Joie de Vivre... Joie de Marriage - Meredith & Sylvain

Once upon a time a Canadian girl met a French boy and instantly was swept off her feet. Working for the same company she transfered to Lyon, France to get to know the boy better and a year later here we stand amongst an arbor draped in white with garlands of florals under a blue sky on a glorious August Friday.

Meredith & Sylvain met and fell in love in France but wanted to recognize the sacrifices made by the Bride who left her home to be with her beloved by hosting their nuptial celebrations here at home. A wedding designed by fate the couple's vendors were a long string of connections and coincidences - I grew up in the same town the bride's parents reside, the DJ resides in the hometown the bride grew up in, the florist is french, the caterers are VERY french. This wedding was all about being personal and it was just that... personal.

  Miller Lash House set our scene for an intimate franglais wedding featuring both french & english elements in every way. The ceremony begun in English was translated into French for the francophone-only guests, toasts were done bi-lingually and even the menus featured both languages! This was truly a combination of two cultures, two hearts and one very big love.

Fifty guests celebrated with the couple in Miller Lash's cozy dining room featuring blue walls and burgundy linens, white napkins, and centrepieces overflowing with white roses, lilies, lysianthus, freesia, hydrangea and more. The couple dined while enjoying kir peche a delectable drink of french champagne mixed with peach liqueur.

The French guests came prepared with a skit in four parts detailing the couples love story from email acquaintances to friends to today. It was full of musical reparte, laughter and of course a lot of love. The guests even dressed up and played along as their friends debuted their performance for us all in both official languages of the evening.

A particularily poignant moment of the evening was the couple's unique take on the cake (or in this case cupcakes) cutting when the Bride & Groom dressed up in their best lumberjack jackets and an actual chainsaw to "cut" the cake amongst chainsaw sound effects from the DJ and huge gaffaws of laughter all around.

The finale though was the couple's demure attentiveness to each other. Never have I seen a couple so madly in love with each other. They never left one anothers side throughout the night and could often be seen with heads bent close to one another whispering words of love in both french and english...

This wedding was truly a joie de vivre moment for all in attendance and to them I can only wish 'Joie de Marriage'. Congratulations!