1 week Ago By Elise Taylor
Quinten Richardson truly believes his first encounter with Elif Erguvan was a miracle. In 2021, he was crossing a street in London, distracted by his phone. So distracted, in fact, that he failed to notice a black cab had sped around the corner.
A stranger pulled him out of the way just in time. “In shock, the first words out of my mouth were, ‘You saved my life. How can I ever repay you?’” “How about a drink?” Elif said back.
Two years later, they got engaged on a rainy night in Notting Hill. Quinten, a city planner, asked Elif, an interior and furniture designer with her own studio, if she wanted to get dinner at neighborhood pub The Pelican. He got down on one knee right outside its doors.
After she said yes, he led her up to The Pelican’s private room, where all her family and friends were waiting to celebrate. In August 2024, the two wed in Provence. “I grew up spending most of my summers in the South of France , specifically in the village of Mougins, where my family has had a home for close to 20 years,” Quinten says.
“After many trips to Mougins together, Elif and I knew we wanted to have our wedding somewhere in the region.” They decided to wed at Château d’Estoublon – a former medieval estate turned hotel and vineyard. Along with Brussels-based wedding planner Guendalina Litta Modignani, the artistic couple – who now co-run a design and development firm, Superattico, together – set out to plan a highly original wedding weekend.
The festivities began with a welcome party at Carrières des Lumière, a former quarry turned art centre. Although the guests didn’t know that until they arrived, with the couple opting to keep the venue a surprise. The only thing they knew? The dress code: nuit blanche , which translates to white night in English.
The mystique was well worth it. “Our guests arrived in complete awe to the internal space of Carrières de Lumiéres, greeted with Champagne and a cavernous room filled with ever-changing scenes of impressionist art,” says Elif. A family-style dinner was served on long, candlelit tables that stretched the length of the atrium as a harpist played.
The raw, brutalist setting inspired Elif’s look for the evening: a light, flowing taffeta and silk dress designed by her sister, who owns the fashion brand Ila. “The tension between soft fabric and hard stone created a deliberate yet effortless statement,” says Elif. Quinten, meanwhile, opted for head-to-toe Bode .
The venue wasn’t the only surprise that evening. Their welcome party happened to fall on Elif’s birthday – which Elif at first assumed would just get lost in the chaos of things. But just as dinner ended, Quinten brought out a towering, multi-tiered cake.
After she blew out the candles, their friend Jonny Rock began to DJ. Guests were then led to an extravagant dessert bar underneath a disco ball by Chef Laszlo Badet. The next day, Quinten and Elif married in a two-part ceremony.
“The first was a more intimate gathering of our bridal party and immediate family, which was held in the petite 17th-century chapel next to the château. Surrounded by our loved ones, Elif and I exchanged our personal vows,” explains Quinten. “Our decision to save our personal vows for our closest family and friends gave us the comfort to allow our emotions to flow.
” Afterwards, the couple and their wedding party made their way to the other end of the grounds, where all the guests sat underneath the shade of towering plane trees. Elif wore a Vivienne Westwood corset dress. Yet the real statement of her bridal look? A 13-foot floral veil by Tatyana Kochnova Atelier, which Elif believed symbolised “the emotional depth of the moment – delicate, and purposeful.
Just before walking down the aisle I was hit by a strong wind which made the experience even more otherworldly.” The groom waited for her under an arrangement of flowers by Thierry Boutemy in a bespoke suit from the Neapolitan tailor Saint Gregory. “During our full ceremony, neither of us could get over how beautifully everything had come together,” Quinten says.
“Before everyone walked down the aisle, our officiant asked all of the guests to put their phones away for the duration of the ceremony. Without the distraction of a phone, we felt a much stronger connection to everyone as we looked through the crowd.”.
