Happy Easter!

In my family we traditionally paint eggs for Easter. This year we did not manage to find the time, too busy preparing something else, but my aunt and uncle did. They made one special for me: with my name and the German flag colors.
Makes me feel special.

How does it feel?

How does it feel to be married the day after?
... same as before.
So far it's not so different apart that now I am called "Madame" and I have to wait for my "husband".

Let's see on day 2.

Dinner at La Butte

My parents had selected a restaurant for the dinner to celebrate: La Butte in Plouider. If you don't know where that is, don't worry, me neither but after tonight's dinner, I won't forget.
They also surprised us with a little plant (see on the picture below). This plant "naturally" grew in the shape of an heart and the label says "Lamia et Wolfram. 7 avril 2012". A little token for us to remember. That's very sweet.

Menu

Some finger foods (asparagus cream, tomato cream cheese crumble, and scallops)

Scallops in the Shell and Ginger flavour (specialty of the restaurant).

Wild sea Bass

Some cheese emulsion with salad - I wouldn't know as I had something else... 100% chocolate :)

Plougastel strawberries with sorbet

The food was simply ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!!!

There are not enough words to describe how good this dinner was. Everything I ate was really really really excellent. I can say that I never had scallops nor sea bass as good as I had them tonight. The flavours were simply divine. How does the chef do that? and how does he cook the scallops with them still attached to the shell?

This is for sure a dinner I will not forget.

MERCI, Papa et Maman for inviting us to such a place. 

Champagne at home

We had a couple of hours to kill between the ceremony and the dinner. We went back home for a glass (or two) of Champagne. My mother had ordered for the occasion my favourite: Veuve Clicquot Rose. This is indeed a very special moment that deserves a special Champagne.

We used some of the time to open the cards we received from Germany and were surprised by two speeches. Both Wolfram's father and Alex read the speech they had prepared. Another very emotional moment.
And cherry on the cake, we received two stars, well more exactly they have been named after us.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY for making this moment/day very special.

The pictures after the ceremony

As per the tradition... with parents, witnesses, friends...

We did learn a couple of things to keep in mind for December: have people look at the same camera altogether and ideally with their eyes open. And maybe consider listening to your brand new husband when he points out to a camera... or not :)



The civil marriage

Dressed like kings and queens,  we drove to the town hall of my home town. To be more accurate, we gathered everybody, dispatched people in three cars and finally left the house.

While most of us walked straight to the door, someone took a bit of time to think. After all we were early.

Once everybody was ready, we entered the room via the front door. The officer of social affairs who would do the ceremony welcomed us. The 11 that we were didn't have to fight for a chair, given there were enough chairs for 50 people. The officer did look a bit surprised when I told her that everybody was there. But again, this is "just" the civil marriage.
As we were early, we had to wait 4pm, just in case someone else would show up (again its a public ceremony and anyone can pop in). At 4pm sharp the officer started, with us and the two witnesses in front of her.

A few weeks back my dad had wrote to the mayor explaining his daughter was getting married in his town hall with a German man. He asked whether it would be possible for him to say a few words in German. Unfortunately the mayor was on vacation today but promised be would find someone who could do so.
Not only did he find someone who could speak a bit of German, but the officer today had translated the whole ceremony in German, except for the text of law. From what I heard I think she did a pretty good job despite the complexity of the language. This came as a very good surprise. I was hoping for a few words and we had a full bilingual ceremony. I have to say I feel very proud of my home town. Clearly this made it easier for the German part of the crowd to follow, including my husband to be.

The more the officer was reading the texts, the more emotions were overwhelming me and all I could think of was "don't cry" combined with "why didn't I bring tissues with me!".
In a way I'm glad there was the German translation as the German parts were small breaks during which I could control my emotions, or at least try.
Eventually we got to the part when we both said "Oui" (yes).
We signed all the documents, received copies of our marriage certificate and our family booklet (with place for up to 10 kids!). Our witnesses signed as well.
Signatures occurred under flashing cameras, like if we were movie stars.

We also received gifts from the town: a plate from Henriot (well-known china maker from Brittany) with our names at the back. Totally unexpected and really nice gift, at least to the Brittany girl.
We also got a pair of pens, funny enough one is designed to fit in the shirt pocket of the husband and the other one in the purse of the wife. Talking about cliches.

That's it, a bit more than 15min ceremony.

We are officially married.

PS: Yann kindly recorded the ceremony with my camera. Video will be shared with those close to our hearts who couldn't be there today as soon as it is edited. Ask my husband :)

It finally hit me

It finally hit me... I'm getting married
Until last night I had no particular stress or excitement regarding the civil marriage. For me it was just going to the town hall, sign the document and leave. The big day will be in December with the church, the reception, all the guests and, obviously, THE dress.
With everybody arriving to Brittany it suddenly became very real. I'm getting married, officially, legally.
Of course I had a nightmare during the night.
In France doors of the town hall have to stay open in case someone wants to object. After all the ceremony is open to the public. In my nightmare someone was objecting. Ridiculous but probably me watching too much Shrek. Hopefully no one will object today. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Until then, it's time for hairdresser.