Wednesday 27 April 2011

French break and wedding in Belgium part 2


Following on from my last post, after the civil ceremony we drove to The Château de Florzé about 30 to 40 minutes away. The Château has a lot of history behind it including General Eisenhower who stayed there for a few hours during WWII.



As we got closer, the sky became very dark. As we arrived, a few drops of rain appeared and the sound of thunder made us all run for shelter in the Château.

The staff were frantically bringing in all the chairs from the garden back in to the Château. There should have been a second ceremony held outside under the beautiful blossom tree but as the heavens opened, there was no question of it taking place there. We all felt sorry the bride and groom as one of the reasons they had chosen this venue was so that they could have an outdoor ceremony there!
Strangely, just as the indoor ceremony ended, the skies cleared up and the sun shone again!




Rain over, it was time for some wedding photos of the bride and groom... Poor groom, my cousin Arnaud broke his ankle just days before the wedding so honeymoon is postponed! He managed to make it through the day though.


The setting was so beautiful!


My two nieces, Miss P and I enjoying the day

My Mother had told me of a bedroom with a legend/tale behind it. "La chambre des apparitions" (The room of the apparitions) The story goes that an elderly lady was in her bedroom when a statue of the Virgin Mary appeared at her window. Children, possibly her Grandchildren would dangle a statue from window on the floor above, in the hope that she might think that it was an apparition of the Virgin Mary. As it happens, that is the very room that we were given!

We stayed at the Chateau overnight and on Easter Sunday we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. Soon after breakfast, the children went on an Easter egg hunt on the grounds. A great way to end our stay there.
















Spending time with my Goddaughter's baby boy. You might remember that at Christmas time we tried to attend his Christening but due to very poor weather conditions, we only made it as far as France. It was so lovely to meet him at last.


Well, I couldn't go there without coming back with some food and drink. A little snippet of some of the things I brought back. A lot of these bring back lovely childhood memories.




I had a brilliant time, so wonderful to spend time with family especially when you don't get to see them as often as you'd like.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter!

***Just a reminder that I shall have a stall at the Vintage Bazaar at the Cheese and Grain in Frome, Somerset on Saturday 30th April 11 (09.00 - 15.00 hours). Hope to see some of you there! Miss P and Alan will be there too to give a helping hand***

A bientôt!

Isabelle X

15 comments:

elegancemaison said...

Isabelle - I love the tales of your visits to your Belgium family. And I shall get to meet you at Frome where I am also exhibiting. I will ask Lizzie where your stand is located and introduce myself. See you on Saturday!Cx

Used-to-Bees said...

What a fabulous venue! You will all have such special memories of your weekend of celebrations. A nice little selection of edibles there...making me hungry!
x

Vintage Sunday said...

Oh Dear Isabelle ~ what absolutely stunning photos! Thank you SO much for sharing your special occasion with us, and the delights of your time away ~ just beautiful! I loved Miss P's, yours and your nieces' pretty frocks for the wedding ~ so feminine ~ and so sweet that you were able to meet your dear God-daughter's little fellow! Love Brenda

Catsngrams said...

What beautiful photos. What an amazing venue you are so lucky to live in such a beautiful country.

Josephine Tale Peddler said...

Beautiful photos, Isabelle. Your nieces are also very pretty girls. I love the bride's dress as well. It's lovely when you do get the chance to spend quality family time together. So good for Miss P. We are in the same boat. We only have David's parents here and they are quite elderly. I alway enjoy visiting my home island state so Daisy can see her relatives. xx

The Tablescaper said...

Wow! How lucky for you to be at such a spectacular event. Just glorious.

Hope to see you at Seasonal Sundays.

- The Tablescaper

Unknown said...

Beautiful pictures..:)Have a nice and sunny day..Hugs from me/Annelie

Unknown said...

I have really enjoyed reading about your visit. Have a lovely weekend, dee x

Wendy said...

Lovely. Such a gracious place. And your foodie treats look very yummy.

Jelly Jam said...

Super photos. Looks like you had a very happy time. Hope you have a good day on Saturday!
Ellie

Gigibird said...

You can get the Vahine Caramel in Waitrose!
It is always my highlight of any break in France or Belgium to bring back interesting food. Vanilla sugar sachets and fig jam are my favourite things.

Looks like you all had a lovely time.

Madelief said...

It all looks so romantic: the castle, the floral dresses, the fields....I hope you had a lovely time!

Lieve groet & have fun tomorrow!

Madelief

Reading Tea Leaves said...

Your trip to Belgium looks fabulous Suzy. I love French-style chateaux - so romantic for a wedding.

Have fun at the bazaar on Saturday.

Jeanne
x

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Just lovely!

And oh my goodness! The first pic "down," of food. The 3 jars of jam or jelly, with the adorable plaid tops... We BUY them alllllllllll the time, in our grocery store!!!

We LOVE the taste.

And I LOVE to wash and keep the jars! I almost have a collection of them, and use them... For holding small amount of nuts, or candy, or canned fruit, or etc. I just LOVE them.

And now, I have seen them, pictured in their home space! Their place of origin. Thank you!

~♥~

flowers on my table said...

What a wonderful place to have a wedding. Looks like you had a lovely time, reunited with your family. I love it that you brought a load of food home. I always like to do that, wherever I go. Love Linda x