After a wonderful barbeque and pre-wedding party on Friday night I woke up at 6 am to go through the final "things to do list". There was still my wedding cake uniced, my dress unfinished, flowers for the Mairie to do, and the decoration of the hall to be completed - HELP! Matthew and Anne Flore went down with me to the hall which was about 20 minutes drive away. We had mostly completed the setting the day before but we were short of some ties for the chairs, needed to bring the cake down, check the flowers and make some salads. The first thing that we saw as we entered the kitchen was the amazing croquembouche that Matthew had spent days making and assembling had unstuck and fallen everywhere. It was one of those moments you either cry or laugh and with all the nervous tension around it could have been either but we all had a good laugh and Matthew was wonderful about it and decided to scoop the choux pastries into a bowl and smother it with a chocolate sauce. Anne Flore made my interesting wedding cake look amazing with sugared rose petals from the garden; the ties were finished ; most of the salads done; the 80 chair covers that I made were in place; it was time to head back to La Ferme to check on the flowers, decorations etc. for the Vin d'honneur. While driving through Livarot I saw Patrick holding a bouquet of flowers that had been forgotten about and needed to be paid for - we had forgotten tablecloths for the marquee - a quick grab of our bedspread and material in my store solved that and it looked fine. My dress for the wedding was still unfinished so I sat down at 1.30 pm and finished it as best as I could...
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| Lisa and a very proud father |
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| The kiss! |
Fortunately for my beautiful daughter Lisa there were many of her friends and sisters who were helping her with her hair and make-up and keeping her calm and serene. Her mother was of course her usual last minute self with no time for mother of the bride things but hey we made it to the Mairie in time and Lisa looked radiantly beautiful. Her dress was bought online and it fitted her perfectly and her hair and everything about her were lovely. When we got to the Mairie there were LOTS of friends and family there to share in the happy event. We squashed into the Mairie and Mr Le Mayor performed the ceremony efficiently and the papers were signed and out we went again to great cheers and wishes of happiness for the newly married pair.
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| The married couple |
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| A Family group |
We drove through our village tooting our horns and waving at everyone and then went back to the farm for the vin d'honneur. There was traditional music played; delicious tarte aux pommes and poire and cidre served along with fresh apricots and cherries. A vin d'honneur is traditionally the event that everyone in the village is invited to and then closer friends and family continue in the evening with a meal and more celebrations.
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| Sisters, brother and partners.. |
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| Friends... |
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| Parents |
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| and family |
We were lucky as there were only a few spots of rain and everyone mingled and chatted in the garden and went out to the field for the "sofa photo shot"which was great fun. Phoebe our 15 year old dog was in her element being very sociable and wearing her wedding bow and lots of people commented on the lovely garden and didn't even notice the weeds! At 6 pm the musicians stopped and it was time to drive off to Camembert for the rest of the festivities.....
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| Phoebe |
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| The musicians |
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