Monday 27 September 2010

HANDS ACROSS THE CHANNEL - WEDDING.

We all love weddings (well us girls do, anyway!), and last September I went to a fabulous wedding. It was my cousin and her gorgeous French boyfriend, Sylvain, a tall, dark haired, dark-eyed specimen with the sexiest accent I have ever heard.

aI was very close to my cousin, spending most of my childhood in her company. She is 10-months younger then me (which she constantly reminds me of - and adds a couple of months, telling everyone she is the younger by a year!). Growing up, I was the tomboy, and my cousin, Ellie, was the sensible one. She was very academic, I excelled at sport. I was clumsy, she was elegant. We were like chalk and cheese, but we went together like fish and chips. I adored her, and I knew she adored me.

When she told me she had met this French boy, Sylvain, and thought that “this was the one”, I couldn’t wait to meet him. He was working as a trainee chef, spoke very good English, and was everything she had said he was. After three years, they announced their wedding date. I spent long, happy hours with Ellie, helping her arrange her wedding.

She said she had always wanted to get married in her little village church, and Sylvain had agreed, but was uncertain how keen his family would be. Ellie had met her future in-laws, but not all of the family, and wanted desperately to make them feel at relaxed at her wedding. The wedding breakfast was to be all French cuisine, and she arranged with the Vicar to have certain parts of the service translated. She even bought her wedding dress in Paris. Next came the wedding gift list, and it was my suggestion that we ask for French gifts, which would make Sylvain happy, and would delight all his family.

Knowing guests would not be able to travel to France to buy a wedding present, I surfed the internet, and found the perfect site and passed the information on. Everyone was grateful.

The wedding went like a dream - I was chief bridesmaid, and was so proud of how my lovely cousin looked. Later after the wedding breakfast, the bride and groom decided to unwrap their presents, so they could personally thank everyone. There were some wonderful French gifts - some for the kitchen, some for the dining room, and others to be scattered around. I particularly liked the pottery, and vowed to start collecting it myself. The look of pleasure on Sylvain’s family told everyone that they knew he had made a wise choice making my cousin his wife.

Well, that was all 9-months ago, and their first anniversary is coming up. I have been back on the internet to my favourite site, and know exactly what I am buying them for their first anniversary present. The site has many practical gifts, some being quite good conversation pieces, and certainly different from anything I could buy locally, and, more importantly, it is really authentic.

I am getting married next year, to a Scotsman, and if anyone suggests once more that we have haggis for our wedding breakfast, I am going to suggest we get married in secret!!

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