We had a truly delightful time. I think delightful is the exact word. We were delighted over and over and over again.
Hubby and I ventured to France because we had been invited to share a re-vowing ceremony. Hubby had been the best man at his best friend’s wedding – 30 years ago. The best friend wanted to re-vow on their 30th wedding anniversary in a small village in France with 44 friends. Hubby was asked to be in the ceremony again, so I was his +1. Yes! Lucky me!
We went two days early to visit little towns and to experience French country life. Then we drove in our tiny car to the village of the wedding – and spent 3 days as their guests. And then we drove to another town for two more days at the end.
Lovely.
While leaving, we missed our connection to San Francisco due to a late flight from Marseilles… so we spent an extra 24 unexpected hours in Munich.
All was fantastic. Even the bad parts were pretty good. Many stories, many laughs. I will always remember this trip as the best, so far, of my adult life.
*Shout-out to the incredible wedding planner who put this event on seamlessly – over three days with many events and many people. She was a rockstar!
PHOTOS! – Part 1 (kind-of out of chronological order)
I realized that I have 34 photos to share with you… so this will be a two-parter.
Here we have a candid photo of the bride and groom and their daughter. It was a gorgeous table…
Here was part of the very long post ceremony dinner table. I was sitting in the empty chair that you see next to Hubby. I got up to take this shot. Hubby was almost dead-center, so you can guess how long the table continued.
I took this when I arrived at the wedding venue Chateau. The entire place was rented for this 3-day event. Very gorgeous and very eye-opening when you think that this place was built (the first time… it has been refurbished recently) before most of America.
The flowers were gorgeous.
This was the pool. Most of us took a dip before the ceremony. We all gathered here often. The doorways behind the pool led into a kitchen.
While still at the ceremony dinner, I had gone back into our room to get something and took this photo of the other half of the table.
This was the entrance to our room. I think the height of the windows says it all… the Best Man was treated well!
Those are my feet. I’m laying on the bed up in the 2nd level of our apartment. We had a kitchen, laundry room and patio downstairs. It was awesome.
The room didn’t have a shower, but we had this big tub… and we figured out how to make it work. Hubby is 6’2″ but he didn’t complain. This apartment was wonderful – even without a shower.
This was our tiny rental car. I was terrified on the French highways! They all drive really fast.
One of the events was ‘pajama movie night’. We all wore PJs and they had set up beds and cushions and chairs outside with lights all around. It was really pretty and comfy. We were also treated to an ice-cream truck, popcorn and cocktails. This was all after a BBQ by the pool. You can see that my feet were under a blanket as I took this photo. It certainly cooled down at night!
I grabbed this shot from a video I had taken. Everyone had a GREAT TIME. The band was totally awesome. I think everyone sang or danced the night away.
On our first two days alone, we went to the Camargue region to ride the famous Camargue horses. We saw a whole herd of loose, baby Camargue horses. This one is meeting Hubby’s horse.
The human is our wrangler. She told us the history of the Camargue horses and bulls… and she also told us the ages of these babies. We saw flamingos (?!) and salt marshes and rice and Camargue bulls (black, big, horns) and the sea.
The streets in the little country towns look just like what you see in movies. Very quaint, cobble stones, narrow, colored shutters, flowers… very picturesque. And the food… the FOOD IS TREMENDOUS. Fresh, fresh, fresh!
TO BE CONTINUED!
What an amazing adventure! Beautiful pictures and truly something that cannot be replicated in the States. You were so lucky to go and see such gorgeous sites, a beautiful ceremony and ride the horses! Can’t wait for part II.
Joni