Château de Garde · Bordeaux ·
80 guests · Multi-day celebration
Natalie and Ruairidh wanted a wedding that was unmistakably them. No theme, no reference, just a celebration that felt exactly like the two of them: relaxed, design-led, and a little bit unexpected.
Château de Garde sits in the heart of Saint-Émilion wine country, and the setting did a lot of the work. The welcome evening was intentionally low-key: gorgeous platters of charcuterie and cheese sourced from the local market, wine from the surrounding estates, and the kind of evening where people settle in slowly and start to feel at home.
The wedding day was minimalist and considered. The florals were designed to move with the day, repurposed across different sections from ceremony to reception so that every space felt abundant without a single stem wasted. The cuisine matched the region: beautifully presented, generous, and the kind of food guests kept coming up to compliment throughout the night. Fireworks went off at ten on the dot. The party ran until four in the morning.
And then there was Gus. Natalie and Ruairidh's corgi travelled from England for the wedding, and we coordinated every detail of his journey. Samantha personally booking his vet appointment so he could travel home after the celebration. On the dance floor, foam-board cutouts of Gus were handed out alongside cowboy hats, and by midnight the entire party was holding them. It was silly, joyful, and completely them.
"It has been an unforgettable, magical, wonderful, once in a lifetime experience, all thanks to you and the team."
— Natalie & Ruairidh
From the couple…
"What. A. Weekend.
Ruairidh's already said this so apologies for repeating, but thank you, India, and everyone involved for making this such a perfect weekend. Our guests could not stop commenting on how amazing everything was, and Ruairidh and I were just in awe at how everything came together so seamlessly (even though we knew it was a huge operation!).
Dulou was incredible, the food was beautiful and delicious and so many guests came up to us to compliment the variety, the presentation, the taste, everything!! We also had no idea how much food we were getting but it was a LOT and everyone was so well fed and happy. One waitress made sure to get all of the canapés onto a plate and fed us throughout so we didn't have to go to the station either, and we're so appreciative of that.
Renaud the fireworks man was apparently hilarious when he spoke to Ruairidh (I was off swimming — ha), and the fireworks were incredible, went off at 10 PM on the dot, and was just incredible.
Sarah with the flowers pulled out all of the stops too, and I couldn't believe how many flowers there actually were and everything was repurposed into different sections throughout the day so perfectly that it felt like we had bought an entire flower shop!
As you can probably tell, we're just on cloud nine. It has been an unforgettable, magical, wonderful, once in a lifetime experience, all thanks to you and the team. The guests LOVED the Gus cutouts and cowboy hats, and someone even put flowers in front of the DJ booth so no one but the groomsmen touched the equipment the whole night despite the party lasting till 4 AM! Genius.
All our love and thanks,
— Natalie + Ruairidh
Venue Château de Garde Planning & Design Best Events Co Photography Zara Staples Catering Maison Dulou Florals SDSQ Creations Rentals Souchon Reception