Inside Brad and Angelina's Intimate Wedding

The couple's six children took center stage on their family-friendly big day

Photo: David James/Getty Images

There was no string quartet, no soaring chorus, no star soloist.

As Angelina Jolie prepared to walk down the aisle on the arms of her eldest sons, 13-year-old Maddox and 10-year-old Pax, the only sound filling the ancient stone chapel was charmingly lo-fi: a joyful noise from the 20 assembled guests and the groom himself, Brad Pitt.

“There was no music, so family and friends hummed ‘Here Comes the Bride,'” Jolie tells PEOPLE of the intimate Aug. 23 ceremony on the grounds of Château Miraval, the couple’s estate in Correns, France.

In a nod to tradition, Pitt only got his first glimpse of Jolie – dazzling in a classic white gown with a you’ve-never-seen-anything-like-this twist – as she made her entrance.

“Brad didn’t see the dress until the moment of the wedding,” she says.

Then, with a California judge officiating the non-denominational civil ceremony, the couple exchanged heartfelt words penned for the occasion by their six kids.

“The children wrote vows and asked us to make promises to each other,” says Jolie.

“It was very sweet what they came up with.”