Author: Heather Robinson

The Charm of a French Country Wedding

Un mariage à la française? I didn’t know what to think, how it could be, how I should behave. The questions that rolled around my head made me slightly nervous until Remi reminded me that I was not, actually, the one getting married but simply a guest. 
How excited I was to have been invited, for Nathalie is one of the very first people that I had met in France. Remi and I both watched as she climbed up and up the corporate ladder, all while keeping her truly radiant personality intact. 
When she first told us about Laurent, she couldn’t contain her smile. We understood why after having met him and jumped for joy–literally–when she announced her engagement to him. Would we come to the wedding? Mais bien sûr!!
Up to Paris by plane, down through Burgundy wine country to see family, tracing the Loire and over to Chartres…all under a cold rain. And yet, within mere hours before we were to meet at the church in the tiny village of Manou (while Natalie is an urbanite, her parents live in this bucolic corner of the Perche region), the sun broke through, victorious.
We arrived just in time to see the couple emerge from le Mairie or town hall, where the mandatory civil ceremony was performed. 
It was only a quick dash across the street to the churchyard…
…where friends and family took turns giving bisous and saying hello.

I felt the energy of anticipation gather as the priest emerged to call everyone into the church…
…and a flutter of my heart as Nathalie entered it graciously on her Father’s arm.

As Remi was the official photographer for the ceremony, I sat in the back and took it all in…the warm and steady voice of the priest, the silvery notes of a flute, the helpless fit of giggles of three parisiens in the pew beside me.
It was simple, genuine and deeply moving.

Afterwards, we gathered at the entry to wait, each with a fistful or rose petals or rice to throw…

…the bells rang out…

…and the Newlyweds did not disappoint.
A circuit of happiness…
…shined through us all…
…zapping in celebration…
…for the inherent hope of Love.
Félicitations, Nathalie et Laurent! I wish you many, many great years together ahead.
I hope you will join me for my next post as the wedding dinner was surprising and wonderful…
Have a wonderful week everyone.

In Burgundy wine country

“Dream a little dream with me…”
Those of you who have been visiting at Lost in Arles for any length of time know of my fondness to let my imagination take the reins, most certainly when picturesque villages are involved and definitely when I am referring to our Secret Provence. How ready I could be to pack my bags and change address! A new adventure! Just give me the means and I will go…
And that is exactly what I am writing about today for my guest post at Daily Plate of Crazy.
But I had a similar swell of welled over temptation at Saint-Bris-le-Vineux in Burgundy wine country as we stopped to visit family on our way to the wedding. In the amount of time it took for Remi to pick up a Chablis and a Côte d’Auxerre at the lovely Domaine Bersan (below, doesn’t this remind you of Sharon Santoni’s beautiful home?), I had covered the entire village at a fox-trot (yes, I know it is dog-trot but foxing took my fancy), snapping away like an angry turtle until I arrived back at the car victorious with my camera held aloft as dreams had been caught by the tail. 
So many closed up lovely little homes just begging for a little love and attention…

…so little time. For we were already off, streaming through the rolling hills and tracing the Yonne River and then with a woosh, we had dived into the Caves de Bailly Lapierre.
The caves are in an underground quarry that feels a tiny bit like entering the tunnels of The Lord of the Rings…
…just thankfully ever so much friendlier!

This domaine is known for their crémant de Bourgogne, a sparkling wine that I adore.
Ask the goddess of the grape, she’ll tell you. A fine crémant beats many a champagne hands down.
And so a toast! To dreaming and living our dreams, to health, happiness and hope!
Have a wonderful weekend. But before you go, you might want to pop over to the guest post that I mentioned, it is just over here...Cheers…

Liberty

Let freedom ring.
I am sharing one of my favorite photos from the wedding last weekend as Liberty was somehow a subject that Remi and I were talking about quite a bit in the car and so it applies. Independence. Freedom. What is the cost to create an existence in which one is libre? What are you willing to do and what are you willing to go without to have that? To know that you are the owner of your life, your will, your heart?
Is today Egypt’s Independence Day? Only time will tell. But how right for the millions to stand in the streets and say, “We want our rights respected now.” No army could face that down.
To all of my friends and family in the States, I am wishing you a Happy Independence Day.
And you know what? For all of you that live in a free country, I am wishing you the same too…

Passing

It was four years ago today that my Dad passed on. I actually had to look at the death certificate earlier to believe that, even though I know it so well. It just seems both impossibly long ago and yet far too near. 

He was in my thoughts this past weekend where there was much in the air of endings and beginnings. How he would have loved the wedding. I did too. But today is not a day to tell you about that. Instead, I focused my energy this morning on giving a guided walk. I was grateful for it and the kindness of my guests. How solid it felt amidst all that is passing to stroll the streets of Arles, to share its beauty and history standing still under the bright light of noon. 
Now, I can rest. I’ll pull the curtains into shade, the better to keep warm memories cupped between the hands of my heart.

More soon…

Beep beep

And I’m off, quicker than a fleeting shadow. 
We are heading north for a wedding–no, not our own, yes, I am taking my camera and no, the puppers will not be ring bearers.
This will be the first wedding that I am attending in France and I am curious as to how that will roll but above all delighted for the happy and deserving couple.
Wishing you all a wonderful next few days, I should be back at this space early next week.

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