A Chic, Contemporary Destination Wedding in a Stunning Former Convent in France

The day began with the bride Ubering to her Town Hall ceremony, before guests partied till dawn at a spectacular hotel overlooking her hometown of Lyon.

Helen Pye

2 December, 2020

As the return of weddings dawns on the horizon, we'll throwback to Lena and Edward's beautiful pre-Covid destination wedding in Lyon on a sunny September day.

They hired out the whole of the impressive Fourvière Hotel - a former 19th century convent perched high on the hilltop overlooking the Old Town and next to atmospheric Roman ruins where they took their wedding photos - so they could party until 4am. With Lyon known as France's capital of gastronomy, it was a lavish day of food, dancing and music that brought together guests from around the world.

Lena and Edward met at work in London in 2014. Lena had just moved from France to work as a translator, while Edward was on a three-month secondment from the United States. As neither had a desk, they ended up working together in the conference room, and despite Lena initially thinking he was too "work-focused, boring and wore ill-fitting American suits", Edward won her over with his sense of humour (and some new suits).

France was the setting for their proposal as well as eventual wedding. Edward had planned to propose with a family heirloom ring over Lena's favourite dessert at her favourite restaurant, Pamela Popo, in Paris. Unfortunately the chef hadn't written the words 'Will you marry me?' on the dessert as expected, so it was Plan B in their hotel room with flowers and chocolate.

"When she turned around I was on one knee and popped the question. She later told me I looked like Rafiki presenting Simba to her (if you’ve seen the Lion King). Lucky for me, she said yes," revealed Edward. Please note that Lena claims she never actually compared him to Rafiki - "though that was the actual pose you had".

Their day was a mixture of modern and minimal in a timeless, historic backdrop. If you're considering a French destination wedding, this is the perfect inspiration.

Photography by David Christopher Photography.

The Wedding Dress

Lena wore a classic, v-neck gown bought in Paris which she topped with a long, silk veil. After trying on dozens of dresses, it was one that she had spotted online that eventually became The One. Despite a long search, Lena wouldn't change a thing about: "You do this once in your life so everything about it is special - and stressful!"

She explained: "I wanted something very simple, so I opted for a white, sheath, long dress with a train, completed with a lace cropped top with flared sleeves. The dress was made-to-order by Atelier Emelia, a Parisian couture house that had just opened at the time.

"There were two other contenders: an Alaïa RTW white dress and a Pronovias tulle gown. The Emelia dress was the closest to what I had originally in mind and I do not regret my choice.

"Interestingly, this dress was the first one I tried at the Emelia appointment and the one that had caught my eye online anyway!"

Lena changed into a second outfit for the evening reception ("because I like dancing"). She wore a short, white dress with a small pillbox hat and kept on her topaz earrings borrowed from her mother-in-law ("my something blue and borrowed!)"

The Wedding Morning

Lena got ready on her wedding morning with her dad, who is a hairdresser. He styled her hair into a beautiful half-up, half-down look, while her makeup was done by Isabelle at the MAC Lyon Herriot boutique.

"I had zero trials. Who has time for those?" she laughed. "I wanted a very simple hairdo and did not want my hair up. I chose a half-up Dutch crown braid. Makeup-wise, Isabelle really listened to me and guided me and absolutely nailed it. "

Her bridesmaids - known as witnesses in France - were best friends Polina and Giny. They were given carte blanche for their dress choice, it only had to be navy. "Polina went for a short lace dress from Sandro, and Giny chose a half-long dress from JJ's House."

On the other hand, Lena and Edward chose his tuxedo together: "We ended up with a tuxedo from Zegna with the help of Dominic who manages their store at Selfridges London," he said.

"On Dominic’s advice, we kept it simple. Black tux, white shirts (no buttons showing), black bowtie (no clip-ons). We all had cufflinks with our initials."

Edward stayed at the hotel the night before and got ready with his two groomsmen.

"The first I had known since we were less than one year old. We’ve been friends the whole time. He is godfather to my kid, I am godfather to his second kid. The second I had known since I was 17 and was my university roommate, and we had lived together since during various parts of life."

The Wedding Ceremony

Edward took the coach to the wedding ceremony along with their other guests at the hotel, but Lena Ubered there with her dad and David, the photographer.

"I love that I Ubered to my wedding," she said. "The first Uber I had cancelled on me so I got another one, who was on time and had French comedian Desproges on in the car, so I gave him a five star rating."

They held their ceremony at the Mairie du 7e arrondissement, the Town Hall in the lively Jean Macé district of Lyon. "It was a regular civil ceremony where our duties to each other are listed, an aspect of French wedding that I personally like," said Lena. "And we had a family friend act as an interpreter for the English speakers."

Edward walked down the aisle with his Grandmother, June Lurie, while Lena's dad accompanied her. "The music was Bach’s Opening of the Cello Suite #5, which I like a lot. Also the music had to be non-religious to comply with French law. I like that aspect because we both wanted a beautiful, but secular wedding."

The Wedding Reception

The reception was held back at the atmospheric Fourvière Hotel, a converted 19th century convent. "It is next to Roman theatre ruins where some of the wedding photos were taken, as well as the Fourvière Basilica. It's at the top of a hill that overlooks the whole city," said Edward.

"We had rented every room and the whole hotel for the 24 hours period. It was a great location, and as they allowed us to take the whole hotel, it meant the party and dancing could go until 4am and all of our guests could be in one place."

The couple arranged coaches to take their guests from the ceremony back to the hotel for the reception as they worried they'd get lost in the streets of Lyon. Thankfully they also had Ed's friend Jack, who stepped in to herd the crowd from one thing to the next.

"The majority of our guests didn’t know the city and would have been lost or late. The buses were hired from Transdev, a local company. They were on time, comfortable and inexpensive."

The Décor and Theme

"The theme was Lyon, which was a new city to discover for most of our guests (and the rest were proud Lyonnais!)," said Lena.

"The colour scheme was inspired by the pared back feel of the place, where the contemporary décor has a lot of nods to its monastic past. So I thought off-white and gold with red and navy accents, like a medieval manuscript from one of the French monasteries."

The white was brought into her big, seasonal bouquet too. "It had lilies and honeysuckle with touches of blush from David Austin roses and a lot of foliage. The result was quite modern looking."

White and pale green orchids and hydrangeas in fishbowls decorated the rest of the venue, all arranged by local florist, Atelier Lavarenne. "It was very minimal and modern."

Lyon led the way on the tables too. "The table signs were named after Lyon neighbourhoods and included anecdotes about the neighbourhood as a conversation starter.

"I did the seating plan and table signs myself using Microsoft Publisher and pictures and maps available to the public from the Lyon archive website," said Lena.

The Food

As well as marrying her best friend, Lena credits the food as one of her favourite parts of the day!

"Lyon is the world capital of gastronomy, so food is a *very* serious matter. Our reception venue, the Fourvière Hotel, arranged a multi-course gastronomic menu with a vegetarian option. They went above and beyond."

Dessert too was above and beyond: they had a dessert table laden with a macaron tower, Champagne tower, and a five-tier wedding cake.

"Our wedding cake was a tiered cake alternating strawberry and cream tiers and praline, made by local baker Dallery. I’m still mad that I didn’t get a slice of praline (my favourite)!"

The Stationery

Self-confessed "stationery nerd" Lena said she loved researching and designing their stationery, but they faced a real challenge with their international list of wedding guests.

"We had to make each order twice, once in French for our French guests and once in English for the others. The RSVP cards were double the nightmare as we had to source stamps for each country!" explains Lena.

The problem of guests from other sides of the world resurfaced when they made a gift list on Amazon US for American guests to use. "It was a total failure. We live in the UK, which resulted in big, big delivery fees!"

Luckily Lena could take solace in how beautiful those invites were. "Our save-the-dates were custom MOO postcards with a black and white picture of us and just the date, with the message at the back. I added a little red heart stamp on each postcard.

"The invites were David’s Bridal, very simple, with the type being the star of the show. The design was super clever in that they were self-contained and didn’t need an envelope. The guests simply had to detach the RSVP card and return it. I sealed each one of the invites with a gold heart-shaped wax seal."

The Entertainment

"We had food and drinks and a DJ all night. And Ed had nice cigars and calvados for everyone," said Lena. "Because people get hungry, booze lifts the mood, and dancing is fun. And my husband is super cool."

They kicked off their dancing with a first dance to Childish Gambino's song Redbone. "The dancing was a blast," said Lena.

French dragées were offered as wedding favours. "They're sugar coated almonds and chocolates. They were white and gold with some red heart-shaped ones. I had placed them in ink pots.

"Edward insisted that I explain that French dragées are traditionally given by the couple to their guests so that they get lucky and procreate easily. It’s worked for us, since we’ve since welcomed a son."

The couple continued to enjoy the delights of France and Southern Europe after their big, honeymooning in Nice, Monaco, Eze and Amalfi.