MG Events Ile de Ré

English-speaking wedding planner and designer on Île de Ré, France, since 2010.

I’m Mélanie, founder of MG Events. For more than fifteen years I have been planning and designing weddings on Île de Ré, the island just off La Rochelle on France’s Atlantic coast: France, but softer, slower and more discreet. Many of the couples I look after live in the UK or further abroad, and plan their whole wedding from home. My role is to make that simple, clear and calm, from the first call to the last dance.

WHAT I DO

Full Wedding Planning: you set the direction, you choose, you approve. Everything else is mine: venue, suppliers, budget, schedule, the design of your decoration, set-up and coordination on the day. You arrive on the island; everything is ready.

Planning or Decoration & Coordination: you keep one part in hand and I take the other. The whole organisation while you keep the decoration, or your decoration while you manage your suppliers. Either way, I coordinate your day.

Design Service: you handle the planning; I design and install the look of your day: moodboard, complete design file, set-up and dismantling, with my own collection of decor and furniture to hire.

Flowers, stationery and rental items are quoted separately in every package. I don’t offer day-of coordination on its own: a calm wedding day starts long before the day itself.

FROM 15 TO 200 GUESTS

From an intimate dinner on the harbour of Saint-Martin to a celebration for 200 in a historic fort, every wedding is made to measure. Sea-view ceremonies, historic fortifications such as Fort de La Prée or Le Bastion, private villas and family homes: I know each venue, its rules and its possibilities, so you never discover them on the day.

PLANNING FROM ABROAD, MADE SIMPLE

• Everything happens in English: video calls, quotes, contracts, planning tools.
• London is only one hour behind, so finding a time to talk is easy.
• Direct seasonal flights from London Stansted and Gatwick to La Rochelle take about 1h30, then a short drive to the bridge.
• You don’t need to visit the island before the wedding week if you don’t want to. Some of my couples never did.
• One shared online space holds your budget, schedule, guest list and documents, so you always know where things stand.

TRUSTED LOCAL SUPPLIERS

Caterers, florists, DJs, celebrants: a hand-picked network built on the island since 2010. They are not just suppliers to me, they are part of the team. I brief them, I coordinate them, and I am there on the day so that you can simply enjoy it.

THE ISLAND, WITH NO BAD SURPRISES

Île de Ré has a rare charm and rules of its own: music curfews, access constraints, protected sites, and ceremonies held facing the sea, never on the beach itself. I build all of this into your plan from day one, together with an indoor fallback for the weather.

“We had only had one Zoom call and exchanged emails, yet when we met in person it genuinely felt as though Mélanie already knew exactly who we were.” Megan, married on Île de Ré

Rated 4.9/5 across 87 Google reviews — "You focus on the joy. I handle the complexity, and the French."