Weddings
Maggie Varvel Wore Oscar de la Renta to Marry Derek Vincent at Her Family’s Home in Provence
Alexandra Macon
September 10, 2026
Maggie Varvel and Derek Vincent’s love story began with a series of missed connections. They knew of each other at Brigham Young University and crossed paths at social events—but for years, they remained nothing more than acquaintances. “The timing was never in our favor to explore if there was anything between us,” Maggie, who works in affiliate and influencer marketing at L’Oréal Group, remembers.
That began to change in the summer of 2022, when they were both interning in New York City. Maggie’s brother and sister-in-law, Jack and Caigen, invited a group of interns to lunch at their apPapier-mâchéartment—coincidentally, in the same building where Maggie and Derek now live together. The two spent much of the afternoon talking, but busy schedules intervened, and they once again went their separate ways.
After Maggie graduated in 2024, she moved to New York, where Derek had already been living and working for a year. “On my first Sunday in the city, I attended the same church as Derek,” Maggie remembers. “I saw his familiar face and went up to say hello.” Soon, Derek was texting to check in on her move and helping Maggie and her roommates settle into their apartment—hanging TVs, moving furniture, and finding more and more reasons to come over. “Those texts and hangouts soon turned into making plans with our friend group,” Maggie says. “Little did I know, he knew he was going to ask me out all along.”
For their first date, Derek took Maggie to the driving range at Chelsea Piers, followed by ice cream at Anita Gelato. From there came sushi dinners in SoHo, walks through Central Park, trips to Connecticut, and Sunday afternoons spent at The Met. “It was a very New York beginning to our relationship,” Maggie remembers.
After about a year and a half of dating, Derek proposed on October 5, 2025, on the rooftop of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Afterward, the couple celebrated with an intimate family dinner before joining friends for an engagement party. “It was incredibly special to have that intimate moment together and then immediately be surrounded by the people we love most,” Maggie recalls.
Just under a year later, on August 22, 2026, they married at Maggie’s family home, Le Mas des Poiriers, which translates to “The Pear Tree Farmhouse,” in Provence, France. Set on a working pear orchard, the 18th-century farmhouse has become beloved for its idyllic gardens, lavender fields, cypress-lined allées, and distinctly Provençal interiors.
“I’m the youngest girl of five children,” Maggie explains. “And our wedding was the first family wedding to take place there, which made the setting especially meaningful.” For Maggie and Derek, planning the wedding was particularly personal: They weren’t simply choosing a venue, but creating a celebration in a place already filled with family memories.
The couple worked with OTM Directory Planners Matthew Robbins and Luis Otoya of Matthew Robbins Design, who have an intimate understanding of both the property and the family. “They know our family and the property so well,” Maggie explains. “They have been part of celebrations at the house over the years and have since bought a home nearby in Provence themselves, so there was an extraordinary level of familiarity and trust throughout the process.”
From the beginning, they wanted the wedding to feel as though it belonged at Le Mas and in Provence, rather than like an event that had simply been placed there. The pear orchard, lavender, and poppies that grow throughout the region became recurring references. Poppies appeared on Maggie’s dress and veil and were carried through to the cake, while pear motifs nodded to the orchard from which Le Mas des Poiriers takes its name.
That sense of place extended to every layer of the design. Casa Felix created the stationery as well as hand-drawn floral motifs that continued onto the linens. Maison Drucker chairs—the same iconic French bistro style found throughout the gardens—were used for the ceremony and dinner. Bourg-Joly faïence brought another distinctly French element to the tables, while friend of Le Mas Kate Dickinson lent antique silver, pieces of which are used every day at the house. “Everything felt collected, romantic, and true to the setting,” Maggie says.
Fashion was equally considered throughout the weekend. Maggie’s wardrobe included looks by Alexandra Pijut, vintage Dior, a Galia Lahav dress for the after-party, and a floral Oscar de la Renta dress for the pool party and brunch the following day.
For the ceremony, she chose a semi-custom Oscar de la Renta dress from the house’s “Poppies” collection, covered in delicate floral appliqués. The poppy motif felt especially fitting against the Provençal landscape, and the Oscar de la Renta team added custom off-the-shoulder sleeves.
“I loved the idea of carrying the poppy motif from the landscape into both the dress and veil,” Maggie explains. “It made the fashion feel inseparable from the setting rather than simply something beautiful I was wearing.” She accessorized with Christian Louboutin shoes and Jennifer Behr earrings.
Tommy Buckett of Marie Robinson Salon styled Maggie’s hair, while Megan Lombardi did her makeup. “I wanted to still feel like myself and for the beauty to complement the romance of the clothes and setting rather than compete with them,” she says.
Her bridesmaids wore custom dresses by Rebecca Hessel Cohen of LoveShackFancy. “Rebecca has been a guest at our home in Provence over the years, so having her create the bridesmaid dresses added another lovely element to the weekend,” Maggie says. “Rather than simply choosing dresses from a collection, it felt like another part of the wedding that was made by someone who understood the spirit of the house.”
The ceremony took place at the end of the cypress-lined allée leading to the house. Maggie’s nieces Harriet and Kit served as flower girls in Pepa London dresses with lavender details, created especially for the day. And after being instructed not to throw all of their petals at once, they took the assignment very seriously. “They each threw one petal at a time, walking very slowly and tossing one every three or four feet,” Maggie laughs. “We were dying, but they were diligent!” Her nephew Peter was equally dutiful in his role as ring bearer.
Maggie and Derek asked her older brother, Jack Varvel, to officiate. “Jack has always been someone I look up to, and now that we’re both married, he’s become a great friend to us both,” Maggie says. He took the preparation seriously, interviewing Derek about all the reasons he wanted to marry Maggie and reaching out to friends and family for anecdotes to incorporate into the ceremony. “Walking down the aisle with my dad and seeing my brother standing there with Derek made the entire experience feel so focused on family,” Maggie remembers. “As the youngest girl of five children, but the first of us to be married at Le Mas des Poiriers, I was very aware of the significance of the moment. It felt like Derek and I were beginning our own chapter while also becoming part of the history of a place that already holds so much of my family’s story.”
Neill Strain was the only one considered for florals. When the Varvels lived in London, he opened his first small flower shop a block away from their home and a friendship blossomed. "When I became engaged, my mom told Neil, 'Maggie is getting married, you are too big now to do her flowers but it has to be you!' Neil agreed, 'It has to be me, I am doing Maggie’s flowers.' We were thrilled," the bride shares. "Le Mas is enveloped by the flowers that Provence is known for, the flowers that were beloved by the impressionist artists. We wanted to bring the Provençal garden to life for this special event and were thrilled with the magic that Neill Strain created."
After the ceremony, guests moved into the gardens for cocktail hour, where they were served the first vintage of non-alcoholic rosé produced from the Le Mas des Poiriers vineyards. Christened Rosé de Marguerite for the occasion, the bottle featured a special label created for the wedding.
As guests began taking their seats for dinner, Maggie and Derek found themselves alone for a few minutes at the end of the aisle beneath the cypress allée, waiting to be introduced as husband and wife. “We had a moment of calm to really take in the beauty of the garden and aisle,” Maggie remembers. It was then that they could finally reflect on what had just happened: “How many of our loved ones had made the journey to be with us in the South of France, and that we were finally married.”
Once they entered the reception, it was time to celebrate. Maggie and Derek danced their way into the party to “Right Back Where We Started From” before going directly into their first dance, set to “Dancing in the Moonlight,” a longtime favorite of the bride’s. “We wanted our first dance to be upbeat and fun—something everyone would know the words to,” Maggie says. “We didn’t really practice much before, which did not go unnoticed, but we just had a fun time dancing together and tried not to take it too seriously.”
Dinner was served beneath the property’s 200-year-old plane trees, where Matthew & Luis took inspiration from Dior’s immersive garden installations and installed large trellised walls surrounding the lawn, creating a feeling of dining inside a secret garden. The tables were set with Dior plates and charges and antique silverware. The wicker garden chairs were from Maison Drucker, furthering the garden feeling, alongside other French and Provençal elements woven throughout the weekend.
Above all, Maggie and Derek wanted the evening to feel joyful. “We wanted our friends and family to be able to settle in,” the bride remembers. “We wanted them to enjoy each other’s company and dance the night away.”
And dance they did. For the after-party, Derek’s best friend from college, Zak Osmond, took over as DJ—a fitting full-circle moment for the couple. “While Derek and I didn’t know each other well in college, we both knew Zak—he DJed every college party we attended,” Maggie says. Zak kept the party going late into the night with the couple’s favorite throwbacks.
Looking back, Maggie finds herself thinking less about any single detail and more about having nearly everyone they love in one place. “There is always so much anticipation leading up to a wedding, and then suddenly you’re on the other side of it and realizing how rare it is to have almost everyone you love gathered together,” she says. “Le Mas des Poiriers will always be somewhere we return to, so the wedding doesn’t feel disconnected from the rest of our lives. We’ll walk through the same garden and past the same plane trees and pear orchard for years to come and remember that weekend.”
