So one of the big reasons for this year’s trip to France is to celebrate the marriage of Romain and Cléménce. Romain, you longtime blog readers will recall, is a member of the Boudeau Family, the family responsible for us choosing to live in Nantes back in 2010. We became fast friends with them during our year there, something that is a vast understatement.

Today was the first part of the wedding celebration, what is called a “white party.” In short, this means that people wear white clothing, I guess. I’m not sure if all parties of this sort take place in southern France but if they do, I highly encourage you to attend one. The venue was, perhaps, the most spectacular spot for a party I’ve ever seen (and I was born in Omaha, mind you). I don’t think any words I could use would do it justice. Let me just say that there were views, and some trees, and a big sky, and some buildings. It was about 90 degrees and there was a band and an open bar, and a pizza truck.

Oh, there were some really nice people there, too, most of them French (all of them, I think), and many of them our friends. People seemed genuinely pleased to see us and by us I mean Melinda AND me. Go figure.

We were pretty tired, given we had flown 9 hours from Seattle to Paris, then another hour+ from Paris to Montpellier. In Montpellier we rented a car and drove 90 minutes into the center of French bliss (see attached map and the black arrow, that’s us).

About where we’re staying this weekend, I encourage you to visit this website. That’s where we are; in fact, it’s where I am as I write this.

Now about the marriage, the wedding ceremony is taking place tomorrow at 3:30pm, followed by a reception that is supposed to last into the wee hours of the morning. And by “wee hours,” I think that means the party will extend into next year.

More on that in my next post. And about posts, here’s what Melinda & I were doing on this day in 2012.