An American in Provence

Got home from my week in Paris late last night and saw my husband standing there, waiting for me at the train station.
Today is our seventh wedding anniversary,and I am so glad to be married to him.

Six years of wedded bliss, as of today. The above picture was for our thank-you cards.

A very important wedding anniversary for me- now I can finally file my papers to start the process of obtaining French nationality!

And here I am, stuck in a 6-hour technical exam...
Well, maybe it will bring me luck for my exam.

(for anyone wondering, also shown are Alain's sister, her husband, and their daughter)

Tomorrow, May 26th, will be our one-year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we are opening a bottle of champagne (left over from the reception), eating the Megan & Alain biscuit (I don't know how to describe it, it was part of our chateau piece montée wedding cake- couldn't save the top layer, so I saved that). It is hard to believe at times that it has been a year already. Then I look back at all that has happened- finishing my french courses, buying our apartment in November and moving in, being faced with sudden and unexpected renovations, going to Colorado for Christmas, starting a job. Wow. The year went by quickly but the months were long. Kinda like what they said about VMI- the days go by slowly but the weeks go by quickly, which was totally FALSE in that case. The only thing that went by slower than each day at VMI was week after endless week. Anyway, back to happier things.

We are going Saturday to visit the city of Avignon, about an hour and a half north of Marseille. Neither of us has visited it before. We will visit Saturday and Sunday, then drive back Sunday evening. It should be a fun time. Hopefully it won't be too hot.


In the meantime, I leave you with some pictures. The first shows the piece montee (you can see the Megan & Alain thing in front) and one picture from the place where we had most pictures taken, plus a link to Avignon on Wikipedia.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon




For more wedding recap, click on Weddings either below or on the right.

Just one question- do celebrities get some sort of "Get out of Paperwork Hell" card when they decide to grace St. Tropez or Somewhere in Italy with their nuptials? Why didn't I get this card? Why did I have to suffer through medical exams, certified translations of every official document back to Kindergarten Diploma, and other memories which I have purposefully suppressed? Why didn't I have the opportunity to get Fake Married in Europe like Tom and Katie and Pam and Kid Rock?
http://people.aol.com/people/article/0,26334,1219944,00.html
And oh yeah, we didn't even have the option to have just the "wedding celebration" because it isn't LEGAL FOR MORTALS.
And how seriously can one take wedding vows that sound like they came from the "Sugar and spice and everything nice that's what little girls are made of." Book of Wedding Frivolty?

"PARIS (Reuters) - A lavish wedding where newlyweds were sprinkled with shredded euro-note confetti has provoked outrage in a French town, a newspaper reported Tuesday. Liberation said angry locals in the southern town of Sete scrambled on the ground to scrape up the bits of 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro notes scattered at the July 8 nuptials.

"People chucking money away in the street for everyone to see, when there are so many struggling to get by!" said Frederic, a resident quoted by the newspaper.

Around 200 people attended the ceremony, which included a fireworks display estimated to have cost 40,000 euros ($51,000), the paper said. The bride was the daughter of a local businessmen who made his money in textiles.

Townspeople lodged a complaint with police since destroying bank notes is a crime in France. Police and a spokesman at the town hall where the couple were married declined to comment."

I mean really, is it necessary to shred up money and throw it? What a waste. Even though I think it is silly for it to be illegal to burn or destroy money (heck, it is your money, do with it what you want) I do think there are better things to do with it. Toss coins to local kids as many cultural traditions do. Throw candy. Throw rice, lavender, bird seed. It gets the job done for a lot less. Make a donation of the same amount of money to a local charity. Pay for the guest's lodgings for the night. People get so caught up in weddings and showing that they spent more money than someone else on a single day. It is like the 3$ per butterfly releases, that when released, they just flop onto the ground and die. How un-romantic.

Forget children, a happy marriage, or a long life together! We hope you are blessed with a lot of material goods!
Apparently, according to another report, the bills were defective and worthless. Still. It seems to be just shoving it into people's faces how much the wedding cost. They know that you are a Rockefeller. Wouldn't it be more suprising to have a simple, understated wedding rather than a huge blow-out affair with Christina Aguilera singing?

Besides, most of the people apparently did not know that the money was worthless and so concluded that they had spent tons and tons of money just for the exit from the church. Who needs 50,000$ fireworks on their big day? Talk about conspicuous consumption. How are you going to top that later in life, such as when your first baby is born?
Okay, rant over. Back to work.

This weekend, Alain and I went to the 100% French wedding (versus the 75% of so French wedding that we had) of his friends Coralie and Sylvain nearby in the town of Hyères, where Lucie, Nicolas, and Manon are living.

When we woke up Saturday morning the sky was grey and intermittently raining. We hoped that it would get better later on. We left for Hyères around 9:45, taking the toll highway (3 euros in tolls). It took us a little less than an hour and half, but it would have been shorter if we had known exactly where we were going. Luckily, beach traffic wasn't too bad and besides a slight detour in Toulon we managed to find our way.

Lucie and Nicolas fixed lunch for us, and we played with Manon. The ceremony at the City Hall started around 3:30, so Nicolas dropped us off a little after 3. It was packed. As it was on a Saturday and in a bigger town, there were 12 weddings scheduled for the same day at the City Hall! It was strange because there were about 3 other brides in the area, waiting for their turn or having just got done. All the guests got mixed up and just as one group was finishing another would drive off honking and stuff. Alain met one of his old friends, Stéphane there. They did their Master's together in Marseille. I had been worried about not knowing anyone there and having to talk to complete strangers in French, but it turned out okay.

Coralie's dress was pretty, not sure what company made it, but it had sort of a pick-up look and no train. The bodice was covered in lace, and she had a piece of lace around her neck and lace gloves. Her bouquet was small white lilies, and she had fake ones in her hair. The groom wore a black suit and an ivory vest. The Mayor was a woman, which is the first time I have seen a female Mayor here.
It was interesting to see how different couples (and brides especially) react emotionally to different parts of the day. Like I got emotional when the Mayor pronounced us married, but them not at all. Whereas she got very emotional walking down the aisle, but I was fine up until the Prayer we had written.
Then we walked to the church, which was very pretty, but much more austere than ours was. It was made of brick or stone with stained glass windows and no paintings. The priest was much younger than ours was, and actually played the guitar and sang the Psalm, which was the first time I have ever seen a Catholic priest do that!

After the church ceremony, we walked back to Lucie's and had some water and rested before driving out to the reception. The reception was a very pretty area, way out in the countryside with vineyards all around.
The reception started at 7:30 (actually, we didn't know we were supposed to drive out with the whole group to the reception right after the ceremony to take pictures, so we showed up later and they all wondered where we had been.)

The cocktail hour was quite nice, then we went inside. There were fifteen tables, decorated relatively simply with a candleabra at each table and some rose petals sprinkled around. They had a Chinese theme as they are going to China for their honeymoon. Each table was named after a different city or monument in China.

The entree was a buffet and the main dish was leg of lamb. I took a picture of the menu so that I would be able to remember everything we had.

Between courses, one of their friends got up and did some magic tricks. Not sure if it was planned ahead of time or not, but it was a nice addition. He did one trick where he had the groom pick a card out of a deck (a 2 of hearts), and show it to the audience but not to him. Then he took a piece of newspaper and said that the newpaper would magically reveal what card was picked. He burnt a hole into the paper, and the burnt design developed into two hearts. Get it, get it?!
Around midnight they brought out the piece montee, shaped as a little house. I didn't really get to enjoy our piece montee as I had no appetite on our wedding night, so it was nice to try another one. We left around 2:30.
It was so nice to go to another wedding, especially so soon after ours. After their ceremony I joked to A. that we could run in the church and quick say our vows. He said "not with this priest!". We danced a lot more than at our own wedding. It was fun. We left around 2:30 am to drive back to Lucie's for the night. The next day we played with Manon, ate breakfast, then lunch, then left around 3 to drive back to Marseille. (Below, Alain in his suit, the second time in less than a month. For someone who wears jeans and t-shirt every day to work, this is quite remarkable.)

The day after the wedding, Mom and Dad had a brunch at the house that they had rented. So after checking out of the B&B (It was so nice, I wish we could have stayed another night, but there were things to do and people to see), taking stuff over to J&J's and picking up the rest of the stuff from the Château (Nicolas and Jacques drove in Nicolas's car, which had been decorated for the wedding- they got lots of honks and strange looks.) we went over there. We had a chocolate and pear wedding sheet cake, and we put our little cake topper on top. I had "Congratulations Alain and Megan" written on the top so that he could have his name first for once. :)
It was nice to see everyone again one last time before they took off for every corner of the world- US, Europe, Thailand.
Then we went to J&J's to see some of the people from his side, before driving back to Marseille for the night. The next morning we drove back out to Salon/Lancon to spend time with the various groups. All in all, we were quite exhausted but it was nice.
We picked up the photos from the photographer the following Saturday. For some reason, people seem to insist on spelling my name like the car- Mégane. But he did an excellent job overall.
So, once again, a big thank you to everyone who was able to come.

The menu was as follows.
For starters: Terrine de saumon en cœur de Saint jacques, quenelle de crème fouettée aux herbes. This was a kind of salmon paté with a cream on the side.
The main dish: Rôti de magret de canard, bordelaise Sa fine garniture.
Duck with potato garnishes and a vegetablish pudding.
Next course: Méli mélo de salades aux fruits secs,Fromage servi au buffet
Salad and cheese.
Dessert: Pièce Montée- traditional French wedding dessert- cream puffs that are normally stacked into a pyramid but can be made into other shapes such as cars, windmills, hearts, etc.
Champagne and Café

We were presented with a gift of a huge (magnum?) bottle of wine that was personalized. I guess we have to save it (can be saved for up to four years) for a special occasion.

I felt that the meal was very good, but had absolutely no appetite. I ate most of the starter, a bite or two of duck, no salad or cheese, and one cream puff. The rest I fed to the guys at our table.
During the meal we went around to each table and had a picture taken. After the main dish, we had our first dance to "Man of the World" by Marc Cohn. The lyrics:
I want to be a man of the world, With blood in my veins and a hurt in my heart
Out in the street with the noise and the dirt, And the ones still looking for a brand new start
Oh I've been sleeping far too long, Hiding out in a palace of gold
Show me one thing before I'm gone, That can't be bought and can't be sold
Show me how to come alive, Show me how to make you mine
'Cause if you'd only be my girl, I could be a man of the world
Then I could be a man of the world

After that, Dad and I did the Father/Daughter Dance to "Apple of Your Daddy's Eye" by Peter Cetera. The DJ announced that it was an American tradition beforehand. For the third dance mom announced the couples that were celebrating their anniversary in the month of May and asked them to please come up and dance to "Power of Love" by Celine Dion.

Rudy and Manon seemed to have a great time and loved being together. I hope everyone else did too. Around midnight the Pièce Montée was brought out, in the shape of the château with Megan and Alain written on it. Our little cake topper couple was dancing on the terrace of the château. It looked great when they brought it in as they turned off the lights and put sparklers on the Pièce Montée. The sparklers went out and they draped towels on our shoulders. I had no idea what was coming. I thought perhaps it was so we didn't get dirty when we cut the château. They released two white doves behind us, which were supposed to fly around and then land on our shoulders I suppose. Notice my look of shock and Alain's look of concern in the photo. I wasn't quite sure what to do with the dove on my shoulder. The château was served, toasts were given. After that, people began to leave. We left around 2:30, and Nicolas drove us back to the B&B. It was a great day and I am so thankful for everyone that was able to come and those that weren't able to come but were with us in spirit.

The reception was held at the Château de Richebois, a château that has been turned into a Restaurant/nightclub. It has an interesting history in that it's original owner was an admiral who helped save the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
We had booked the Château back in August. Normally weddings are on Saturdays, as in the US, but the curé already had two weddings for the next day, the 27th, so we decided on Friday. There are several different party rooms in the château, holding anywhere from 25-200 people. We were hoping that enough people would come so that we could have the big room on the top floor with the dance floor, instead of the smaller restaurant room. Luckily, we were able to have the big room with the nice murals.
Originally, the cocktail hour was planned to be outside on the terrace which they had just finished repaving. However, the wind was too strong apparently, so it was moved indoors. We had a punch and some appetizers served.
Alain's friends had planned a surprise for him- a slideshow of pictures from his Bachelor Party. Which was a two day hike in the Alps with his friends Guillaume and Thibaut. In French the Bachelor Party is known as the "Enterrement de vie de garcon" (Funeral of the Boy's Life) or fille- for woman.
At a little after 8 it was decided that people could go up to the third level, where the reception was. Everyone else went up ahead of us, and two of Alain's second cousins carried candleabras ahead of us into the reception room. The DJ was playing "It's a Beautiful Life". I didn't really expect it to happen this way, I was expecting that we would go up first, leading everyone else into the reception hall.

After we left the church ceremony, we went back towards the Mairie, and then across the street to a public park to take some pictures. It is traditional here to for the newlyweds to have pictures taken with the different groups of people who came for the wedding. It was somewhat unorganized, but we managed to get some nice pictures.
After that, we went with the photographer (and Lucie, Nicolas, and Manon who were helping us) back to the Moulin B&B to have pictures of just us taken. There were some stupid feeling moments- pretend like you are riding a bike! I don't want to pretend like I am riding a bike. I hate bikes. I hate biking. No one is going to honestly believe that I, a bike hater, would try to ride a bike in my wedding dress, which is impossible anyway. We settled for standing in front of it.
We had told the guests that we would be back in the square at 6:15 to ride in the procession over to the reception hall. So around 6:10 I started saying, "Okay, we should wrap this up. People are waiting for us." No, no, just one more picture of you on a bike. Okay, now go stand by the pool. Last picture, promise. Anyway, the pictures turned out great but a big sorry to everyone who was waiting for us. Our photographer, Jacques, was great. (all of these pictures, except for the one on the Intro blog which was taken by Aunt Shari, are his.) And I highly recommend him to the 0.0005% of my reading public who one day might get married in this area and need a photographer.
So then we went out to the square, got in Lucie and Nicolas's car which they had decorated for us. Nicolas chauffered us to the reception, horns honking and lights flashing. Unfortunately, driving through the town with all of the round abouts and stop lights, the procession got split up. Thankfully, everyone seemed to manage to find the chateau okay.

We walked up to the church, Saint Julitte, which was begun in the 14th century. It is quite charming. We were early, so we waited outside awhile for the priest. It gave us a few moments to relax and talk to some of our guests. Then the priest appeared and the guests were able to enter the church.
The processional started, first Alain and his mother, then his father and my mom, then Rudy and Manon, and finally dad and me. Rudy and Manon did a great job. Since we had already had the civil ceremony and Alain and all the guests had already seen me, I felt very relaxed and excited about the ceremony, not nervous at all. The priest started by welcoming all the guests. Then I was supposed to translate what he said into English for all of the english speaking guests. But at this point all of my (ahem) FORMIDABLE French skills had completely left me. After a few umms and ahhs I thrust the microphone at Alain, who couldn't really translate it either. Luckily we had written a Welcome speech, so we got that out. (Here is it, in case the people who were there couldn't understand my garbled murmurings.)
"Your presence here is very special to us. We would especially like to thank the following- M l’Abbe Delignère who has helped us prepare this wedding and celebrate today our union. Our parents who have surrounded us with their love and encouragement. We would like to remember those who are not with anymore but remain forever in our hearts. Leah, Lucie, Olivier, and Guillaume - you are the witnesses of our engagement and are here accompany us in this important step of our life. And finally all of our guests who have come to share with us this happy moment. Thank you."
I tried to read it but got too emotional at the "We would like to remember those who are not with anymore but remain forever in our hearts." part so I thrust the microphone back at Alain who finished it up.
Leah did the first reading, the "Love is Patient, Love is Kind" speech.
Next Olivier and Guillaume alternated English and French for the Psalm reading.
Then the priest read the Gospel (The Beatitudes) and gave the Homily.

Next was the exchange of vows and rings.
Megan, veux-tu être ma femme ?
Oui, je le veux. Et toi, Alain,
veux-tu être mon mari ?
Oui, je le veux. Megan, je te reçois comme épouse
et je me donne à toi pour
t’aimer fidèlement tout au long de notre vie.
Alain, je te reçois comme époux
et je me donne à toi pour
t’aimer fidèlement tout au long de notre vie.

Then we had to read another prayer we had written. Alain did fine but I got all choked up. He kept telling me "It is okay dear, Breathe" and I could hear his mother saying "It's okay Megan".
Then the Our Father, the Nuptial Blessing, the Prayer of the Faithful (read by his sister Lucie and Aunt Shari in French and English). We had the final blessing, then presented a bouquet of white flowers to the Virgin Mary, a Provencal tradition. So I exchanged bouquets, we walked down the aisle and to the side altar where the priest spoke to us for a bit, I placed the bouquet on her altar, then we came back to the front altar. Then there was the next signing of the register, again by us and all the witnesses (four of them).
Then all of the guests filed past us, giving their congratulations and went out of the church. After everyone had left, we came out and everyone threw lavender on us. The bells were ringing like crazy, which I loved. Right after us, there was a baptism to take place. (and that morning a funeral). The church was full of flowers, mostly white according to tradition.

So the first step (well, on the actual wedding day, not including the hours of legal footwork) of a wedding in France is always La Mairie (or Hotel de Ville- no you cannot stay there overnight). As I have stated before, the ceremony must be performed first at the Mairie in order to be considered legal, before any religious ceremony can happen. So we walked to the mairie in Lancon, where all of the guests were waiting for us. We filed into the city hall, where the mayor was waiting with his blue, white, and red sash. Very official. Everyone came in and sat down. He greeted the guests, then read the marriage act (considering property, raising children, etc.). I didn't understand all of it so naturally just said Yes Okay Whatever to a life-long legal contract. He then pronounced us husband and wife. I was caught off guard for this moment and was more moved than I thought I would be.
Then the Signing of the Paperwork began. Not to be confused with the Singing of the Paperwork, which would have at least been slightly more entertaining for the guests. First Alain and I signed, then all of the witnesses. Then Alain and I had to both sign all of the papers that we had submitted for our file. We had extra due to the fact that I am a foreigner. Silly me. He handed me the Livre de Famille, which is a booklet containing all important family events. Which apparently is the "having of the grandchildren"- up to eight can be noted in the livret de famille before you have to go back and get another one. This of course is a Very Important Document which is given to you at a stressful helter-skelter moment and you had Better Not Lose It. Thankfully, I didn't lose it.
Then we had some pictures taken with the Mayor and everyone filed out. From there we processed up to the church.

(All the professional pictures in this post and the following posts are from our photographer, Jacques Bouaziz, a photographer here in Marseille, www.photojac.com. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a photographer in the Bouches du Rhone area. Also, please do not use these photos without permissions. Thanks.)

The morning of the wedding, after having slept a grand total of 4 hours the night before, I went to the hair salon in Salon to get my hair and make-up done. Leah came with me and had her hair and make-up done as well. Lucie arrived later with Manon. We left the salon around 11:30, went back to the house and had a quick bite to eat. Around 1 we arrived at the bed and breakfast in Lancon, which was close to the Mairie. The tourist office had given me a list of places to stay in Lancon, so I had called around, looking for a place to stay. We had originally thought that mom and dad would be staying in a hotel in Salon, which would not give me much room to get ready, plus would then have to get in the car all done up and drive to Lancon. So I had reserved a room several months ago. It turned out to be absolutely beautiful- a very old house with a swimming pool and also an antique store. It was so perfect that we decided to just do the pictures there instead of going all the way over to a public park in Salon and coming back (also saving lots of time.) Mom went off around 1:30 to meet Alain at the church, they had to tie on the pew bows and make sure everything was set up. Mom returned, we got dressed, and then the rest of our family and the photographer arrived. We had some pictures taken, then at 2:45 it was time for Alain to arrive. I was picturing him arriving, knocking on the door, and me going out to meet him. Instead the photographer told him to go back to the City Hall and wait there. So I see him taking off, not looking at me, and am thinking "Why the heck is my groom taking off?" Dad, Mom and I walked out to where everyone was waiting in the square in front of the City Hall. Around 3 the Mayor came out onto the steps and clapped his hands (I think meaning- Okay, enough now. Let's get this show on the road.) We made our way into the City Hall, first Alain and his mother, then Lucie and Manon, then Guillaume and Olivier, and then Dad and me. After everyone was assembled, the ceremony began.