This entry is from our Expert Guest series where wedding and honeymoon professionals share their best tips on creating memories that last a lifetime.
Looking for a gorgeous wedding venue where you will want to honeymoon after the ceremony? Having a destination wedding and a June honeymoon in Provence, France will help you start out your life together with unforgettable memories.
What’s to remember?
Gorgeous blue skies, silvery olive groves, yellow sunflowers as far as the eye can see, outdoor cafés, world-renowned vineyards, hilltop villages bustling with activity, cobblestone streets dotted with art galleries, local markets overflowing with seasonal produce such as cherries, peaches, melons, strawberries, tomatoes, salads, olives¦.and lavender!
When you are setting up your registry for your destination wedding and romantic getaway, Provence is the stuff memories are made of.
Great Sites to See on your June Honeymoon in Provence
Don’t Miss the Lavender
The lavender season is very short so needs to be timed right. The last two weeks in June can pretty much be guaranteed to have velvet-blue rolling carpets adding an awe-inspiring element to an already gorgeous time of year. The Luberon and Mont Ventoux areas are perfect to explore either by bike, or by car.
For those who opt the cycling option your senses will be awakened! The gentle buzzing of bees on the lavender blooms, the fragrant scents, the heat on your skin, and a cool glass of rosé is a refreshing reward after an exhilarating day spinning through the colorful countryside.
Vineyards, Markets, and More in Provence
Provence is a timeless world where the lifestyle, people and landscape are in a peaceful tranquility cherishing the simple things in life: excellent cuisine, fine wine, breathtaking scenery, good company and a game of petanque as the sun starts to set¦.
The following are not to be missed: Wednesday morning market in St Remy de Provence, lavender fields around the Mont Ventoux, meandering through villages such as Les Baux de Provence, Gordes, Roussillon, Aix-en Provence, and visiting historical sites such as Abbaye de Senanque, Vaison la Romaine, Pont du Gard, ¦.
The main things to do in the area include wine-tastings, cycling, cooking-classes, museums, historical visits, and eating great food.
Great Places to Stay
Bastide de Marie
A boutique hotel in Menerbes, France, Bastide de Marie is an 18th-century stone mansion on a wine estate that includes 57 acres of vineyards. Many couples decide to have their wedding ceremony on this picturesque property as well as their honeymoon. You will enjoy the ambiance of a typical country farm surrounded by cypress trees, lavender bushes, and olive trees. During the day, you can take secateurs into the vineyards and enjoy wine tasting in the cellars, explore nearby villages, or enjoy amenities such as the spa. While you will be captivated by the food in the award-wining restaurant on site, you will want to take advantage of a cooking lesson using food from a local market.
Crillon le Brave
Located in a hilltop village of the same name, this lovely hotel is a group of eight buildings constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries and converted to a hotel starting in 1989. Day trips to villages in Provence, the vineyards of Chateauneuf du Pape, ancient Roman antiquities, and upscale villages such as Luberon and Gordes are popular ways to pass the time for honeymooners who want to leave the hotel and explore. Those who want to relax and be pampered will find the restaurant, spa, a heated pool, and massages perfect for passing the day.
Château de Massillan
Built as hunting lodge by Henri II and Diane de Poitiers in 1555, the Château de Massillan is popular wedding venue and 4-star hotel that provides a relaxing setting for couples in search of a countryside retreat. With some rooms more traditional and other more contemporary and scattered around the estate, the hotel is famed for its restaurant stocked with food from an organic kitchen garden and natural lake. Many enjoy a group cooking class and visit to the on-site wine cellar, but other activities in the area include exploring nearby cities such as Avignon and Châteauneuf du Pape.
Cabro d’Or
Located in Bouche-du-Rhone in the south of France, the Cabro d’Or recently merged with L’Oustau de Baumaniere to form a complex building, which include a manor and two gourmet restaurants. Food in the restaurant comes from the on-site vegetable garden or from neighboring sustainable farms, while funny, all oral are also produced way on-site. The restaurant is committed to other local food and sustainability, so even staff lives nearby so as to minimize greenhouse gases. The hotel also offers horseback riding, golf, swimming, tennis, biking, and hiking work off the cuisine. Honeymooners can enjoy a massage, steam bath, and sensory pool in a secluded location that opens onto historic trees.
Make Provence your wedding and honeymoon destination today.
Bio: Haute Wedding, recently selected by American Vogue as the top 5 international wedding planners in their 2016 Ultimate Wedding Planner Master List, personally tailors wedding planning for couples looking for and loving all things French. Haute Weddings specializea in destination weddings that reflect your desire for travel, culture and beauty, ensuring your dreams are brought flawlessly to reality.
From discussing the initial idea, to finalizing the details and ensuring your wedding day is absolutely perfect, our attention to detail is second to none. We are English-speaking wedding planners, based in the French Alps and on the French Riviera, who understand the expectations of our couples, while liasing through cultural differences, to produce a stunning and memorable event that will last a lifetime! See our work at http://www.hautewedding.co.uk/en/.
Cover photo: Fulvio Spada
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