Alasdhair & Maria's wedding

We were invited to Alasdair and Maria's wedding in Paris on the 15th June, and had an absolutely lovely time!

[Apologies: my photos are so completely rubbish that I'm not posting any of them, sorry!]

We travelled to Paris on the Friday, and once we'd battled the périphérique we got to our hotel in the 15th arrondissement, which was fine but really expensive.  No surprises there, just wish we'd had time to use the swimming pool/spa!

Saturday morning, we took a taxi to the Mairie of the 6th arrondissement, and met up with Hilary, a schoolmate of David's, and her daughter Molly, and Matthew (a college friend of David's) and his wife Gilly, and were waiting in the courtyard.  None of use expected to know anyone else at the wedding, so we were just trying to follow the crowd.

Well we did follow the crowd, but luckily were halted by a phone call from Alasdhair [thankfully David hadn't yet switched his phone off] asking where we were - "we're just coming into the room" - "you're at the wrong wedding"!

Oops!

We'd just looked at the time and as it was already nearly midday followed the other people heading upstairs.  In our defence, the invite said 12 o'clock.

It was only later that we realised Liam and Alyssa would have been there if no-one else we knew!

[Later we met up with another guest who shall remain nameless, and he had not only the wrong ceremony, but the wrong venue; he'd been at the church of St Sulpice across the road, had seen two groups of people and chosen the better dressed group only to find out he'd joined a funeral!]

The ceremony was at the conducted by the mayor (as I later found out, of the 7th).  She was gorgeous (and she was definitely one of those French women we hear so much about: slim, beautifully turned out, at ease), but spoke quickly enough that I missed some of the details. 

I understood her giving biographies of Alasdhair and Maria [it was totally unlike an English civil ceremony where the vows take up a lot more time, with the law taking up much less].

I was musing that perhaps in Paris there's some sort of rule that you are only allowed a glamorous mayor  [no offence intended to any English worthies, but the photos I've seen of UK mayors show distinctly homely women!], when she mentioned that she'd not always had an easy time with journalists [Maria is a journalist], so I thought "oh, perhaps mayors in Paris have more trouble from the press".

It was only after the ceremony that Matthew asked if I knew that she was Rachida Dati - I didn't, but that explained the bother she'd had at the hands of the fourth estate!  I thought she handled it very graciously: making a little joke when she could have been stony-faced or just ignored it.

Maria had organised taxi's to the restaurant, so that was one worry removed.

The wedding "breakfast" was held at the Tour d'Argent which is a really spiffy Parisian restaurant; the food was lovely, and the views were fabulous - sixth floor, overlooking the Seine, with Notre-Dame off to the left - it's a fantastic setting.

We started with amuse-bouches with champagne Tour d'Argent Grand Cru, then there were quenelles of pike "André Terrail" with Château de Tracy (pouilly fumé) and Vendéenne duck breast with vegetables accompanied by Saint Joseph (chave).  Gâteau de Mariage [scrummy chocolateness] and mignardises to round off a delicious meal.

[I had asparagus for starters and a vegetable medley for mains; both really good, and I was really grateful to Maria for organising that, and to Alasdhair for remembering I'm vegetarian!]

Under Matthew's influence [and that of several bottles of the chave!  I wish I'd been drinking alcohol; everyone was raving about the wine], we left the restaurant last and then we tried to find a taxi rank (with taxis!) before giving up and taking the metro.

Sadly, we arrived back at the hotel five minutes before the taxi was due to collect us for the evening reception, and still had to get back to the room...

So no evening outfit for me [I felt desperately weird being the only woman who hadn't changed].

Had we known the taxi was going to be 20 minutes late, I would have scrambled into my other outfit!

Not that it mattered - we were in time for the departure of the Ivoire for the cruise on the Seine (unlike one of the other guests), and it was a brilliant evening.  I was nervous that I was going to be boat sick, but I was fine, and really enjoyed seeing Paris from the water.

By the time the boat docked, David and I were ready for our beds [another huge thank you to Maria for organising the taxi guys to take us back to the hotel], so passed up on Matthew & Gilly's offer to go clubbing...

Unlike Liam, who apparently didn't enjoy his four hour wait for the Eurostar at the Gard du Nord the next day!

Fab time, and hope they enjoyed the honeymoon in Honfleur, and that we see them soon in the Aube.