No longer a bride...

Things have been pretty crazy lately, mostly with post-wedding stuff.

Plus, the high moment of being a bride has worn off (way to quickly) and now I am just a "wife" and no longer a "bride".

Anyway, the party part of the wedding was actually quite nice. We had been worried about the weather, as there were several conflicting reports - some said it would rain and some said it would be sunny.

We arrived at the in-laws house around 1 p.m., where we were greeted by people throwing rose petals at us in the walkway to the back garden - it was fun but a little freaky as the rose petals somehow made their way inside my dress too, and our friends were having way too much fun throwing the rose petals violently into our faces. We had a brunch with champagne, smoked salmon, and various terrines made by the MIL, then we all changed into casual wear and soaked up the sun - the weather turned out to be quite sunny, and warm - but not too hot, so it was perfect!

Not much to report on the party - everyone just sort of lazed around the back garden. Some people took naps, and some of us played ping-ping or badminton. Around 4 p.m. we had a goûter - some ice cream, along with some pastries. Then we all lazed around the garden again, and I played tarot - an old French card game (not the fortune-telling kind!) that has its own special deck of cards.

At around 7 pm we all changed back into our formalwear and posed for pictures with everyone in the garden, then the in-laws set up the apéritif - various finger foods with champagne. Unfortunately, the clouds that had been gathering became quite menacing, and it grew all dark and windy - we were all freezing cold! All of a sudden, it started to pour rain violently, so we all ran around bringing all the stuff from the garden inside - all the bouquets of flowers, the ice buckets, the napkins, candles, tablecloths, food, and champagne. We managed to squeeze all 19 people into the dining room (it was quite crowded!) while the parents served the food. We then had wedding cake - it turned out beautifully! - although not what we had imagined when we met with the baker. We had also asked for a cake for 30, but our cake ended up being for about 50! After the cake, the rain stopped so we all went outside on the terrace and danced for about 15 minutes before everyone went inside (it was too cold and wet outside!). Everyone just sat around chatting and then people started leaving around 2 a.m. The BF (although I suppose now he is The Hubby) and I went to bed around 3 a.m.

The next morning was the brunch/BBQ part of the day but we were all so exhausted from the previous night that it was a bit uneventful - my mom made hamburgers and potato salad, so it was like an American BBQ. Everyone then went to take a nap right afterwards. It was funny how fast the previous day went - the hubby and I felt as though we barely talked to anyone at all!

Now there are a zillion things to be done, post-wedding - I had no idea that there would be so many things to do! We have just finished writing thank-you cards, and today I am off to print a few wedding pictures - we thought we would include photos of us with our guests as part of the thank you cards.

Oh, yes, and this past Monday I had to go to the Préfecture to finish the renewal process for my carte de séjour - the Hubby's presence was required, so he had to take the afternoon off to come with me. The appointment time was at 3 p.m., but the time they called us, it was already 4:30 p.m. (and the Hubby pointed out that they started rushing around that time, as it was close to 5 p.m. and thus time for all fonctionnaires to go home). It wasn't much of a process - all that happened was that I handed over a copy of our marriage certificate and various other papers (proof of joint bank account, proof of health insurance, and some of our bills). We were required to sign some affidavit in front of the fonctionnaire that we lived together, then she handed over a document telling me to pick up my new carte de séjour on August 30th, along with 70 euros. (Hubby suspects that the pick up date is Aug 30th only because everyone is on vacation).