Wow... it's almost hard to believe that it's already JUNE, and in just a little over a month (on July 7th) we'll be boarding a plane for New Jersey, and five days after that (just long enough for the jet lag to wear off, you will note) we'll be saying our "I do's"!!!
So the next few weeks is going to be all about the details, while we get everything together and ensure that everything is ready before we get there. Here's what we're working on this week:
FLOWER POWER! What's a wedding without flowers? Don't laugh but I think I'm going to use 1800flowers.com to handle the flowers. I've had good experiences with 1-800-Flowers in the past (just used them again to send my mother something on Mother's Day and she was delighted with the quality). I discovered that for weddings, many of their arrangements or bouquets are not shipped by mail (although that's usually how they deliver things, and they're usually great because the company packs them well and sends them overnight) but instead they refer the work out to a local florist who delivers the flowers in person. Which is really what you want for a wedding, to be sure they're fresh. Anyway, once again we're going small, simple and tasteful in the scale of the event, and instead of a big bouquet costing nearly $200 (are they nuts?) I'd prefer something smaller, what they call a "nosegay" (because it makes your nose happy?) Georges will have a rosebud on his lapel of course, and I'm consulting with my sister about the size and type of arrangements for the house... I'm thinking perhaps two small arrangements on the mantle with a lot of white candles, and then maybe one nice arrangement on the buffet table to make that look wedding-y as well. I'm still on the fence about the color of the roses, but either white, cream or a bold peach might be nice. We also want to order some individual roses for two special purposes: (a) since his sons can't be there, his daughter will carry two flowers to symbolize their presence, and (b) I want to have some roses loose in a vase, one for each of our close family members who have passed on (parents and grandparents). I think my sister is also doing something with ribbons and silk flowers for the staircase as well. But then again she could give Martha Stewart a run for her money so whatever she comes up with, I know it will be beautiful. I'm in good hands if she's doing any decorating whatsoever. And it IS her house, after all!
LOST IN TRANSLATION -- English into French or French into English, when you have a Franco-American wedding there are going to be documents that must be translated. On Friday I went for a preliminary consultation with a translator who was on a list provided by the Parisian U.S. Embassy's web site (a very good resource if you're an American in Paris) as being certified to translate court documents of all kinds, and if they're good enough for the Embassy and the French courts, they're good enough to translate a few birth certificates and other things for our wedding. So today I went back with the documents and a nice cheque and will have them back within two weeks. Then it's off to the Palais de Justice to get "apostilles" affixed to the translated documents to make the French documents "official" in the U.S. (I'm doing something similar in the U.S. with my own birth certificate to make it valid here in France, only I'm able to do it by mail through our state Treasury department.) By the way, if you don't know where the Palais de Justice is located in Paris, it's on the Ile de la Cité, attached to the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette spent her last days -- just to intimidate you when you have to go there on official business. Afterward you can visit Saint Chapelle in gratitude for having gotten out of there in one piece.
EDITH PIAF, I'M NOT, BUT... Georges asked me if I would do something special at the wedding party, just for him. He wants me to sing something, and he says he will accompany me on the piano. I'm not the best vocalist in the world but I can carry a tune, and I have some experience performing in front of an audience, but more importantly HE likes the way I sing, and this is his wedding too. After thinking about what song might fit both the occasion and my vocal range, I've decided I'm doing "La Vie en Rose". I even found a web site online where I can download the sheet music AND have it transposed into my key! So we have a month to practice, both of us. It's not usual for the bride to be the entertainment at her own wedding but how could I refuse such a heartfelt request from my new husband? (Plus, there are lyrics in both French and English, thanks to Louis Armstrong, so the guests won't feel totally left out.)
Here's Edith singing in 1954... the year Georges was born.
I think that's enough detail for one week. I know by next week I'll be panicking, worrying "Have I forgotten anything? What am I missing?" because there are so many details. We still have to go shopping for a suit, shirt and tie for Georges, for one thing. But so far I'm doing a fairly good job of trying to stay in the moment. There is a part of me that wants it to all just be over and done with, for us to just be married, because I don't like the stress that comes with putting something like this together. But that would be wrong of me, to just gloss over this very important event in our lives. I don't want to rush through it quite so quickly. Especially when it comes to the actual day... I want us to be able to savor it and enjoy it.
Because it's my first. And for both of us, our last.
