Wedding Season - Part 2 : Christine & Marco, BOOM!

A cloche-pied en jouant à la marelle! / Playing hopscotch !
Photo: Cédric Roulliat

That's it, we did it! It was an easy step, and a long-expected one! Our wedding was celebrated at my childhood village's town hall, in France, on Saturday, September 19th, 2009. After the civil wedding, we invited all our guests to join us for a reception at the Château de Césarges. It was wonderful to be able to gather all the people that really matter to us in one place and on such a pleasant occasion. We celebrated all afternoon long in the park, enjoying the sun, and even a few raindrops that made us hurry the last photo shoot! A double rainbow then spread its fire across the sky, was it a sign of double chances of ever-lasting love and happiness or a sort of mirror effect of my marrying a twin? I don't know-but the thing I am sure of is the love that we share, both obvious and complex. Let me immerse you a bit more in the atmosphere of our big day.

At 7 PM, our guests were led to the Chapel where an impromptu concert took place. Some friends or family members performed and shared their talent gracefully, and therefore made it our solemn and religious moment, all shared with our friends and families; emotional.

The bride and groom feeling the impact of the wedding's BOOMING effect!
Photo: Cédric Roulliat

At 8.30PM, dinner was being served in the reception rooms of the castle and Le Grand Bal could start at 9.30PM. Every guest beamed with joy, either enjoying the extravagant quantities of food and wine (catered by my extremely generous elder brother, Philippe Rochet and his business!), or dancing their heads off on Max Fueris & Jean-Yves Serve's music; or doing both at the same time...

The groom wears a Ralph Lauren striped suit, a Brooks Brothers tie and shoes by Grenson; the bride wears a Nina Ricci silk suit, Pink shoes, and her something old: jewels from her mother.

In the castle, we stayed in a bedroom, called the Comtesse de Meffray suite, after the 18th century elegant châtelaine whose oval portrait was on the wall. She turned out to be of pleasant company! Well, just for your to know, she supposedly had an affair with Jean-Jacques Rousseau (the great philosopher of the Enlightenment in France) when he stayed at Césarges to rest and work on the second part of his Confessions in 1769. Ah, if the walls of the castle could talk...

But no, this is not the spooky ghost of the Countess (who incidentally was poisoned by her husband, hum hum...). Just Marco and I, the newly-weds, taking the pause in the hallway.

Soneto XVII

No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.

Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.

Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

(Cien sonetos de amor, de Pablo Neruda)

Groom: vintage Pierre Cardin tuxedo, Holt Renfrew bowtie, Polo Ralph Lauren dress shirt, and Ralph Lauren Purple Label pump shoes. Bride: vintage 1950s silk chiffon evening gown, found in the incredible Ian Drummond's Collection, and altered by Toronto-based seamstress, Loreen Lighfoot. The feathers were designed by my fashion designer friend, Julien Leydis, and made by Maison Février, Paris. As Tess, a good friend of ours, here in Toronto, who could not attend the wedding, said: "I think that what made it so special is that many of your friends and family members did their part (singing, catering, photographing, designing...) to make this day unforgettable...", and she is absolutely right, I could not agree with her more!

Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love, a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, or you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

(100 Love Sonnets, by Pablo Neruda
Translated by Stephen Tapscott)

All photos by Cédric Roulliat

Since we came back home to Toronto, we have been over-the-moon, finally wearing our wedding bands, calling each other husband and wife (at long last, I am now officially Christine Rochet-Jacob), and nurturing family projects. In a nutshell, we are loving every minute of it! Currently reveling in the delights of our honeymoon, you know this lunar month of fruitful bliss, friends invite us to raise glasses of that bubbly beverage to our health and prosperity; and it is divine ! Oops, sorry, no honey and propolis for us, as the Pharaohs and their tradition would have it - this is the slight little change that we dared to introduce...

To conclude, I will leave you with another happy-ever-after version of pastoral love. A castle, two lovebirds frolicking in the fields (watch it at 2'37''), an open-air banquet, all the staple ingredients are there. In unison, Marco and I could sing the song with Catherine Deneuve and Jacques Perrin: 'Nous vivrons ensemble un conte de fées charmant'/'We will live a charming fairy tale together'...To be continued.

P.S: Our Lyon-based photographer friend, Cédric Roulliat, gracefully accepted to cover the event... Thank you, Cédric !

To see the online PHOTO ALBUM of our wedding, click HERE.