Refined & Decadent – Luxury Wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris
Paris is the wedding destination of choice for many couples, and it’s easy to see why. The timeless city of love is packed with cultured architecture and famous buildings, and it is home to some of the best chefs and finest dining the world has to offer. Also known as the city of lights, the skyline twinkles all night long, creating the perfect backdrop for romance. The Garnier Opera House is one such building in Paris. It is one of the capital’s most iconic landmarks and by far one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the city. Founded in the late 1800s by Charles Garnier, the building is the perfect blend of baroque, classicism and Renaissance architecture, beautifully showcasing the city’s rich cultural history. As well as hosting some of the best artists in the world, many have also chosen to host a luxury wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris. The exclusive venue, with its exquisite interiors and grandiose staircase, is enough to rival any fairytale wedding venue.
There, you’ll get all the extravagance and show-stopping moments of a Lebanese wedding, but in France. And, best of all, this breathtaking space can play host to as many as 2,100 guests if you want to, for a wedding reception that no one will ever forget.
Why am I sharing all of this with you?
Well, recently, I was lucky enough to work on a beautiful French wedding stationery suite inspired by the magical Paris opera house. The French style wedding invitations and full stationery suite were carefully crafted to embody all the exuberance and indulgence of this magical wedding venue.
So, I thought it would be nice to share a little more information with you about this wonderful wedding venue, as well as some pictures of my recent designs. Hopefully, these can offer inspiration to anyone thinking about a destination wedding in France or, in particular, a luxury wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris.
A magical wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris
As a wedding venue, Opera Garnier, Paris offers multiple locations for you to hold the ceremony – the hard part is choosing which one. This will largely depend on the number of guests you have or the style of your wedding, but the great news is, each room has its own unique aesthetic that can help to influence your decision.
The Main Auditorium will charm with its Italian style, while the circular space of the Rotonde du Glacier features a painted ceiling by Georges Jules-Victor Clairin. For something smaller and more intimate, the Salon Florence Gould can seat up to 80 people and offers breathtaking views over Paris.
Or, for a huge traditional party, the foyers and first floor of the Palais Garnier will not cease to amaze. Plus, the salons and foyers around the Grand Staircase offer the perfect photo opportunity for the newlywed couple.
For this particular wedding that I am talking about today, the reception took place in the Grand foyer, Palais Garnier. This grand hall is 59 by 43 feet and an impressive 505 feet in length. It was originally designed as a drawing-room, though, of course, it’s not used for that purpose anymore; the hall was actually restored in 2004, and the ceiling was painted by Paul-Jacques-Aimé Baudry.
What does an Opera Garnier Paris wedding cost?
In order to ensure you have the wedding of your dreams, the Paris opera house closes its doors to any members of the public, offering total privacy for 12 to 24 hours over the course of the wedding day. And as I said, you have a variety of options available when it comes to the reception, ceremony and dining, which will impact the final cost.
That said, an Opera Garnier Paris wedding cost typically starts at around €200,000. Of course, there are lots of indulgent extras that you can add to make your day even more special. These can be included in the package from Opera Garnier, or you can hire independent business owners like me to add those unique touches for you.
In this case, the couple wanted a French wedding stationery suite that would reflect the opulence of the venue and of their special day. So that is what we created.
Taking inspiration from the venue
There is no shortage of inspiration you can take from the Paris opera house. From the grand staircase and decorative foyers to the painted ceilings and gold accents, the venue can inspire so many aspects of the big day.
What’s more, because the building and all the surrounding architecture are so impressive, a luxury Wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris, can be as dramatic or minimalist as you want and still influence those all-important finer details.
I chose to take inspiration from the incredible floral arrangements, gold accents and colour schemes around the building. I used this to create the perfect design for these hand-painted wedding invitations.
French style wedding invitations
No luxury wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris, would be complete without French style wedding invitations. An immaculate venue like this needs powerful stationery to raise the bar and reflect the opulence of the day. After all, the wedding invitations help to set the tone; they let the guests know what to expect, even when the wedding is months, possibly over a year, into the future. As such, it is so important to weave luxury and elegance into every detail.
One of the most important parts of creating wedding invitations is getting the colour palette right. Taking inspiration from the flowers, as well as wholeheartedly embracing Parisian charm, we settled on burgundy, hot pink and golden tones for these French style wedding invitations.
This inspired me to produce a floral watercolour painting to use for a hand painted, luxury envelope design that would be custom made for this special couple.
These deep tones, paired with the golden welding, signify several important things, passion, love, royalty and, of course, elegance.
The invitations were presented on thick card with a textured edge. This heavy card not only ensures the invitations will stand the test of time and be a great keepsake, but these exude quality and luxury. The textured edge is another unique feature that adds a certain je ne sais quoi to your French wedding stationery.
But wedding stationery suites don’t just stop at ‘save the date’ cards and invitations, particularly not when you want your whole day to be intricate, detailed and lavish. You also need to think about the on the day wedding stationery as well, and how this is going to tie in with the invitations you sent to your guests. Which, working closely with the client, was exactly what we did.
Photography @Davidabel, styling by @Lustrethory
On the day wedding stationery
When I talk about on the day wedding stationery, I am referring to aspects that will be required on the actual day, such as place names, escort cards, table numbers and even menu cards. For this luxury Wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris, the focus was mainly on place settings and table numbers. After the wedding invitations suite has been designed, it can be very challenging to carry the same power and drama that’s represented. You want to aim to carry through the same tone and build upon the foundation that you have already set in terms of luxury design.
I have seen so many weddings, simply drop the ball and produce very plain, boring on the day wedding stationery. That was not what I desired for such a luxury wedding at Opera Garnier.
As the reception took place in the Grand Foyer, the table settings and on the day wedding stationery needed to match the grandeur of the room, tie in with the wedding cake and flowers, whilst also representing the couple. The colour scheme remained close to that of the wedding invitations, using red, pink, white and gold tones. These were once again inspired by the flowers, as well as the gold accents throughout the opera house.
The use of gold on the table numbers and place names was designed to capture the elegance and extravagance of the whole day. These hand-painted designs saw the use of crests and floral and leaf patterns similar to those on the wedding invitations, and the smaller gold accents signify luxury and reflect the strong baroque gold interiors.
After all, you only get married once, and if you’re doing it somewhere that makes a statement like Opera Garnier in Paris, every tiny detail needs to be exuberant and perfect. I also took inspiration from the mosaics on the golden backgrounds, octagonal salons around the room and the breathtaking chandeliers that lined the ceiling. All of this contributed to the mesmerising composition of the day.
The on the day wedding stationery also matched the incredible nine-tier wedding cake with its pink icing and handmade golden embellishments, all beautifully topped with floral arrangements. The final part of this wedding suite was the individual scrolls used for the place names.
Scrolls inherently mirror the history, culture and elegance of the venue, and these are often inspired but the royal stature of scrolls. These are commonly used as wedding invitations in India and other Asian countries, but why not opt for unique, handmade scrolls for your place names at your French destination wedding too.
How can your venue inspire your dream wedding – and how can I help?
Whether it is a luxury wedding at Opera Garnier, Paris, saying your vows in the English countryside or a destination wedding in Italy, or Ireland – let your wonderful wedding venue as well as your unique personalities, pave the way and inspire your stationery.
I work closely with all my clients to understand them as a couple before looking at their venue, the local area, floral choices and their chosen colour scheme to ensure that together, we can create a wedding stationery suite they will love and cherish forever.
I understand that your stationery can be a very early way to set the tone for your wedding day, which is why it needs to be perfect.
So, if you’d like to see more of my designs, then visit my entire portfolio here to see how I’ve worked with other clients in the past. Or you can also find out more about the entire process I go through when creating beautifully hand-crafted wedding stationery suites in this guide here.
If you’d like to work together, please do get in touch.
Vendor Credits:
Planner @feteinfrance
Photographer @audreyparisphoto
Florist @loykapel
Cake @bastien_blanc_tailleur
Dress : @zuhairmurad
Hair & Makeup: @harold_james
Event decor: @mdp_events_paris
Tableware: @maison_options
Chargers: @duchessbutler
