Jeni Yamamoto has always been a planner. In fact, it was a little forward thinking that helped Jeni meet her future groom, François-Xavier Beckers, back in January 2020. “I was living in Manhattan but was scheduled to move to Williamsburg (just four blocks away from François-Xavier) in February, so I had already set my Hinge location to Williamsburg,” Jeni explains. “We matched on Hinge on a Sunday and set up our first date for the next day at a bar right next to François-Xavier’s apartment.”
After dating for a year, the pair began working on designing Jeni’s engagement ring together—but François-Xavier decided to surprise her by moving up their timeline and organizing a special retreat while they were visiting his family in Provence. “We planned to do a quick weekend trip just the two of us to Mallorca—a place FX has always loved and I had never been to,” says Jeni. “When we got into the rental car and drove to La Residencia, I knew something was up because FX would never book such a nice hotel for no reason.” François-Xavier realized Jeni had caught on and sped up the timeline even further. “As soon as we unloaded our luggage, we went to the pool bar for lunch,” she shares. “We sat down, he immediately pulled the ring out of his pocket, and asked me, ‘Will you be my wife?’”
The couple decided to get married in Provence, as they spend a lot of time at François-Xavier’s family home in L’Isle-sur-la Sorgue. “We knew we wanted to get married close by so we could host an event at home to make the wedding feel more personal and special,” explains Jeni. “We visited a few venue options and instantly fell in love with Domaine Des Andéols. The property is beautiful and has such a unique mix of Provence charm and modern design.” To time the celebration when the region was in bloom with lavender, they booked a date on June 24, 2023. “Venues and vendors were backed up with bookings from Covid so instead of compromising on time of year, we selected our ideal weekend two years out,” the bride shares.
While Jeni admits planning an international wedding with a language barrier came with some stress, her planner Géraldine of luxury events agency Les Grands Moments helped smooth the process. “I was searching for planners and stumbled into her profile,” says Jeni. She loved her edgy aesthetic and slid into her DMs to recruit her to plan her grand outdoor celebration.