A hint of glitter, a spoonful of pastry cream, a Lip dub more or less coordinated and slews of balloon garlands… Add to that a nice dose of rivalries, a little nastiness and a good bit of bad faith and you get an episode of 4 weddings for 1 honeymoon. But that was before Elodie Villemus put her little grain of salt into it.
This Monday, at 7 p.m., a new new season of the show arrives on TFX for a very special week: for the first time since its arrival on the program, the wedding planner will attend the weddings of all judge brides. Until now a remote spectator (she comments on and judges the weddings after their filming), the expert will be able to form her own idea before giving her notes “which can change everything”, as the program’s voice-over regularly asserts. . Sitting among the guests, she will be able to be moved (or not) when the bride and groom say “yes”. Find out for yourself if the cold buffet lives up to the “gala chic” theme or if the Midnight Demons sufficiently warm up the dance floor.
For Elodie Villemus, it is also an additional way of leaving her mark on the show. Expert in 4 weddings for 1 honeymoon for almost five years, she has been distilling her advice season after season and pacifying relationships between married judges. His secret? Kindness, tact and sense of humor.
“I think I’ve rebalanced things a bit.”
“You can’t imagine the image this program had for us, wedding providers, with this very hair-raising side. We couldn’t find ourselves in it,” recalls 20 minutes Elodie Villemus.
Wedding planner in the high-end and luxury sector for fifteen years, she was approached in 2019 by production, ITV Studios France, to play an expert role. Launched in 2011, 4 weddings for 1 honeymoon was then the delight of zapping with its sequences of score-settling between brides on the verge of a nervous breakdown. “When they called me, quite honestly I wasn’t very keen. The producer at the time knew how to find the right words,” she explains.
Elodie Villemus ended up making her place in the game “obvious”. She takes advantage of this showcase to show all the know-how of her sector of activity. “I said to myself, ‘Elo, you are lucky to be able to be this voice in France to say that we can get married, well, at any budget and at any positioning’,” explains -She.
For several seasons she has played a dual role in the TF1 group program. On the right side, she distils her advice on organization, decoration and style, in order to make “the most beautiful day of our lives” as successful as possible. “I brought professional expertise, information content, real marriage tips. Until then it didn’t exist,” she believes.
On the other hand, she decides between the married judges of the competition by adding her analyzes and her notes to those of the candidates. “I think I’ve rebalanced things a bit. Sometimes strategy took over and today it was counterbalanced by my grades which count for half. At any time I can change the situation,” she explains.
Gone are the days when candidates scuttled their opponents with 5/20, claiming a loose piece of lace or a main course that was too lukewarm for their taste. From now on, Elodie Villemus is keeping an eye on things: “I try to tell them to stop voting based on what they like or not, we are not here for that but to note a proposal in relation to a theme” . His code of conduct ? Coherence. “The one who wins is the one who has a common thread from start to finish and who tells me a story,” explains the expert.
“Emotional capital is exponential in a marriage”
In the new formula of 4 weddings for 1 honeymoon, you now have to justify (and take responsibility for) your choices in front of Elodie, especially when she is present at the wedding as for this special week. Contempt, barbs and gratuitous attacks give way to slightly more peaceful sequences. Or funny. Like when candidates have to take it upon themselves and temper their criticism. “ [Lors des tournages] I was very attentive to their non-verbal communication, the expressions they could have even if they prevented themselves from speaking. It was great! I have less of it on video. There are many more twists and turns when experiencing it in real time than through a screen,” recognizes the expert.
Where insults sometimes flew and the tone often rose between the married judges, the presence of Elodie Villemus helped to somewhat soften the relations between the candidates. Particularly during the final settling of accounts which now takes place around a table, in his presence. Likewise, candidates are much less upset when the grades are awarded by the professional. His criticisms are delivered with tact and kindness. “I’m here to tell them how they could have made it better, and there’s one way to say it. We must not forget that we are talking to young women who have invested money for this day. Not to mention the emotional capital which is exponential in a marriage. There are real issues,” she recalls.
Don’t go believing that 4 weddings for 1 honeymoon is nothing but love, tears of emotion and cronyism between the bride judges. Rest assured, disappointed faces and bad faith still hold their place. Which amuses our wedding expert. “My solution to combat this is to emphasize it through humor,” she replies. She adds: “Afterwards, it’s a game. Who says game, says strategy, bad faith, bad player… When I play I want to win and I can be a bad player… But I’m not in bad faith! »