Olivia and Dan - The Proposal

Photographer: Steve Hepper

“Ours is a story of fate!” says Olivia Maycock of how she met her husband Dan. “We met while doing a ski season in the French Alps – I was a resort manager and Dan was a driver for a transfer company. One day I had to hitch a lift from Geneva Airport to Courchevel and Dan was my saviour! We stayed together after the ski season before I moved to Derbyshire to be with him, and have been together six years.” Dan proposed in Dubai and the couple were married in France in the village where Olivia’s mum lives; they held the reception in the garden of her French farmhouse.

Olivia and Dan - The Ceremony

“Our ceremony was at the local mairie (village hall) near where my mum lives,” says Olivia. “We met in the Alps and have always loved France so it made sense to get married there. Also mum mum’s house is wonderful with a beautifully cultivated garden and we wanted to make a real weekend of it with all our friends and family there.” The couple exchanged vows at the tiny mairie, with windows open so that the crowd of friends outside could still hear the vows. “In France you still have to do the legal bit at the mairie even if you get married in a church, and we’re not religious so we stuck with the civil ceremony. There were a few funny moments; in a French wedding the Mayor talks about financial stability and, as I am not known for being good with money, the whole room erupted in laughter, which stopped the nerves! Also, when my mum was translating Dan’s details she said he was born in 1778!”

Olivia and Dan - The Ceremony

“When we came out of the mairie everyone threw natural confetti and Dan’s fireman friends have us a guard of honour with their dress parade hats – a French tradition!” says Olivia. “We then led everyone over the road to the Salle de Fete (party room) for our Vin d’Honneur, a French tradition where you have champagne and pastries, a bit like a drinks reception, with everyone from the village. It had a real summer fete feel! Then our wedding car led a procession up to my mum’s, with everyone beeping their horns!”

Olivia and Dan - The Dress

“After much searching, I decided to have my dress made for me by Emily Jane Bridalwear in Belper,” says Olivia. “It was in Thai Silk Dupion and had a corseted body, with a full skirt and there were just a few Swarovski crystals scattered on the bodice and skirt to catch the light when I moved – It was so gorgeous, I am so glad I had it made to exactly what I wanted! My jewellery was made for me by my friend Rosemarie Priestley. I wanted something stylish that wouldn’t overpower the dress, so she made me a necklace and bracelet with little pearls and crystals on thin silver wire and simple earrings to match. For the ceremony and initial photos I wore a simple mantilla veil, but for later on I borrowed a tiara from Rosemarie to match the jewellery, which was my something borrowed.

“My two bridesmaids, friends Natalie and Lydia, wore lilac knee length dresses, which Natalie had made to a pattern we designed in Dubai. My nieces were my two flowergirls who had white dresses from Monsoon and little handbags to match – they were so cute!”

Olivia and Dan - The Groom\'s Suit

“Dan and his two best men wore casual grey cotton suits from Moss Bros and soft collared white shirts,” says Olivia. “Dan was adamant that he wanted to be casual (he never wears suits!) so he nearly wore Converse All Stars with the suit, but I managed to convince him to wear some nice black brogues from Topman at the last minute!”

Olivia and Dan - Choosing The Bouquet

“When I was looking for my bouquet, I was determined that I wanted a big, tumbling bouquet that wasn’t too neat to keep with the country theme. The florist, L’Arum Fleuriste, (0033 231 68 05 75) in Vire, France, did a magnificent job! The bouquet had white orchids, lilac, pink and white roses, lilies, green fern and ivy in it. The bridesmaids’ bouquets were simple with white, lilac and pink roses and gypsophila. We had a matching table decoration in the Mairie.”

Olivia and Dan - A Garden Party Reception

“The theme for our reception was ‘fête champêtre’ which translates as ‘garden party’,” says Olivia. “The colour scheme was pastels – lilac, pale pink and pale blue – and the whole day had a relaxed, informal feel about it. The reception was in a marquee in my mum’s garden. We didn’t want a traditional table layout, so we had tables set in long lines with the top table at the end. The marquee was decorated with homemade bunting, twinkling fairy lights and lanterns hanging in trees. All the flowers came from my mother’s garden and were picked and arranged by her and her trusty helpers – they looked amazing! We wanted them to look like a country party, so we put them in Bonne Maman jam jars wrapped in white crêpe paper and tied with pink raffia. The flowers we used were roses, sweet peas (which smelled divine!), gypsophila and lavender. All the arrangements were perfect as they fit so well with the relaxed theme of the wedding. The table were names after French ski resorts, except for ours which was Geneva Airport because that’s where we met!”

Olivia and Dan - The Message Tree Guest Book

“Instead of a guest book, we had a ‘message tree’ where people tied messages onto the branches of the tree – it looked so beautiful, with all the little white labels hanging on the branches!”

Olivia and Dan - Presents Guests At The Reception

“We made homemade ‘boozy French fruit’ for our guests’ favours; apricots or prunes soaked in French brandy. All we did was buy some packs of the dried fruit, chop them up, boil it all up then soak them over night – it made a kind of boozy jam, which was delicious! We put this in mini jam jars, put circles of fabric on the top to match the bunting that we’d made for the marquee and tied luggage tags with the person’s name and a message from us on it. For the kids, we put Jelly Beans in the jam jar!”

Olivia and Dan - The Reception Meal

“We had always wanted a very relaxed meal, with a spit roast, and our caterer, Yves LeCouey, did us proud!” says Olivia. “He served a buffet of miniature starters (pictured) then roast lamb, ham and suckling pigs on a spit with Dauphinoise potatoes and spring vegetables for main. For dessert, again, we had a buffet of miniature puddings, which were delicious. Then, the caterer surprised us with a chocolate torte wedding cake with sparklers!”

Olivia and Dan - The Cake

“Our wedding cake was a pile of Mr Kiplings French Fancies – chosen for the colours, but also for the fact that Mr Kipling is quintessentially English and they are ‘French’ fancies! Our friends wrote our names in icing on the top as a surprise.”

Olivia and Dan - The First Dance

“After dinner my dad did a great speech and, to open it up, he surprised us by singing (unaccompanied!) The Brindisi from La Traviata by Joseph Verdi - he’s a semi-professional opera singer, so that was a real treat! Our friend Tim (Starnite discos 07960 838 329) did a wonderful disco for us. Our first dance was the entertainment! We didn’t want to do something soppy, so we did a routine to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, which is one of my favourite songs!

“The biggest tip I would give to any bride is really to enjoy it – everyone says it goes so quickly and it sure does. No matter how much you sweat the small stuff, it’ll all be ‘alright on the night!’ If you’re going for a country style, low-key theme at a home wedding like we did, homemade is best and keep it simple! We made what we could ourselves (including our bunting, which took ages, but was worth it in the end) and hunted round for bargains like mini-lanterns from eBay. Another tip is that I found using a wedding planner website (I used weddingwire.com) absolutely invaluable.”