It was the summer market in Aix-en-Provence that brought them together — the kind where local farmers set out heirloom tomatoes and lavender bundles beside hand-pressed olive oils. Renaud, a landscape architect who had just completed a restoration of an 18th-century garden, was arguing gently with a vendor about the proper cultivation of wild thyme. Isabelle, a food writer researching the seasonal cuisine of Provence, couldn't help but intervene.

They ended up sharing a carafe of rosé at a nearby café, talking for three hours about terroir, the philosophy of slow food, and why the light in Provence does something inexplicable to the colour of stone. By sunset they had exchanged numbers and a shared understanding that the best things in life happen unhurried.

Two summers, one Provençal harvest, and a proposal in a lavender field later — here we are.