An Elegant Wedding at the Beldi Country Club
in Marrakech
Once upon a time, two busy high school teenagers never quite managed to ignite a platonic friendship. Years later, the love story started years later thanks to a high school reunion. Before they knew what had hit them, the love birds were heading off to Rome together, two months later on a romantic getaway…
Ten years after meeting, 8 years under the same roof, 11 countries navigated and after attending 14 weddings, two of the most beautiful gifts blessed them: the children, Zoé and Jules. Despite “boys only” weekends Billy attended throughout the years, his 17,206 exaggerations, the 23,579 corn crackers eaten by Jeanne, and her 36,809 remixed stories, they decided to say ‘Yes’ on October 16, 2017 in Namibia, and chose Marrakesh to celebrate their union.
Jeanne and Billy’s two-day wedding weekend was all about family, friendship and laughter in a chic rustic setting. A true luxury barefoot atmosphere, the venue choices were perfect for the theme; a charming blend of Moroccan tradition and French chic. The welcome party happened in the middle of the Agafay desert at a tailored camp built by ‘Hello Event’ that flaunted a cream and white theme. The next day, for the ceremony and reception, the couple chose a hotel known for its green oasis of charm, ancient olive trees, stylish swimming pools, views across the rose gardens to the Atlas Mountains and the magnificent orangery. The theme of the wedding inevitably became – ‘The Olive Branch’.
The PREPRATION OF THE Wedding
We were inspired by the bride who works in the fashion industry in Paris. With a clear vision of what she wanted and her husband’s immaculate taste, how much more do you need to plan a perfect wedding?The concept for the decor was inspired by a corporate logo and displayed the couple’s initials drawn by a delicate pale pink olive branch. We interlinked that with the nature of the hotel’s décor: ancient olive trees, a lot of greenery, roses and pots of plants.
The ceremony in the orangery was the most emotional moment of the weekend.The guests waited on white chairs, violinists played the couple’s favourite songs and welcomed the groom who walked in with his mother to an acoustic Beatles’ song “Here comes the sun” and “I’m Kissing you” by Des’ree. The plan did the trick for a memorable entrance.
To us, designing the perfect arch to fit the room was the challenge. After numerous Pinterest and Instagram inspired pictures, dialogues with the bride, groom and entourage, we finally created what was, THE perfect arch to them: Boho chic, effortlessly French and totally beautiful. We opted for a circular shape – circular representing the notions of totality, wholeness, original perfection, the Self, the infinite, and timelessness. We then used lush olive branches to keep the initial concept and to stand by symbols of Victory & Peace; Fountaingrass, the boho touch of liberty, and Baby’s breath – a wink to their two beautiful children. On her side, we added white roses, a symbol of true love combining with pale pink roses to denote her femininity, her motherhood, and to becoming a wife. On the picture, you may notice her side falls onto his; it can be seen as her being able to always rely on peace and victory (him) – in return, he gives her the strength to blossom into a perfect rose…
The floral décor of the reception tables had to be in coordination with the arch. The rest were details to fit the room: ochre color walls; large glass windows with a view over the rose garden with gold Moroccan-design pendants on the ceiling – we had made the perfect reception area. We used an old Moroccan door painted in white with a glass layer as the table of honor and round tables for the guests. We kept the codes of our ceremony theme for “L’Art de la Table” gold cutlery, glass underplates with gold finish, green plates with a pottery look to stay in the chic barefoot style and handmade gold copper candlesticks (the gold copper was also used for the table name stands on a wooden socle).
The menu was very French with a touch of Moroccan inspiration in flavours catered by La Table d’Antoine.
The table names were intimate. Each had the name of a Parisian district, the table of honour was of course, St Germain, where the love story started: being French, drinking a coffee on a terrace after the high school reunion as a first date – how romantic!
The entertainment was great fun, the bridesmaid and groomsmen had rehearsed an amusing surprise show: one of the groomsmen arrived with a pink tutu on roller-skates! The DJ was ‘fantastique’ got everyone dancing until dawn. The other highlight of the weekend was a fire show in the desert the day before. Their names lit up by the fire-performer was a great Hello Event surprise… They were all mesmerized!
Jeanne & Billy’s review
“Another big thanks and congratulations to Héloïse for organizing our wedding in Marrakesh. We had an exceptional desert party, and an incredible Beldi ceremony and diner.”
Welcome party in the desert of Agafay (with a camp set up for the event) bespoke by Hello Event | Ceremony and wedding party : Beldi Country Club | Dress : Métal Flaque | Shoes : Jimmy Shoes
