KATE & CHAD

SAINT-TROPEZ, France

May 30 - June 1, 2024

A LITTLE BACKSTORY

Kate & Chad originally had their sights set on Sicily. Even so, they wanted to explore all the options out there before determining the absolute best fit for them. Ironically, they had tabled France as a potential destination since it tends to be a much-frequented country for destination weddings in general.

What they knew for sure? They wanted a Welcome Party that felt like an old school town square takeover - something straight out of a Willy Rizzo film strip.

They also envisioned a laidback group activity turned event that was true to the destination. K&C knew from the start that they weren't "post-wedding pool party meets brunch" people. They knew if their guests had a beyond epic time at their wedding reception, they'd need all the sleep they could get the day after!

Speaking of, their wedding day dream involved a perfect blend of classic elegance and black tie formality - a venue whose natural beauty was certainly worth the fuss of international travel!

We spent a couple of months pitching properties in storybook locales from Italy to Spain, but nothing quite felt right until K&C visited Saint-Tropez for another friend's wedding in 2023. Walking the sherbet-colored streets made famous in the 60's, it was love at first sight!

We narrowed our search to this heavenly hamlet along the Riviera and voilà! The unforgettable 3-day wedding weekend you can see unfolding below was born! K&C toured hotels, vineyards and beach clubs to arrive at a flow that resonated with the feelings they wanted to create for each particular event, and we will forever cherish the magic of this celebration.

Thank you, Kate & Chad for your unshakeable faith in the creative process (and your inimitable style). We're your biggest fans!

Overnight, La Ponche was transformed into a vibrant mecca of primary colors with designs harking back to the town's humble fisherman roots

SCENE SETTERS

Guests arrived on foot through the iconic, winding chalky-colored buildings of Saint-Tropez

We took over the square by the sea, made famous by Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman

 50's riviera cha cha INSPIRED playlist

this way

simple stripes. primary colors. hand-painted lettering. canvas chairs. humble fishing village nods. pastis, pastis, pastis. sherbet townscapes. glittering sea views. 

THE INSPIRATION

WELCOME PARTY MOOD

The primary colors were heavily influenced by the palette of And God Created Woman - not to mention the quirky midcentury furniture style, fishing village textures and cha-cha forward music direction.

A Pastis Welcome

Stepping into Kate & Chad's Welcome Party that took over Saint Tropez's iconic La Ponche square was like stepping back in time. As guests made their way on foot through the sherbet colored alleys and ocean-kissed paths, they were met with objects of old (and locals to match). Fishermen assembling nets, couples playing petanque, old timers drinking pastis... It seemed only fitting to extend an invitation to the latter activity just before guests turned the corner into the main event!

Guest ARRIVAL

The Fashion

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We looked to a film props studio in Paris to source some of the unique set pieces that were used to achieve this time capsule aesthetic. The result was straight out of a Bardot film!

Kate & Chad surprised their guests with an arrival via La Ponche's cream-colored Petit Piaggo. 

Pastis is a cult classic in the South of France (often described as a less boozy cousin of absinthe)

French Riviera Chic

The guests were encouraged to stick to an all-white dress code in order to let the bold colors shine through, while Kate & Chad embraced playful patterns for their own attire. Anny Choi worked her magic here, with Kate in a Dolce & Gabbana minidress and Chad in a J. Mueser suit.

The Fashion

Table Design

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Immersive storytelling is our bread + butter, so in keeping with the theme, we gussied up the servers in classic marinière shirts, complete with vintage scarves for the banquet captains.

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Midcentury maritime Vibes

Unexpected shortages in bamboo plates from the rental company's supplier meant we had to get creative at the last hour. So we alternated the bamboo style with yellow-rimmed plates and switched up the flatware in order to keep textures unexpected, yet balanced. In the end, it all worked to our advantage and fit the playful theme perfectly!

Table Design

Layout & Flow

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Custom linens designed in collaboration with Pelican House 

Woven lobster napkin rings alternated with vintage net-style ribbon sourced from the Saturday brocante in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Going local is always a good idea!

Custom-painted dining chairs in a lovely teal shade were juxtaposed by ready-to-rent white bentwood chairs. Both colors worked as a charming foil for the red + white striped table linens!

Blue & yellow tumblers in mixed styles were placed at each setting. We're obsessed with these bold pops of color!

Rattan-wrapped glass and woven jute candle holders provided another layer of texture on the table, harking back to Saint-Tropez's fishing village past

Bamboo was an important textural component for the Welcome Party. The ultimate nod to Saint-Tropez's midcentury rise to fame!

Fishing Tavern Turned Harbor Hangout

La Ponche is the kind of place that simply radiates a mystical, otherworldly kind of feeling. And we knew from the moment we first stepped foot in this iconic square that it had the bones for an epic Welcome Party for Kate & Chad. We vollied countless different concepts in the beginning, chipping away at the flow until we arrived at the perfect sequence of well-designed vignettes (and moments) that would walk their guests back in time, to Saint-Tropez in the 40's & 50's.

Layout & Flow

We had to be strategic about how we positioned everything within the space, particularly because of a metal structure planted smack dab in the middle of the square. We embraced the bones of what could have been an eyesore and turned it into an explosion of teal with a red + white striped awning to match the wraps we created for the dining spaces opposite. This was the first space the guests would spend some time in, so we knew it had to make a positive first impression!

We took over the 3 restaurants that made up this square, one of which has been owned by the same family for over 80 years! Despite many requests, they've never allowed anything like this before, and for that we're eternally grateful.

With limited real estate, we had to get clever and be intentional about every piece of furniture we brought in. So we used the windows of the existing restaurant as bar fronts, creating our own makeshift bar inside. We used the same space as storage for all the restaurant's existing furniture (Saint-Tropez has a lot of things, but ample storage space is not among them), so we workshopped some clever draping solutions with the production company to create the illusion of a counter-service bar.

One of the major challenges was the shape of the 2 restaurants' dining spaces. Not only were the sizes totally different, they were angled in different directions! And when you're working with stripes, every piece of the puzzle has to line up just so. Symmetry was one of our biggest obstacles in designing this vignette, but we used some interior design tricks of the eye to master it in the end!

We also had to get creative with the seating plan based on the final number of RSVPs. Playing into the restaurants in a town square ambiance, we added a few more dining tables along the large stone fortress that featured a long built-in bench. We made it comfy with made-to-measure cushions inspired by the red + white yacht cushions from midcentury films, and those tables ended up being some of our favorites from the night! Always a silver lining... or at least a red, blue or yellow one! 

We placed the DJ along the stone wall, backdropped by the sea so the dance party vibes would be just so. A secondary bar to ensure speedy service during guest arrival sat opposite the DJ and turned into a live action crêpe station during dancing.

Florals & Styling

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setting the scene

Bold pops of red, blue and yellow dominated the scene via Siloh Floral's monochromatic arrangements bursting with texture + spirit.

We joined styling forces by sourcing several vintage pieces from brocantes in the South of France to complete the look with character and authenticity. Vintage fruit crates, rope bundles, oyster baskets and Japanese-style fish traps conversed with wooden fish accents suspended by raffia and teal-colored netting styled throughout the square.

Finding all these unique pieces is a labor of love - local rental companies don't have these very specific props readily available - but we love the challenge of sourcing one-of-a-kind pieces that complete the storytelling piece of production most of all!

Florals & styling

Part of this custom approach means sourcing local storage units to house said items in the final weeks leading up to the event, then managing a logistics company to get the items from point A to point B.

The logistics of this event were challenging to say the least - special driving permits from city hall, storage on-site (with A/C for the blooms), an overnight install with box trucks that fit through the tight alleyways of Saint-Tropez with nary an inch to spare.... I think our team got 4 hours of sleep for this setup, but it was well worth it in the end! 

The final floral moodboard focused on color block arrangement. We went back and forth between a mix of red, blue and yellow within most of the centerpieces, but drawing on the art inspiration from Kate & Chad's home (and keeping in mind the stripes along the table that would keep the eyes busy already), we ultimately decided that a monochromatic approach would create the kind of impact K&C were looking for. And Liz from Siloh Floral could not have translated this vision to reality any better!

Liz's team moved with such swiftness, precision and creativity that we're still pinching ourselves to this day. A mad display of seasoned expertise and innate talent if we ever saw one!

Paper Goods

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Painterly Penmanship

paper goods

Romeo & Jules knocked the wedding branding out of the park! Riffing off the cheerful style of the Save-the-Dates, we collaborated with Jen & team on a Welcome Booklet that exuded Saint-Tropez charm.

Beyond the basics, we also dreamed up a custom bar which served cocktails during arrival + crêpes during dancing. Custom cocktail napkins and striped crêpe cones in several colorways with red, blue and yellow were a must to complete the look!

Food & Bev

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Iterations of the Welcome Booklet mood before the final product took shape!

The escort cards built upon the illustrations featured in these booklets and were styled in the square as if they were postcards in a village storefront.

This fish-shaped chalkboard cost Haley 5 new wrinkle lines, but she'd happily pitch the idea again for a chance to witness the guest reactions to this fresh and quirky concept! Paper Birch Designs executed our vision perfectly - literally lasercutting this custom shape from scratch!

Exemplary Provençal Fare

The menu was a celebration of the South of France. As Kate & Chad are both pescatarian, we followed a mostly seafood and vegetarian-forward menu for the majority of the wedding events. But for the Welcome Party, we incorporated meat in small doses. Namely... the petit farcis! A provençal classic featuring tomatoes and zucchinis stuffed with a sausage and herb blend, served on a bed of rice with tomato sauce.

FOOD & BEV

Each table had their own server - a local that brought warm hospitality, a lively spirit and crazy attention to detail for the presentation of every course.

Dance Party

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One of the major vibe killers for events is a meal where guests at one end of the room have to watch everyone else served for 15 minutes before they get their own plates. We never, ever, ever want to let that happen! So we create master plans with the caterer months ahead of time to ensure simultaneous service. Outside of the US, this tends to be a foreign concept that takes some re-training. Partnering with La Ponche for this exceptional level of service could not have been more seamless.

Barefoot Boogie, from Bardot to Bon Entendeur 

Dance party

The music set the scene throughout the night, from the bongo/cha cha vibes during the guest arrival to the uptempo house remixes featured during the dance party that "organically" followed dinner. DJ Jamie from Élan Artists killed it on the decks! 

Fit check.

(The bridal party understood the assignment)

Guest Arrival

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Music is one of our favorite tools for curating a memorable guest experience. Following many a conversation with Kate & Chad about how they wanted their guests to feel during each event, we worked with DJ Jamie to ensure the songs didn't repeat from day-to-day. Multi-day events require so much more intentionality than a simple must-play and no-play list!

WELCOME PARTY DANCING PLAYLIST

Click here to listen

K&C wanted to celebrate Chad's Trinidad & Tobago heritage throughout the Beach Club designs, hence the bright tropical hues, fruit-forward decor moments and infectious Afrobeats music direction

BEACH CLUB MOOD

THE INSPIRATION

SCENE SETTERS

Ramatuelle is a mere 10 minute drive from Saint-Tropez!

We collected guests from the center of town and brought them to this delicious stretch of sand via looping shuttles.

TROPICAL AFROBEATS INSPIRED playlist

this way

mini mokes. vibrant colors. fruity flowers. fruitier drinks. Trinidadian fare. live sax. island motifs. dancing on the tables. boogie on the beach.

A glossy mini moke in pretty powder blue brought Kate & Chad in true Riviera fashion!

Put the Rum In The Coconut

The guest experience started well before their arrival at Jardin Tropezina. Saint-Tropez tends to be a very tricky spot for transportation in general, but especially during summer. Despite the endless potential for hiccups in the guest experience, we made sure it was seamless.

guest arrival

The Fashion

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Guests were welcomed with creamy coconut mojitos or fresh coconut water, served in branded coconuts to match the event! Multicolored biodegradable rice straws completed the look, alongside custom bright cocktail napkins with gold foil palm tree accents 



Our "coconut man" provided some live entertainment and helped with guest flow by being positioned further into the event space for coconut cocktail refills

Escaping the crowds along Pampelonne Beach, we planted our Beach Club Celebration roots in nearby Ramatuelle, where white sands are bordered by crystalline waves. 

Kate & Chad had a special mini moke arrival!

How did we do it?

We calculated the perfect event timings considering temperatures, sun exposure and traffic patterns, in addition to the basics (flow, access times for setup, etc.)

For transportation, we organized small groups across 8 looping sprinter vans and communicated the transportation schedule to each individual group in advance + on the day by WhatsApp.

(We live by the ethos of keeping guest comms simple + straightforward at all times.)

We stationed 2 of our team members at the pickup point and the dropoff location to direct guests in-person

We constantly tracked each shuttle's location using Apple Airtags since signals can be spotty in these parts

We actively communicated each shuttle's ETA to the food + bev team at the venue so freshly prepared welcome drinks would be at the ready 30-45 seconds before their arrival. Seriously... no one wants melted ice in their cocktail!

Tropical Beach Chic

Chad wore an embroidered Andersson Bell shirt featuring abstract palms + tropical blooms - trés chic! 

The Fashion

Bright + botanical, colorfully abstract, Côte d'Azur casual... these were the vibes for K&C's Beach Club Day. And the guests brought their A-game.

Kate wowed in a high-waisted Zimmermann skirt with a ruffled asymmetric hem, paired with a Cult Gaia bikini top for the post-lunch swim sesh. Fashion stylist Anny Choi worked her magic, as she always does!

We loved seeing the self-expression on display throughout K&C's guest list. With coral, teal and deliciously hot pink as the MVPs of the color game, unique accessories proved that it's all in the details. Gold marine life belts, stylish sunnies, embroidered clutches and chunky necklaces completed these one-of-a-kind looks that still have us reeling.

Table Design

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Pro Tip: Share fashion moodboards for each event on your wedding website to give your guests guidance on colors, silhouettes, formality and the overall vibe!

Go big or go home! That was our approach to the table designs for K&C's Beach Club Lunch - a laidback family-style shindig backdropped by the sea.

As with anything, things look different in person than online. So the original rentals we chose for the tablescapes had to be workshopped quite a bit during one of our in-house table mockup days at the rental studio in London.

We ultimately arrived at 4 distinct combinations of linens, chargers, dinner + salad plates, cutlery, napkins and glassware that you see in the final photos. Maximalism at its best!

The Table Design

The Table design

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Layout & Flow

Pattern play is always a balance of scale - pairing large with small, complementing colors in even doses, layering textures that make sense together.

France tends to be more limited with its rental options, so we sourced many pieces from the UK - that means couriers, customs, temporary storage... In the spirit of Y2K era Kirsten Dunst (that we evidently always seem to embrace), bring it on.

our Job is beach

We were tasked with transforming this seaside Mediterranean garden into an oasis of bright colors + tropical fruits. It was a day to honor Chad's Trinidadian heritage through music, decor and cuisine, so in thinking about how we wanted guests to experience the space, we knew we needed to make a killer first impression. Hence... the coconut man!

With guest arrivals staggered by 5 minutes, we also had to consider where we would position lounges and hightop tables in order to pull guests all the way through, towards the sea, in order to avoid a bottleneck at the bar.

LAYOUT & FLOW

Florals & Styling

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Following about an hour of mingling, we transitioned to the part of the terrace we dedicated to dining tables for a family-style lunch!

After mains were served, a live saxophonist surprised the guests by playing tableside in tandem with DJ Jamie. The energy was palpable! So much that guests couldn't stay in their seats. Dancing on tables turned into dancing on the beach, as guests enjoyed a post-lunch dance, dip or dream. The perfect day!

Ultimately, we strategized some exact routes for the servers tray-passing apps and drinks to take during the the initial guest arrival period to help with a seamless flow. The Jardin Tropezina team were totally aligned with the mission, and it made all the difference on the day!

After mains were served, a live saxophonist surprised the guests by playing tableside in tandem with DJ Jamie. The energy was palpable! So much that guests couldn't stay in their seats. Dancing on tables turned into dancing on the beach, as guests enjoyed a post-lunch dance, dip or dream. The perfect day!

Following about an hour of mingling, we transitioned to the part of the terrace we dedicated to dining tables for a family-style lunch!

A Tutti Frutti Fête

FLORALS & STYLING

Paper Goods

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We cannot sing enough praises about the supremely talented Liz Griffith, owner of Siloh Floral, who turned our brief of "tropical tutti frutti vibes" to life in a way that exceeded everyone's wildest dreams.

She and her team sourced unique floral varieties that felt like conversation-starters in themselves, with no shortage of interesting textures or shapes. The result was a truly spectacular garden of Eden whose fruit anyone would fall for.

We couldn't resist the temptation to add some pops of pink, orange and yellow to the verdant entrance of Jardin Tropezina. Sneak a peek at one of our inspo images below!

A little hint of orchid, a splash of papaya, a sprinkle of dahlias... Siloh Floral colored outside the lines for these creative centerpieces. Every single one of them was different! Conscious of the different table linens we were working with across the dining area, Liz made sure the florals would have an equally stimulating conversation.

One of our favorite details was the natural arch leading to the beach. Liz called in all the floral reinforcements for this striking display that we knew every guest would pass beneath at some point during the day.

Another memorable floral element was the coconut bar vignette - Siloh styled the bar, props and escort card materials with swooping garlands that brought the sense of whimsy + nonchalance in spades.

LET'S GET TECHNICAL

Incorporating real, sliced fruits into the styling of an event is no easy feat. Sliced fruits tend to attract bugs or change colors once opened, so believe it when we say that getting them to look freshly sliced for 6 hours straight is an ART. Liz and her team handled this with aplomb, carefully selecting which fruits should be sliced vs. remain whole to keep everything looking fresh, bright and oh-so-juicy.