This Couple Tied the Knot Twice During Their Chateau Wedding Weekend in Provence

When Victor moved from Paris to New York in September 2016 for a new job, he decided to grab after-work drinks with his colleagues to get to know them better. As luck would have it, Sheetal was at the very same bar with her coworkers—and they all ended up talking for hours. “A week later, we went on our first date and the rest was history!” she says. In the summer of 2022, the duo planned a trip to Lebanon for their friends’ wedding and extended the trip to the French Riviera to meet up with Victor’s family. Sheetal thought her boyfriend might propose on this trip, but she had no idea when, exactly, it would happen. On a visit to Eze, the couple climbed to the top and found a small garden with a hidden waterfall. Victor waited for a private moment to propose. “It could not have been a more perfect setting!” Sheetal says.

The couple knew they wanted to host their destination wedding in France, where Victor is from. “We both decided on Provence, as we love the beauty and charm of this area so much and knew our guests would love it, too,” Sheetal says. They invited 98 of their nearest and dearest to Château Martinay in Carpentras for a welcome party on September 22, 2023, followed by an Indian ceremony the following morning and a secular ceremony and reception later that evening. They enlisted Aurelie and Jade from Love & Provence to pull off the multi-day wedding celebration with a neutral and pastel color palette and garden-inspired, airy florals. Read on to see every thoughtfully designed detail in photos by Rémi Dupac.

Sheetal and Victor worked with Crème de Papier to create a custom invitation suite featuring a bespoke monogram with their first initials and a map of Provence.

The day before the wedding, Sheetal and Victor asked guests to join them to socialize at their welcome party on the grounds of Château Martinay. Sheetal wore a white midi length V. Chapman dress with a strapless corset bodice; Victor chose a linen blazer, chinos, and a short sleeve sweater.

Sheetal and Victor brought in a gourmet French bistro-style food truck serving tomato gazpacho, cold meats, burrata, truffle croque-monsieur, and other Mediterranean delicacies. They also served Aperol spritzes and wine at the bar.

As for the décor? “We ventured into reds and blues to complement the food truck's color and [leaned on] Provencal market-style décor with seasonal vegetables, plants, and flowers. We used peppers, tomatoes, and olive foliage, as well,” Sheetal says.

The bride applied henna the day before the event with Victor, his sister Chloe, and their parents; the couple also had a henna station at their welcome party to encourage guests to embrace this part of Indian culture.

For the couple’s Indian wedding ceremony, Sheetal wore an ivory lehenga with gold foil detailing around the skirt. Sheetal traveled to Mumbai with her parents to find the perfect garment for the wedding, but she didn’t walk away with anything she loved. She ended up searching locally in New York, where she across a Falguni Shane Peacock lehenga and veil from ĀVE, India Design Collective, who worked directly with the designer in India.

“The color and the design felt modern, but I was still able to keep the look traditional with my jewelry and accessories,” Sheetal says. She wore jewelry from Azotiique by Varun Raheja, a boutique in Mumbai, along with red bangles that were a gift from her colleague and gold Gucci metallic shoes.

Victor chose an ivory sherwani from Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop for the Indian ceremony. He made his grand entrance to the sound of drums at the baraat, a tradition where the groom arrives with his side of the family to dance and celebrate before the ceremony. “I knew I wanted Victor’s sherwani to be a neutral color that matched my dress so that we could have a monochromatic look,” Sheetal says. “By adding the safa turban and necklace, he looked like Indian royalty.”

Though their Hindu ceremony took place on a grand patio outside the chateau, Sheetal and Victor wanted to make sure the space still felt intimate. To do so, they set up the guests’ chairs in a semi-circle facing the mandap, which was adorned with flowing fabric and asymmetrical arrangements of ivory and pink flowers; the aisle was lined with more light and airy blooms.

Sheetal made her entrance down the chateau’s staircase with her two cousins by her side to “Gladiator, Now We are Free” from the Gladiator soundtrack. Guests were offered parasols so they could shade themselves from the sun. “Indian ceremonies can be long, so we made sure to offer our guests umbrellas, and also water and French pastries throughout the ceremony,” the bride says.

Sheetal and Victor’s ceremony included Gujarati traditions, including the washing of the groom’s right foot, the Antarpaat (where a cloth is drawn between the couple when the bride enters the mandap so they can’t see each other’s faces), and the Mengal Pheras, when the couple circles a sacred fire four times chanting mantras and oaths to each other. 

Later that evening, Sheetal changed into a one-shoulder silk mikado A-line wedding dress with a slit by KYHA Studios. She envisioned herself in a simple, contemporary gown for the secular ceremony, but she didn’t expect to choose such a traditional silhouette. “I knew it would work perfectly at a chateau wedding, but it was still modern with the one sleeve and a slit, which is truer to my style,” she notes.

She accessorized with pearl ear jacket studs from Mejuri and a tear drop veil, also from KYHA Studios. “I wore white leather sling-backs from Amina Muaddi. Her designs are very modern and her signature square based heel made it easier to walk on the gravel grounds,” Sheetal explains.

The bride wanted to look like herself on her wedding day, so she went with a sleek bun for the Indian ceremony and wore her hair down in waves for the secular one. 

Victor wore a blue and black tuxedo from Suit Supply for the couple’s secular ceremony. He accessorized his look with Gucci loafers and his Omega Speedmaster Moon watch. He chose to wear Tom Ford’s Oud Wood fragrance—his bride’s favorite scent on him.

The couple’s second service took place in another area of the chateau’s grounds between rows of cypress trees. “It was the perfect setting for a romantic ceremony,” Sheetal says. The couple enlisted Lettre a Elise to create a floral arch with a soft color palette and additional arrangements to display behind the chairs at the top of the aisle.

Sheetal walked down the aisle with her father to a string duet playing “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” She held a bouquet in soft colors tied with a terra-cotta silk ribbon. Knowing their Indian ceremony would be long, Sheetal and Victor opted to keep these vows short and sweet with some humor and emotion thrown in. “We are so happy that we decided to write our own vows. It was really one of the best parts of the entire wedding weekend,” the bride says.

“The feeling that Victor and I had right after the secular ceremony was so magical—words cannot even describe how we felt,” Sheetal continues. “In that moment, we just felt so blessed to know that all these people were here to celebrate us.”

Sheetal and Victor prioritized big-day food and drinks, as that’s one of the best parts of French culture, they say. They enlisted Victor’s brother, Martin, who works in the wine industry in Bordeaux, to help them choose wine and Champagne for the weekend. Naturally, they celebrated after the second ceremony by pouring out a Champagne tower.

Guests mingled at the cocktail hour, where they enjoyed small bites and the duo's four signature cocktails. They served the “Mexican Time,” a tequila and mezcal cocktail with thyme and bergamot, the “My Sweet Flower,” a gin and pink grapefruit drink, the “Rosita,” made with vodka, rose, litchi, and lime, and lastly, the “Vieux Carré”, a whiskey sip. A singer-guitarist duo played French and English songs during the garden party interlude.

Before dinner began, the couple’s photographer Rémi Dupac asked all guests to gather at the top of the chateau’s staircase for a group photo.

Attendees found their seating assignments for dinner at an escort display inside the chateau that matched the couple’s invitation suite.

Long tables with ivory linens were set outside the estate for the pair's al fresco meal. “We wanted the reception décor to be cohesive with the rest: clean and modern,” Sheetal says. “We embraced the chateau’s beauty and complemented its greenery with whites, creams, and terra-cotta tones—with a hint of gold for the elegance.” Gold flatware with white handles, gold-rimmed glassware, cream pillar candles, and floral centerpieces in terra-cotta vases filled the tablescape.

The dinner starter, a creamy and spicy crab dish, was served under a glass bell. Guests chose between chicken tarragon or tagliatelle in a truffle sauce for their main course. Sheetal and Victor also served a slate of cheese from Provence with fig ame, a mix of biscuits, and local dry fruits.

Sheetal wanted a clean wedding cake that matched the rest of the décor, which resulted in a three-tier ivory confection embellished with the same flowers seen throughout the day. The pair opted for a vanilla genoise flavor cake with hazelnut cream.

After cutting into their dessert, Sheetal and Victor shared their first dance to “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran, featuring Beyoncé, as their guests watched on.

At the reception, Sheetal changed into a strapless mini dress from Untamed Petals with an oversized bow on the back. “I needed a dress that I could dance in,” she says. The couple partied with their guests to a live percussionist, who played alongside a DJ.

Right after their nuptials, they went on a minimoon to Corsica, France, for five days. Then, in May 2024, they jetted off to Tanzania for a safari. “It was a dream come true for me to be on a safari in Africa, especially in the Serengeti,” Sheetal says. “And it was the most magical trip that both Victor and I have ever been on. Not sure any other trip will compare now!”

Sheetal and Victor remind couples planning their own big days that the process is worth it—you just have to trust it. “There were times when we asked ourselves why were doing this and that an elopement or a micro wedding sounded like a better idea,” Sheetal says. “But in the end, we are so glad we decided to have a bigger celebration while keeping it intimate as possible. We have zero regrets!”