3 weeks ago we were getting ready for Emilie's wedding in Calvinet. Emilie is Thomas' cousin once-removed, his cousin Joelle's only child. Above, shining shoes.
The building below is where Joelle & Thierry, parents of the bride, live. Thierry rebuilt this whole building. He also built Guy's new addition (designed by Guy). The ground floor of this building is the village bakery.
Unfortunately, just at the moment of the 2 p.m. civil ceremony and the 3 p.m. church service (both held in "downtown" Calvinet), it was raining. So I have almost no photos of that part.
I have almost NO photos of Chris, the groom. Ooops! He was very handsome, all in white.
Estelle & Annaelle, in matching dresses, blowing bubbles in the rain. After the church service was the "vin d'honneur", which is a tradition. The champagne was outshone by the biggest brioche rings I have ever seen in my life, like the size of a tractor tire. Everyone kept saying "But how did the baker do it? Where's the over that they fit in?" Tragically, I haven't any photos. Again, the rain made it difficile.
At 7 p.m. the convoy left for the 1 hour drive to the chateau where the real party began. This is an example of one of the flower displays. It was as tall as me. I found out later that the florist, while mounting this, was stung many times up her arm by hornets. More on that later.
This was a chateau, called Chateau Labro, in a place called Onet-le-Chateau.
The barn turned into a dining hall reminded Thomas & I of our own Vermont wedding at Maple Manor.
The piece montée - caramalized creme puffs turned into a sculpture.
Chris & Emilie have a 4-month old daughter, Anna - it was also her baptism. So this is the piece montée for her baptism - a cradle.
Find your seat by looking at this seating chart.
Emilie giving a speech!
All of her aunts & uncles did a little show. This is quite traditional in France, for people to do skits and songs at weddings.
These are Emilie's own cousins, who also did quite an impressive skit with complicated choreography, all to the tune of "Oh What a Night". You can see the bride and groom watching.
Here's me participating (I was strong-armed) in a game called "Gage" (which means a dare, or challenge). 12 contestants come up with their chairs. The DJ hollers out a "gage", for example: "Go get a high heeled shoe!" and the contestants go charging into the crowd of guests, scrambling to grab someone's high-heeled shoe, then run back to the line of chairs and sit down (The DJ having removed one, like in musical chairs). So each round one person gets eliminated. Guess who the first person eliminated was.
In my defense, everyone else knew the game and I didn't even get it explained to me until I had already lost! Each round's loser has to do something for the newlyweds. I'm supposed to take them to play boules in September. The person who lost for December has to bring them a Christmas tree, etc. I admit it was hilarious to watch some of Thomas' cousins running their butts off to try and get back to their chairs with a glass of red wine. Or a champagne cork. Or a wedding ring. See that girl in the red dress who smartly removed her shoes? She won.
This photo was taken at 4:30 a.m. I kid you not. Anaelle and Estelle look better than Thomas and I did! Emilie looked so beautiful! Léna left with Guy and Andrée at 2:45 a.m. to head back to Calvinet. We had a hotel room just nearby. The inner circle had the rooms at the chateau.
Estelle didn't want to leave!
Next morning, back for the brunch! It was a short night's sleep.
A vineyard surrounds the swimming pool at the chateau.
A few shots from inside the chateau. T's cousin Marthe took me up to show me her tower room.
View of the swimming pool from Marthe's room.
This tree house is the bridal suite where Emilie & Chris stayed.
Here are all the cousin's once removed. These are all the butcher's grandchildren. The butcher being Andrée's late brother Raymond.
1 minute after I took this photo, I was stung in the ear by a hornet and a surreal chain of events followed, including lit cigarettes on my ear and vinegar-soaked cotton. It's funny now though was not at the time nor for about 4 days afterward.
A VERY FUN WEDDING! Now I need to see if I can get some boules shipped to the happy couple in Calvinet. hmmmmmmm...........
