The next day after Amanda’s wedding, we had another wedding to go to…Chantal and Jon’s wedding. Vero was the co-MC at this event for her university friend so I was wondering what kind of time I would have on my own. The beauty of this wedding was that it was quite close to Vars…it was in Embrun which is only 15 minutes away!
If Colin and Becky got married at the most amazing modern church I’ve seen, Chantal and Jon got married at the most amazing older church I have ever seen. Paroisse St-Jacques was built in 1856 and it is beautiful. If you have a chance to take a look inside, do so. I marveled at the architecture and realized that I could never be bored in a church like this whereas I can remember countless times staring at the ceiling fan at St. Mark’s back home. Wait…am I allowed to say that? I bet Mom is going to have a few words with me!
We arrived in time to set a few things up and help pass out the programs. I found out that a colleague’s brother was at the wedding so I’m wondering if he noticed the moustached man handing out programs at the entrance. Speaking of guests…this was the largest wedding I’ve been to this summer. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 300+ people there…I since found out that that I believe the entire population of Embrum between the ages of 20-25 was invited! May I also point out that there’s something about the French…they are beautiful people!
The ceremony was quite entertaining. The groom is quite the ham and he was joking it up at any opportunity. Chantal was quite beautiful walking down that aisle with sunbeams coming in at the right time of night. The priest had some good words…I especially enjoyed his request that you share at least one meal together each day no matter what, and that you should talk to each other about each others day. Words to live by.
Now, for those of you who don’t know Chantal (and I don’t know her all that well), I think she referred to herself as Bridezilla at one point and I cringed when the acoustic guitar came up front and it was highly distorted but he kept playing without fixing it while the maid of honour sang a song. Not cool man! Readjust those settings no matter what! I felt for the guy though…I would probably be in the same boat thinking “What the heck is going on?!”.
My favourite part of the ceremony was upon exit, Jon dipped Chantal and gave her a smooch. Classy!
We headed over to the local community center and I was well stocked with everything I needed for the night. I believe my trunk looked like the part in Dazed and Confused where they show up and all there is in the trunk is beer and ice! All joking aside, I was not getting screwed over my expensive beer prices again. I also had a couple of flasks tucked away so things were in proper order. However, it was all for naught as I forgot this was a small town wedding where the beer was cheap! $4 was the going price and that’s a fair price for a bottle of beer. We rarely ducked out of the hall to grab a trunk beer and that’s the perfect wedding in my opinion.
We set up the punch bowls and cheese trays, nabbed a table close to the head table and settled in for a long night of speeches. Simon showed up just in time and we sat down while Jean-Francois videotaped the entire event. The beer lineup was insane…I managed to get a few beer for the table after waiting twenty minutes. As soon as I finished one, the speeches started with Melanie, Vero and Marie-Claude handling MC duties. They were quite good and I had a good chuckle once in awhile.
Highlights:
– I thoroughly enjoyed all of the speeches. The best man’s speech was quite hilarious as he called out a few people walking to get a beer instead of listening to him. At the very least, he got someone to get the groom a beer.
– There was an older gentleman who led a sing-along to a popular French wedding song (which I have no idea what it is) but it was a great moment. He said this song has been sung at every wedding he’s ever been to. I am a sucker for tradition.
– The DJ was a hit and miss…he got a lot better by the end of the night but that could be the beer talking. The dance floor was rocking all night long though. That’s what you get when your average age in the joint is 23 years old.
– Jon had to perform a series of tasks before he could attempt to remove the garter belt. It was quite hilarious as he had to re-enact a scene from Romeo and Juliet, identify body parts of his wife from pictures (at this point he knocked the laptop off the table. Ouch!) and a few other things that had everyone in stitches.
– Jean-Francois was acting out a scene from Taxi Driver “You talking to ME?” which was quite hilarious and that was the running gag all night long.
– Vero sneaking her head under people’s dresses!
I was disappointed for the night to end, but happy to hear that the groom and bride were having such a great time that they announced an after-party at someone’s house. I was riled up and ready to go but the others along with me were quite tired so we headed home for the night and I had a hot tub before going to bed. Actually, I shaved my moustache off before going to bed. That was the mark of the end of wedding season. 🙁
Two very enthusiastic thumbs up for Chantal and Jon’s wedding! It was off the hook and I’m pretty sure everyone went to bed quite happy.