in the French Alps.
Perle & Baptiste: Part 2
Summer wedding in the Alps
After 30km, 1600m of positive elevation, 2200m of negative elevation, an extraordinary state of fatigue and pain in the legs that I could no longer stand, who could have imagined that I was going to come cross the look of the one who was to become the man of my life during my very first mountain race. However, it was on the first step of the podium that I saw his first smile.
But how could he have run so fast?
Not being able to wait any longer to try and approach him, on Monday I rushed to my computer to check the times and the results of the runners. After some research on social networks I found myself allowed to send him a little congratulatory message… Since then we have never left each other.
From the first dates, we realized that our relationship would be more than a short adventure. After only a few months of the relationship, we had shared so much and already had so many plans. Getting married and starting a family was obvious, but when?
It was then that during our summer vacation almost a year and 3 months after our meeting, it was on a boat that Baptiste took the plunge and knelt under the most beautiful sunset of all time, improvising a wonderful declaration of love that completely blew me away. After that moment, nothing was the same, we were in a cloud and we felt bound by love, complicity and infallible trust.
Both mad in love with nature and mountains, we obviously wanted a wedding in our style and it was not easy to reconcile the practical side with the dream of getting married on the top of a mountain. So even if the access road worried us a lot for the 150 attending guests, we do not regret having organized our reception in a magnificent chalet Le pi-maï, perched at an altitude of more than 1900m and located in the heart of the city from the Serre-Chevalier ski area in the Hautes-Alpes. An idyllic setting that we love a lot and which has given us a lot of joy and emotion.
Regarding the second day, we wanted to favor easier access and for the ceremony we chose to celebrate our spiritual union in a field facing a mountain and it is in this same town where I was born. The whole day was orchestrated at Frog, a restaurant ideally located at the foot of the slopes. Typically Scottish (the country where we joined our brilliant photographer a few months ago for a most adventurous engagement session and God knows we love it!) in a style we like, rustic and very warm. We cannot thank Jaimi enough, my childhood friend, his Mum Die, Elodie, Fabienne and the whole team who did a fabulous job!
The preparations were long and tedious. In all honesty, when I think about it I always think to myself ‘Phew, I’m glad that’s behind us!’. Baptiste wasn’t as involved as I would have liked so I often felt desperate, telling myself that I will never get there. I must admit that I wanted to do a lot of things. Organizing a wedding over 2 days and in 2 different places and themes, it’s still quite a challenge! With a little too much attention to detail, I found it really hard to step back and spent my time hesitating and changing my mind about everything… so it took a long time and a crazy amount of energy!
Fortunately I was able to count on our respective families and loved ones who helped us a lot! Obviously I do not regret this short year of preparation because even if it was not always easy, that is what partly made this day so special and unforgettable. Always tell yourself that if you skip the preparations, you are ready for the next step.
It’s not a myth, it was really the most beautiful days of our life. To have the most loved people in the world with us to celebrate love with a capital ‘L’ was a joy. Just indescribable. We let go and tried to make the most of our guests. Our families, loved ones and service providers really ensured the unfolding of D-days, we just had to let ourselves be carried away and for that we will never thank them enough!
The weather was wonderful, we were in a dream environment, catering level we were satisfied, service, aperitif, meal, everything really lived up to our expectations. The bands and DJs were amazing, the atmosphere was great!
For the first day, we dreamed of a rustic, hipster and mountain wedding and for the second day, a bohemian atmosphere with some oriental touches to represent my Algerian origins. For one hour the DJ played dancing music from the country, it was an obligatory passage and I was looking forward to it. I had treated myself to a beautiful princess of the Sahara dress that I loved wearing. It was a fabulous time, with all these different moods, there were several outfits to plan and it was really a treat to see that the guests had almost all played along, they were TOO beautiful!
We had incredible surprises: video editing, sketches sponsored by our loved ones, wonderful speeches, a lot of nice touches and not to mention all those words on the guestbook that touched us so much.
Credits
Photographer - Zephyr & Luna
Reception Venue - Le Pi Mai
Ring - Paola Krauze
Suit - Sandro Paris
Dress - Kaa Couture