Okay, so there is NO WAY to fully summarize this wedding. From its 90 minute ceremony in an ancient French church in a tiny town to the reception that started at about 6pm and continued for at least 12 hours (Melinda & I managed 9 of those – not bad considering jet lag and all), what I have for you are some photos:
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.
We’re back!
That’s right, Melinda & I are back in France. After the sabbatical in 2010/11, we vowed to come back every year and, mostly, pulled that off until 2018, the year I left PSCS and we moved for a year to California. Soon after, well, there was this little thing called the pandemic. And while we did make it to France last year courtesy of Melinda’s mom as part of a Shaw holiday, I didn’t update the blog (which I’m kicking myself for not doing).
So we’re back and I’m back!
We left Seattle today on an Air France flight and with this nifty new neck pillow (seen in this photo). It attaches to the airplane seat and then connects under your chin, thus allowing you some comfort if you want to relax your head forward or to either side. It worked fairly well for me, but especially well for Melinda.
Speaking of Melinda, she was trying a new concept for the few days before we left, one in which she goes to bed an hour earlier each night and gets up an hour earlier each morning. Today she got up at something like 2am.
I think what worked for her was being sleep-deprived. She more or less passed out on the flight…
In other news, certainly significant news, it’s Carib’s 90th birthday today. 90 is a big number when it comes to age (it’s less significant when you think of dollars, that is unless you have those new-fangled dollars, what Jed Clampett referred to as mill-EE-on dollars).
My brother, Steve, who came up from California with his wife, Deb, to celebrate the occasion shared this photo with me.
Happy birthday, Carib! As a flashback, here is how we celebrated your birthday 13 years ago.
Andy Smallman 