The Perfect Fairytale Wedding Day

The Kiss

The ceremony

  After the rain on Friday night it was with great joy that we woke up to a lovely blue sky on Saturday morning. The morning passed quickly with all the last minute things to be done. We managed to get a few long extensions as there was a fear that the electricity might blow; the final touches were made to the marquee; I completed all my flower arrangements; added some more flowers to the bride's bouquet; more people arrived and in among the chaos downstairs of people eating and drinking coffee, the bride and her helpers went upstairs and got on with the preparations that one does to brides. Naomi was in charge of the make-up and Catha, a friend from university days was the hairdresser. Compared to my last year panic when I was still making my dress a few minutes before, I was ready before the bride and saw her in her dress for the first time when she walked down the stairs. Tanya looked radiantly beautiful and she really did take my breathe away! Her dress was exquisite and she looked serene and happy. We were all ready to go to the Mairie.

The beautiful bride

  Anthony was waiting at the door of the Mairie along with the mayor and deputy mayor, his parents and everyone else. The ceremony in the mairie was quick, apart from all the signatures but it was lovely and Sebastien, the mayor, said quite a lot in English and was very nice.

The Wright's and Mah's

The beautiful girls!

We all waited outside for the happy married couple, Mr and Mrs Mah, to come out and then they were showered with lavender seeds and rose petals.

Mr and Ms Mah

We all went straight back to the farm and the parking was in the bottom field so everyone had to walk up the lane including the bride and groom! The first part of the afternoon was the vin d'honneur in the front garden where we had cider, poire (with accent!) and canapes.

Hazel and Pascal

The other Mr and Mrs Mah

There were outdoor games to play such as croquet, giant jenga, japanese billiards, giant cards and others and of course lovely piano music played by the local piano teacher in Livarot. It was perfect and a chance for me to catch up on some news with my local friends so lots of chat and not much time for games.

  At 6.30 cocktails were served by the pond area, made by Neil assisted by Naomi. They were Singapore sling and La Normande - a new cocktail created by Neil last year for Lisa and Remi's wedding based on pommeau (apple sherry) mint from the garden and raspberries. The caterers had arrived and served us delicious nibbles to go with the cocktails and after the throwing of the bouquet it was time to go up to the big marquee.

  I wont bore with every detail but it was a typical long french meal, wonderfully served with delicious food and wine. We had an unexpected break halfway organised by Tanya's school friends - The famous "Le Plus Gros mangeur de Livarot Cheese" where the competitors eat as much Livarot cheese as they can inside a certain time. I can proudly say that Patrick won but I think the others were slowing down as time ran out!

Next were the speeches, when Michael the best man warned everyone of the dangers of the Livarot Cheese Factory where love began for Tanya and Anthony five years previously and Anthony spoke his lovely speech in French and English. Before the dancing commenced we had the amazingly delicious gateaux de Jacquis Artois.

  The dancing began about midnight and finished around 6 am I believe. I managed to keep going until about 3.30 am but stupidly stopped for a break and couldn't get going again. Most of the British guests stopped before dawn but the French contingent and some Wright's (including the bride and groom) kept going until dawn. The French tradition is that everyone is invited for lunch the next day so by 9.30 am I was in my pyjamas making some salads to go with the barbeque that Pascal had kindly agreed to do. It poured with rain but it didn't matter as we all were able to go into the marquee and enjoy les sausissons. So that was more or less the end as everyone made their way back to wherever they were going and by the evening we were back to only 10.
The end of a Perfect Fairytale (as someone else called it) Wedding!