A bride’s attention to detail is a formidable thing. Case in point: Rachel Aminov, née Williams, who asked her cake designer, Bastien Blanc-Tailleur, to custom match the shade of it to her wedding dress. “He actually visited Chanel’s haute couture atelier to do it,” she tells Vogue, “and incorporated the buttons on the dress, as well as the flowers embroidered on the veil, into the final product.”
Here Rachel is referring to the gown she wore to walk down the aisle, a long-sleeved baby pink number from the maison’s haute couture autumn/winter ’21/’22 collection. But for her three-day wedding to husband Erez at the legendary Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc—beloved through history by figures like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlene Dietrich, and current host to the Cannes Film Festival’s annual amfAR Gala—more than one look would have to do. Five, to be specific. “The after party dress, from Chanel haute couture spring/summer 2022, was originally a top,” she recalls. “We changed it from its original black to white, and the beading to pearls and crystals.” Another dress, chosen for the rehearsal dinner, was plucked from Chanel haute couture spring/summer 2021: a long-sleeved, full-skirted coat dress that Rachel accessorised with a black hair bow.
A strapless silk ball gown, finished at the neckline with a structured bow and camellia, was “particularly special” to the bride as it was a collaboration with the maison. “Since my wedding dress was pink, I knew I needed a “moment in white” next,” Rachel explains. “They sent me a sketch, created a beautiful skirt to flow for my first dance, and created the most magical blue, glittering buttons in the back as my ‘something blue’.” The fifth look, meanwhile, which Rachel chose for her farewell dinner, needs no introduction. You’ll be familiar with the body-forward, chain-covered silhouette, debuted by Christy Turlington on the Chanel haute couture spring/summer 1992 runway, and later worn by Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz in Broken Embraces, and Lily Rose Depp at the 2019 Met Gala.
“We reimagined this dress for a bride, changing the fabric to white and the chains to pearls,” Rachel shares. “They even created the necklace and bracelets to match. I will be forever grateful to my friends at Chanel for creating this absolutely striking piece. We really had fun with this one.”
As for the three-day ceremony itself? Wedding planner Sarah Haywood describes the brief as a “return to elegance”. “We worked with the florists at Roni Studio to create an aisle that tapered in the centre to elongate the ceremony area which sits at the end of the 200-metre Grande Allée, which sweeps down to the ocean and takes more than five minutes to process from top to bottom.” A tennis tournament, pool party and dinner concluded the affair—events which the bride also attended in Chanel, of course.
Here, look inside Rachel and Erez’s French Riviera wedding.
