Directly after a beautiful wedding proposal, THE decisive question for the rest of the adventure arises: the choice of the wedding place! It is a choice that I would almost dare to compare to the choice of one's future spouse: without a crush, it is impossible to launch into such a commitment... And, this crush, we had it for a place: the Domaine de Ronsard, where we decided to organize our wedding! In this article, I will tell you about the wonderful experience we had in this charming place.
SUMMARY
The choice of the Domaine de Ronsard: the desire for an authentic wedding in a place with a brocante-chic soul
A virtual crush at first, very quickly transformed into a real crush
At the Domaine de Ronsard, we live the full experience for 5 days: from Thursday to Monday
Around the Domaine de Ronsard, the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche
The outdoor spaces of the Domaine de Ronsard
The interior spaces of the Domaine de Ronsard
The services offered by the Domaine de Ronsard
1. The choice of the Domaine de Ronsard: the desire for an authentic wedding in a place with a brocante-chic soul
In our case, we wanted our wedding to take place within a few months after the proposal, but we were hesitant because we are a French-German couple and we didn't know if we wanted to get married in France or in Germany. By will of compromise (and also by love of good wine!), we first thought of organizing it in Alsace in October, in the middle of the vineyards which then take their most beautiful colors. We searched for a long time on the Internet for places to have a reception, but there was no place we liked...
My memory then reminded me of a report we had seen in Zone Interdite on M6 in 2020 about a new reception place in the Perche, in Normandy, where the owner of the place, Vincent Dewas, had renovated a magnificent farmhouse and decorated it almost exclusively by hunting down all the objects that would end up on the property. I thought it was a great idea and I guess these images were stuck in a corner of my mind and came out at just the right moment!
2. A virtual crush at first, very quickly transformed into a real crush
After some research on the Internet, we quickly found the name of this place: the Domaine de Ronsard, in the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche. We then consulted the Domaine's website and Instagram page and, thanks to the thousands of photos, videos and information online, the virtual crush was already there. It was exactly what we were looking for: the feeling of organizing your wedding in a family country house, unpretentious in appearance, but yet sophisticated and elegant in detail, decorated with enormous taste, a form of permanent meeting between the ancient and the modern. I then asked for more information, and requested a visit, from the owner of the place who is always extremely reactive and at the entire disposal of his clients. And it's fair to say that the virtual crush was instantly confirmed during our first visit to the Domaine, which also marked our meeting with the owner.
During this visit, we told him that we were planning to get married at the time of All Saints' Day in order to choose a date a little different from the habits and customs (and also less expensive, we won't lie), with a wish of decoration in autumnal colors and in a warm spirit, by the wood fire. Then, he indicated us that he also had the weekend of the Ascension at the end of May, warmer, more flowered (ideal in particular to take advantage of the rosebushes of Ronsard planted in the Domaine!) and also with holidays, more practical for the guests, for our close relations and for ourselves, what finally decided us to choose this long weekend of May and we do not regret absolutely our choice!
3. At the Domaine de Ronsard, we live the full experience for 5 days: from Thursday to Monday
Indeed, you have to know that, when you get married at the Domaine de Ronsard, you don't arrive on Saturday morning to leave on Sunday afternoon, but you take advantage of the place from the Thursday before the wedding until the following Monday, that is to say 5 days on the spot, which is ideal to have the time of the reunion with your close relations, but also of the preparations, from the Thursday until the Saturday of the wedding, then to be able to take advantage of the Sunday and Monday with your close relations, and also for two, of the calm after the storm. It was difficult for us to leave on Monday, so much we wanted to print in our memory each memory of this place.
It is also worth noting that you can decide to organize your event during the week and thus rent the Domaine from Monday to Thursday, that is to say 4 days on site, which is also an interesting formula! Finally, you can also rent the room on a weekday with access to the exterior and the catering office.
4. Around the Domaine de Ronsard, the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche: a hilly countryside, with charming villages, many antique shops and accommodation possibilities
The panorama from the Domaine de Ronsard in May...
Before our "real" wedding weekend, we came three times to the Domaine de Ronsard, from Brussels, where we live, which represents about 5 hours of driving, and we were each time charmed by the roads of the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche where the Domaine is located, which are hilly country roads, which give an instant change of scenery, even though we are located less than 2 hours from Paris.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that, if you don't have a driver's license and/or a car, you can take a TER train for a trip of about 1 hour and 30 minutes from the Paris-Montparnasse train station to the one in Nogent-le-Rotrou, located 17 kilometers from the Domaine, and then you will have to take a cab.
Bellême...
The Domaine de Ronsard is also a ten-minute drive from the touristy village of Bellême, which had been elected in 2017 6th favorite village of the French. It is a medieval city, located on top of a spur, with vestiges of the castle walls, colorful facades, private mansions, numerous second-hand dealers and antique shops, as well as restaurants, tea rooms and pastry shops to discover!
The Normandy Country Club Hotel in Bellême, bathed by a beautiful autumn light...
Finally, there are many possibilities for accommodation within a short distance of the Domaine de Ronsard, whether in hotels, gites or B&Bs. In our case, we had pre-booked rooms at the Normandy Country Club Hotel, located in Bellême, so that almost all of our guests would stay there. Why did we do this? We had arranged for a bus to take them from the hotel to the Domaine de Ronsard on the day of the wedding (with a shuttle bus to return during the night).
The Normandy Country Club is a simple but cute hotel in the middle of nature, with a swimming pool open in season and especially with an 18-hole golf course attached to the hotel for the amateurs. It also offers several sizes of rooms and apartments, which is convenient, as well as a restaurant, an English pub open in the evening and a pool table.
5. The outdoor spaces of the Domaine de Ronsard: a 2 hectare garden ideal for a secular ceremony, a swimming pool, a photobooth caravan, a minivan and a vintage MG at your disposal
When you go to the Domaine de Ronsard, you have to take a small sloping path through the fields. The Domaine reveals itself as a surprise as it unfolds.
Then, you pass the gate of the domain and you go around a nice grassy area (where it is possible to organize your secular ceremony with a view on the Domaine!). Finally, we arrive on a large gravel parking lot, ideal for deliveries the days before the wedding (champagne, wines, etc.), for service providers on the D-day (caterer, florist, musicians, ceremony officiant, DJ, baby-sitter, bus, driver, etc.) and, finally, of course, for the guests!
By the way, mentioning the parking lot leads me to tell you that the Domaine de Ronsard provides two vehicles for the duration of your stay: a 7-seater minivan, allowing to ensure the return of the guests with a driver during the night of the wedding, and a sublime cream-colored MG BGT! All you need to do is take out a very inexpensive insurance policy for each of the two vehicles. And, by the way, if you're planning a religious ceremony, you can get married in the lovely village church of Dame Marie and drive to the church in the MG!
But let's get back to the outdoor spaces. When you are in the center of the Domaine, the garden is divided into grassy areas, separated by gravel paths. This area is furnished with tables, chairs, benches, umbrellas and braziers.
Next, adjoining the main barn and housing the MG, is an open barn containing a real vintage trailer transformed into a photobooth with plenty of props for dressing up and two Polaroids available (you just need to bring the films), which is really great both for your guests during the wedding and with your loved ones outside!
Then, at the back of the main house, a beautiful swimming pool of 10 meters, heated in season and secured, with, once again, a lot of character...
Finally, if you look at the panorama and continue straight down the central path, at the back stands the building in full light that houses the dormitory. At the back of this building, the place where we decided to organize our secular ceremony is hidden. Indeed, this place cannot be seen from the Domaine, we can close it with a small door and it is revealed by taking a small path on the right of the dormitory. We are then transposed in front of a magnificent vegetal panorama, surrounded by the hilly fields, whose colors evolve with the seasons, magic! It should be noted that the benches for the ceremony are provided, as well as a round arch, a lectern and two easels, which is convenient to have on site.
The building housing the dormitory and, at the back, the place of our secular ceremony...
6. The interior spaces of the Domaine de Ronsard: two barns, a catering office, a kitchen, a dining room, two living rooms, seven bedrooms (including a family room and a bridal suite), five bathrooms and a dormitory
From the point of view of interior spaces, the Domaine de Ronsard is organized into three buildings.
First building: a gîte, the catering office and a first barn...
On the first picture on the left, there is a single storey gite. It has a double bedroom, as well as another small room with a sofa bed and a small bathroom with shower, sink and toilet. This gite is ideal for a couple or two people who then have a bedroom, an extra room to store their things and a private bathroom. But it can also be suitable for two couples or four people, but they have to be close to each other, as the space is small. Another idea is for a couple with two children.
In the same suite, on the second picture in the center, there is an equipped catering office of 60m2.
Finally, in the third photo on the right, there is a first barn, the smaller of the two, which you can arrange according to your desires and needs for your wedding. Both barns have very high ceilings and have stones and beams, giving them a lot of charm. We had set up the smaller barn as an entrance hall with racks, tables, and dried flower decoration. But, if it had ever rained on our wedding day, this barn would have become the place for our secular ceremony and the wine of honor. This barn can still be used for example if you wish to install a separate dance floor for the evening, in short, the ideas are multiple!
The first barn set up for a secular ceremony...
Second building: the second barn, a kitchen, two living rooms, a dining room, six bedrooms and four bathrooms (feel free to scroll down to the pictures below)...
Across the path from this first building that I just described is the main building. First, there is the second and largest barn, which is where we held our wedding dinner, party and brunch the next day. In my opinion, this barn is ideal for a dinner configuration of up to 120 people. It is possible up to 150 people, but it will be tighter. Note that this barn is equipped with large rectangular wooden tables and mismatched chairs, as well as a video projector and screen. And of course there is no time limit for the evening!
In the same building, but without direct access to the barn, is the kitchen on the ground floor, which holds treasures of vintage dishes. Then follow a first small living room with a large fireplace, a dining room with a stove and a huge table with benches, a bathroom with bathtub, a second larger living room, a small double bedroom and finally the stairs leading to the first floor.
Upstairs are five double bedrooms, each with a small extra bed and dressing table, and two shared bathrooms, each with a double sink and shower. These rooms are ideal to accommodate your family, your friends, your witnesses, during your wedding!
These five upstairs rooms include a larger family room with a baby bed and lots of toys, a room decorated with antique tennis rackets and old foosball tables on the wall, and a bridal suite with its own bathroom with a bathtub, sitting area and dressing table, ideal for getting ready on the morning of the wedding, with music and a glass of champagne in your hand, please!
Third building: the toilet area for guests and the dormitory with 16 beds...
In the third building, there is the toilet area for guests in an old horse stall. There is also a dormitory with eight bunk beds, which can be used as children's beds or singles, in a roots style. In our case, we had arranged this dormitory so that it could be used as a playroom and nap room for the children, under the supervision of the babysitters.
7. The services offered by the Domaine de Ronsard : many advices in decoration and organization, a list (not imposed!) of tested and approved service providers and the help of a housekeeper during all your stay
Concerning the services, it is important to know that the owner of the Domaine de Ronsard is not present during your stay. On the other hand, he always answers very quickly, gives himself many advices in decoration and organization and, finally, he provides (without ever imposing, the freedom is really total, I insist on this point!) a list of providers tested and approved. From then on, the Domaine de Ronsard must be conceived as a kind of AirBnB of the wedding, where you have the place and keep the whole freedom of the organization of your wedding, which is ideal! I must also add here that the reactivity of the owner is a HUGE plus because, by experience, when you organize your wedding or any other large event and you find yourself faced with a provider taking days, even weeks, to answer each of your questions, you might as well say that this can jeopardize your organization and you do not continue to work with this provider.
I return to the services offered by the Domaine de Ronsard: a lovely housekeeper is at your disposal, from the reception to the departure. She is always available and can move quickly if a problem arises. She carries out with you the inventory of fixtures of entry and exit, with a deposit in the event of degradations. She also takes care of cleaning the entire domain at your departure. Finally, a person from the Domaine must be present during your wedding party, which is a legal obligation in terms of fire safety.
=> In short, we would recommend the Domaine de Ronsard to anyone wishing to get married in a country house, which could be a family house, with a brocante-chic soul! Indeed, although many weddings take place at the Domaine, we feel really unique during the whole stay, which makes all the difference... We hope maybe one day to be invited to a wedding at the Domaine to live it as guests (you never know in life!) or why not organize a wedding anniversary or any other event since, even if it was our wedding, the Domaine can obviously be privatized for any event, private or professional!
Finally, next to the Domaine de Ronsard, the owner is preparing the opening of a second place in April 2023, with just as much charm: the Clos Ronsard. This place will be dedicated, in particular, to training courses, seminars, shootings, privatizations, events, etc...
By the way, feel free to follow the owner of the Domaine on his three very dynamic Instagram pages (Domaine de Ronsard / Clos Ronsard / Vincent de Ronsard), where you can see his hunts and the treasures he manages to unearth, the news of the Domaine de Ronsard and the progress of the Clos Ronsard, among others!
The famous and sublime rose of Ronsard...
=> I hope that this article has helped you in the preparation of your wedding or any other private or professional event that you would like to organize at the Domaine de Ronsard and, if you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate, I will be happy to give you feedback!
Don't hesitate to check out my other articles dedicated to decorating inspirations for your wedding reception hall, as well as five original ritual ideas if you are planning a lay ceremony. I also explain everything you need to know to organize your civil wedding! Also, if you're dreaming of a made-to-measure wedding dress, then I've got just the address you need: Annabé Créations Singulières! Finally, if you are looking for a dream destination for your honeymoon, why not Namibia?
Comentários