by Elio Zarmati

      A château is French for castle or manor house. It is the residence of the lord of the manor, the châtelain. Its urban counterpart is the palais, French for palace. Most châteaux have a grand entrance—the cour d’honneur—and an inner court. They are often at the heart of a domain with supporting farmlands and fields, outbuildings, stables, kitchens, brewery, bake house, smoke house, and lodgings for guests and servants. Some have ramparts, moats and other fortifications; others are located in a large private park with gatehouses and keepers’ lodges. They are ideal locations for weddings because of their sheer size, beauty and their historical significance. 
      Open a fairy tale book and enter its enchanted pages. There’s a magnificent French castle glowing with a million candles. A beautiful princess arrives in a horse-drawn carriage, followed by her groom on a white horse. Their wedding takes place in the castle’s intimate private chapel and the reception is held in a grand ballroom lit by Baccarat crystal chandeliers. Is it a fairy tale? Perhaps. But it doesn’t have to be. The bride can be you.
      We consulted with owner and founder Lisa Mimoun, of Chateau Chic on how to create a fairy-tale wedding amongst the châteaus and manors of historic France which surprisingly starts at 30,000 euros—about $36,000—and goes up from there. Born and raised in Paris, France, Lisa Mimoun earned a BA in Business Economics at UCSB. During that time, she dreamed of a business model that would bridge the cultural gap between France and the United States. She wanted to marry France’s rich history—still alive in countless castles, mansions, abbeys and churches—and its cuisine, wines and traditions into one attractive package. This is how she came up with Chateau Chic, the link between American brides and grooms and the bounties of France, particularly its châteaux.
      Chateau Chic has made arrangements with some of the finest châteaux, mansions, abbeys and churches throughout France, particularly in the Ile-de-France, the region that surrounds Paris. Lisa and her staff will help you select the right location and they will coordinate the services of florists, fashion designers, caterers, limousine rentals, photographers and various forms of transportation from horse-drawn carriages to limousines and helicopters. They will find an officiant, priest, rabbi or Hindu monk to perform the ceremony. And most of all, Lisa will take care of the red tape, rules and regulations—a cumbersome procedure in France—so that all you have to do is enjoy the experience.
      Among the numerous locations available through Chateau Chic, here are Your Wedding Day’s first choices:

La Maison Opéra
      Designed by Charles Garnier, architect of the Opera houses of Paris and Monte-Carlo, in 1865-70, the mansion’s rooms are decorated in Napoleon III’s Second Empire style. Couples are welcome to celebrate their union in the Salon Rouge, which was recreated by Franco Zeffirelli in his film La Traviata. 

Musée Jacquemart-André
      Built towards the end of the 19th century by Edouard André and his wife Nélie Jacquemart, both avid art collectors, the private mansion with lavish ballrooms, a monumental staircase, a winter garden, private apartments and large reception areas is now a museum that opens its door to weddings and other events.
      Decorated with 18th century wood-paneling and Gobelins tapestries, the elegant rotunda of the Grand Salon can welcome 90 guests for dinner and 150 for buffet receptions. The Winter Garden, with its Tiepolo fresco and a collection of antique statues, is ideal for small buffet receptions of up to 60 guests. The Music Room, with its painted ceiling and musicians’ gallery, is a perfect setting for a sit-down dinner of 90 guests or a buffet reception for twice as many people. The Dining Room, with its rare collection of tapestries, its Tiepolo ceiling and its terrace overlooking the formal courtyard, can host a dazzling wedding party.

Le Château de Breteuil
      Located in the Vallée de Chevreuse, in a national park a few miles southwest of Paris, the château de Breteuil remains the family domain of one of the most prominent dynasties in France—the Breteuil family which gave three ministers to the Kings of France. Built around 1600, the château is home to the famous Teschen Table, located in the aptly-named Treasure Room. A gift from Marie-Antoinette’s mother, the empress of Austria, in gratitude for the Baron de Breteuil’s skillful mediation of the conflict with Prussia in 1779, this treasure is said to be worth more than the château itself. With its 128 inlaid precious stones and pieces of petrified wood, it is a feast for the eyes.
      After the French revolution, the château and its gardens were adapted to the Romantic era style. Surrounded by a 185-acre historic park, illuminated formal French garden, the famous Garden of the Princes—created to honor the Prince of Wales—a beautiful lake, cherry trees and orange grove, the Château de Breteuil is an ideal location for outdoors as well as indoors weddings.
      The Château de Breteuil features a neo-Gothic chapel with stained-glass windows from the cathedral town of Chartres, and its Four Seasons Salon can accommodate the largest receptions. The Marquis and Marquise de Breteuil sometimes host the weddings when they are at the château.

Le Château d’Esclimont
      A romantic castle about an hour outside of Paris, between Versailles and Chartres, the Château d’Esclimont is nestled in a 150-acre wooded park surrounded by a moat and a pond. With its pointed turrets and its checkerboard façade, this 16th century château harkens back to a time of kings and queens, knights and elegant courtiers.
      With 47 rooms and 6 suites spread between the château itself and several dependencies such as the Guard’s Tower, the Trianon and the Trophy Pavilion, Esclimont offers exceptional facilities for weddings. Its beautiful Salon Louis XVI is perfect for large wedding receptions, and several smaller salons with carved-stone garlands, leather from Cordoba, brocade and antiques offer lovely settings for smaller parties. For an outdoor wedding, the swimming pool offers the most romantic setting.
      The Château offers two dining rooms and a banquet hall and features Chef Eric Lurthy’s world-famous cuisine that includes the most refined offering of quail, lamb and game dishes with a wine list of over 400 fine bottles from its cellar. The estate provides an array of sporting facilities including big-game fishing, archery, falconry, mountain biking, horseback riding, ballooning and pitch-and-putt golf.

Le Château des Condé
      On the road to Champagne, sixty miles from Paris, in a park with centennial trees, stands the Château des Condé, home to one of the most illustrious royal families of France. First built in 1200 and enlarged in the 14th century, the château as it stands today was rebuilt in 1548 by the famous Renaissance architect Pierre Lescot.
      At the Château des Condé, you can rent the Grande Galerie, with its 2500 square-foot dance floor, or the magnificent grounds lit by thousands or torches, or the entire estate which has several vaulted 12th-century cellars, the Guard Tower, the Moroccan Pavilion with its stunning water fountains, and the Salle des Tentures or Tapestry Room with its unique hanging drapes. Parties for up to 350 seated guests have been held at the château, using both historic halls.
      The château itself has 20 rooms for guests—16 in the Renaissance and 4 in the medieval part of the castle—and the estate can accommodate about a hundred guests in its old farmhouse and dependencies.

Le Château de Champlâtreux
      Built between 1751 and 1757 and located about 45 minutes north of Paris and 15 minutes from Charles de Gaulle Airport, the Château de Champlâtreux is a perfect example of French classical architecture. Designed for the lavish receptions and celebrations of the 18th century, it offers an impressive main courtyard for grand entrances, a private chapel, a beautiful marble hall and several elegant reception areas with period furniture.
      Two large connected halls running along the entire width of the château offer spacious room for a reception. At the bottom of the majestic stone staircase, the 600 square-foot First Hall, next to the private chapel, overlooks the luscious park. The 750 square-foot Second Hall opens onto a graveled terrace running along the whole length of the building. There are four other receptions areas, the Billiard Room, the Grand Salon, the Salon Bleu, the Boudoir and a large dining room with a marble fireplace, carmine and gold curtains, for a whopping total of 3500 square feet of partying space. In the two upper floors, 20 bedrooms are available to guests.


L’Abbaye de Royaumont
      Surrounded by streams, near a bird sanctuary, the Abbey of Royaumont was built in the 13th century by the king of France, the future Saint Louis,  and was occupied by Cistercian monks until the French revolution. In the 18th century, a magnificent abbatial palace was added to the original cloister. Today the abbey is a cultural center which opens its doors to wedding receptions and international conferences.
      The cloister can accommodate 600 guests for a standing reception. The old refectory can host 350 guests for a sit-down dinner and 600 guests for a buffet, the old kitchens have been transformed into dining rooms that can hold 150 sit-down dinner guests or a buffet for 250 guests, and the North Gallery can fit tables for 80 and a buffet for 120. The abbey has 39 bedrooms available for the bride and groom, their families and friends.

L’Abbaye des Vaulx-de-Cernay
      Built in 1118, in the Vallée de Chevreuse, some thirty miles west of Paris, the abbey was one of the favorite retreats of the kings of France. Queen Marguerite drank from the fountain of Saint Thibauld—which still exists today—to enhance her fertility, and kings and princes alike used to hunt wolves and big game in the nearby woods. Around the abbey, a cloister of farmhouses were home to Cistercian monks and lay clergy who experimented with fish-farming, medicinal plants and channeling the powers of windmills. Over the last nine centuries, the abbey and the cloister have been renovated several times. In the 19th century, the Baron de Rothschild built a 40-room lodge for his hunting retinue and his famed stud horses.
In 1989, the abbey was redesigned as a luxury hotel-restaurant with 57 luxury rooms, 17 reception rooms that can host 10 to 1200 guests, 5 restaurants, 2 swimming pools, every leisure facility imaginable, an 11-acre fishing pond, and a 150-acre protected park. The façade of the ancient abbey remains, and the Monk’s Room continues to host weddings and reception.
The baronial Rothschild hunting lodge has become l’Hôtel des Haras (the “Stud Farm Hotel”) with 40 oak-paneled rooms and a huge swimming pool, and the old farmhouse of the monks has become the Hôtel La Ferme des Vallées (the Valley Farm Hotel) with 30 rustic rooms and six reception rooms that can accommodate parties of 40 to 160 guests. 
      This is just Your Wedding Day’s first  selection of châteaux in the vicinity of Paris. If you’re interested in other regions of France, Lisa Mimoun has many more châteaux and villas up her elegant sleeve, from the château de Tocqueville to the Villa Ephrussi on the Riviera, a palace whose elegant salons and magnificent gardens offer spectacular views of the Mediterranean. So all you need to do is kiss your frog to find your prince, and AAMarriage will find your perfect castle.

Chateau Chic, San Francisco: (415) 300-6651 — Paris: 011.331.42.06.62.26 — www.aamarriage.com