Mariage pleuvieux, mariage heureux

Saying  "oui" in front of the mayor and Sarkozy

As we heard several times on our wedding day, mariage pleuvieux, mariage heureux: rainy wedding, happy marriage...luckily for us, it only rained in the morning while we were busy picking up the catering. By the time I had my hair appointment, it was clearing up, and for the rest of the afternoon, during the ceremony and reception, it was simply overcast. Despite the uncooperative weather, the mood was cheerful and festive, as we gathered at the mairie. We opted for a simple civil ceremony: this ceremony takes place at the town hall, and for us, was officiated by the mayor. Although I thought we would say our vows with only the witnesses present, the tradition is that guests come to see the service, too. Luckily we only had 15 guests, but the room could probably have help up to 30 people comfortably. Our guests included Ju's mom, Laurence, her friend, Eric, Ju's sister, Alice; my great-aunt and uncle, Francoise and Dominique, who drove from over by Bordeaux in order to represent my family; and several of Ju's closest friends. Our witnesses were Alice, Dominique, and Ju's friend, Fanny.

The mayor made his little speeches with a few corny jokes about Ju (since he is technically Ju's boss) and about the US (about Route 66) and read through the official texts. I tried to pay attention and absorb the moment, but quite honestly, I was too nervous that each time we had to stand up or sit down, my dress would be bunched up and I would moon my guests, or that I would say "Oui!" at the wrong time...oh well, it's all on tape so I can always re-watch later! The whole "I do" part went super quick, and then suddenly it was over! We were married, and then we exchanged our rings. I had a brain fart and tried to put the ring on Ju's right hand. Oops!

Les alliances ! 

When you're a foreigner, you have to file a million papers to get the marriage license approved, right? Well, during the ceremony, signatures are quite important: first, the couple, the witnesses, and the person officiating. Then comes the initialing all documents in the file. Seriously, I think this was the longest part of the afternoon, what with all the certificates of this and that and the translations. Once all the the Is were dotted and Ts were crossed, we headed to the reception hall for champagne! 

 

 

les invitées

Popping champagne

Ah! Le fromage, most important part!

So one perk of not ever having dreamed up the perfect wedding was that Ju and I basically just ordered whatever food we wanted, like kids in a candy shop. We opted for an apéro-dinatoire, a very filling assortment of cocktail bites and whatnot, rather than a sit-down dinner, preferring to encourage a relaxed atmosphere where people could stand and mingle. On the menu: feilleutés (puff pastry with cheese, olives, etc) and champagne; tarte de ravioles; pizza provencale (eggplant, olive, fresh tomato amazingness); an assortment of cocktail bites (mostly for the non-vegetarians) including foie gras macarons, salmon/pesto millefeuille, little toasts with duck and foie gras/tapenade and cured ham/roasted red peppers, shrimp with marinated sun-dried tomato, scallop with sautéed veggie, mousseline of asparagus...then, there was hummus, confit of eggplant and tomato, and zucchini beignet from my fave Lebanese spot in Valence...and then the fromage, oh! the fromage - 2 platters, a total of 10 wonderfully stinky cheeses (all-inclusive: lait de vache, de chevre, et de brebis bien sûr!) which included some classics, like camembert, and some discoveries like my new favorites, Epoisses and Langres..all this time, we drank Crozes-Hermitage (rouge) and St Joseph (rouge), both Rhone wines; for dessert Clairette de Die (sparkling dessert wine) and 2 cakes: triple chocolate mousse and fresh fruits on a gâteau breton with vanilla cream filling. Omg. Delish.

Avec Ju's mom et sister

 Avec Dominique et Francois

We started our reception-party around 16h...things wrapped up around 1am, and by 1h30, we had cleaned and straightened the hall. My dad's side of the family sent us some lovely videos, and I basically cried my eyes out watching them when we got home. Chalk it up to the wine, the fatigue, and the surprising challenge of getting married when your family can't be there...so all the cards and emails and messages were probably even more meaningful than in a standard situation. Even though I made a somewhat selfish decision to get married abroad on such short notice, I've realized that I am blessed to have an amazingly supportive family and group of friends, who went out of their way to be with us in spirit that day. I am so thankful.

It was a crazy adventure leading up to our wedding, from the fact that despite the distance we've stayed together and loyal for 4 years to the last-minute paperwork scare, and I am so excited to see where we end up going from here. It's still weird to think that I'm married now, I really never thought I would be wearing this gold ring on my left ring finger, but at the same time, I know that this is one of the best decisions I've ever made. And I can't wait to come to the US with Ju later this winter so he can finally meet everyone!