Stone pavement and digital cameras don't mix, but "Vivez les mariés!" (Long live the bride and groom!)

So if I would describe the wedding on Saturday as absolutely and positively fabulous, in my opinion, it would be somewhat of an understatement.  My only regret is that while exiting the church after the mass, I dropped my beauitful, PowerShot 12.1 megapixel camera on the most unforgiving ground of 400 year old stone pavement.  Luckily, my friend Pauline took a picture of Benoit and I during the cocktail (the one you see above); however, this will be the only picture I will be able to show you of the wedding (sniff sniff).  All I can say is, THANK YOU DAD for buying the expensive 2-year warranty!!!

Anyway, I will try to describe in as much detail as I can to try and recapture the wedding day as best I can.  The mass was held at Saint Donatien Church, a bascillica within walking distance of Benoit's apartment, at 4 o'clock on Saturday, July 23, 2011.  

French Fact #1:  The French never arrive on time for anything, even to something as important as a wedding.  For example, Benoit was what would be considered "one of the best men", better known as a "temoin" or "witness" in the French language; and arrived approximately 10 minutes before 4 o'clock.  However, at the time we arrived, we appeared to be the first of the "invités" at the church.  During the next ten minutes,  Saint Donatien was swarmed with colorful hats, beautiful frenchmen in suits, and the best dressed babies I have ever seen.

Here is a picture of the church:

French Fact #2: You must cover up in church.  In most european cities, it is proper and at times required to cover your shoulders and knees (pretty much any body part that is knobby) upon entering a Catholic Church.  Therefore, it is common in France to wear and carry a shawl, which tends to be the same color of your hat and your shoes.  

After mass and D-day of my "appareil photo" (camera), we all drove the half an hour to the property on which the cocktail, dinner, and after party were held.  La Seigneurie du Bois-Benoist was the name of the castle/courtyard/hall (which ever you feel more comfortable calling it) and I was completely starstruck as soon as I had a chance to glance at the elegant white tables upon which hundreds of colorful, small hors d'oeuvres were found next to the glass flutes of real French champagne.  The cocktail took place outside in the castle's courtyard.  Luckily for all of us, especially for the bride and groom, it did not rain and cool breeze made it delightful weather for the men in tuxes and us women in hats.  The smell of flowers, champagne, foie gras, fresh salmon, and joy filled the air as we spent about 2 hours sipping bubbles, savoring delicacies, and of course speaking French!  Since the bride is the niece of my host mother, Madame Gaumain, I had the occasion of rejoining and conversing with all of the members of my "second family" in France.  

Here is a picture of the courtyard that I found online:

The list of tables and where all of the dinner guest where seated was posted in the "lobby" of the castle and I was asbolutely delighted to find myself seated at the bridal table.  Now there are two other interesting things concerning French weddings:  1) There are three distinct parts to which you may or may not be invited.  Normally, if you are a family member or very close friend to the bride and groom, you would be invited to all three parts, being the cocktail, dinner, and after party.  If you are simply a friend or close aquaintence, you would be invited to just the cocktail and the afterparty.  And what would be our "plus one" in America, they would be invited to join in on the afterparty, starting around 11pm.  2) When invited to a wedding in France, do not expect to sit by your significant other--to the French, that would isolate the couple and make for boring conversation.  I find that it is all about integration and placing yourself "outside the box" as the goal of a French social event.

Here is was the dining room where we had dinner (picture also found online):

Starting with the main dish and being "sans entrée" seemed rather odd to most of the invited guests; however, it was no surprise to me, for it is what I am used to seeing at most American weddings.  We were served "lotte", which is some sort of white, rather meaty fish and as I am unsure of the translation/US equivalent, my oh my was it yummy!  It was served in a light tomato sauce with small servings of sautéed mushrooms, a carrot purée, and parsley and garlic mashed potatoes as accompagnements.  Next, we were served salad and three different types of cheeses: a lightly seasoned goat cheese, a brie, and a camenbert, alongside of course unlimited French bread.  It is customary in France to have a cigarette break in between the cheese and dessert courses and while this may be a odd and somewhat "dirty" concept in America, 3/4 of the dining room left to "fumer une clope entretemps" (smoke a cigarette in the meantime).  I forgot to mention that during these two courses, the wine was flowing.  A dry white wine was served with the fish and then a bold red was served with the cheese (Mom, I'm not sure if you would have liked either lol).  Once everyone had reentered from having a cigarette (or a cigar for that matter) the dessert of 2 mararoons, a small piece of almond-chocolate cake, and a raspberry tart was served alongside a glass of champagne.  

--Side note:  I started this particular blog this morning and continue to finish it during the afternoon.  In the meantime, I met Benoit again at noon for lunch.  His mom had given us a few leftovers because they were leaving to spend a few days at the beach, but as it was raining (yet again) in Nantes, Benoit and I decided to eat a small brasserie/cafe next to his current worksite.  I think I say this everytime I have a meal in France and I will say it again, "It was the best meal I've ever eaten in life."  Benoit and I eat chose to have the "formule: plat+dessert" (menu: main dish+dessert) with an expensive but totally worth it glass of red Chilean wine.  The menu of the day was a piece of rotisserie chicken in a buttery peanut sauce (and no I do not mean it was drenched in a creamy peanut butter sauce lol) with rice, some kind of round grain, and garished with fresh parsley and aneth.  We had a friend who was our server and who warmly offered us two glasses of champagne with our dessert in order to thank us for stopping buy.  "Avec plaisir!" (With pleasure!).  Now, this dessert was something that my mouth and taste buds had never dreamed of tasting.  It was a dessert of hard carmelized pieces of dark chocolate seated under and arrangement of fresh grapefruit and slices of orange which were strategically placed in a fluffy cloud of yes, homemade vanilla bean whipped cream.  And this my dear friends, was all covered in a mango- raspberry sauce. 

Ok, I am going to post what I have written thus far and continue to write more tonight.  I have to stop by the post office before it closes in order to send to my parents my sad and broken camera.  

Love you!