Argentina and France

Argentina: From simple to massive

While planning for our wedding in France, Nico and I decided to have a simple civil union in Argentina since a lot of his family, friends, and other loved ones would not be able to make it to our French wedding

Although I knew we would be signing important documents, I wasn't really into the idea of inviting my side of the family to Argentina. The initial plan was to have brunch with Nico's family and friends after the civil union. My mom insisted that the family should be there so they were present along with some of my close friends.

After sealing the deal and signing the papers, we had brunch at Nico's farmhouse as planned. There was no fanfare as discussed. Little did I know a grander party was reserved for the next day.

According to Nico, his cousin was hosting a dinner in celebration of our marriage in the main town. I brought out the white beaded gown my designer friend gave me for the civil union. I wanted to make the effort that night because I was meeting most of his relatives for the first time. For the actual civil union, I decided to wear a white gown I just bought off the rack instead of the beaded gown because I didn't want to look overdressed for a simple civil union in a small farm town.

When we arrived at the venue, Nico and I first entered a room while "waiting" for the rest. Then, a guy went to me and introduced himself.

"Honey, I'm the wedding planner," he said.

Uhmmm?

"No, no, no, I think there's maybe another couple. We are just here for a dinner," I replied.

"Honey, just go with the flow. You're gonna go in with Nico, you're gonna walk down and then there's gonna be a woman who will symbolically marry you," my wedding planner whom I had never met instructed me.

Nico confirmed this since he told me to go with the flow as well. Okay??? But since I had no choice, I went with the flow and just followed their instructions. At least 200 people greeted when we entered the venue which was jazzed up with a red carpet adorned with white flowers, and a mini-garden pavilion. Oh gosh, great thing I had this dress inside my luggage!

Then, we moved to the ballroom--with tables, a bar, a band setup! We were ushered to the middle of a platform (!!!) for our first dance as a couple.

Although I was completely speechless, my heart swelled because of the effort Nico's family put into making me feel welcome and at home in Argentina.

But Nico has another card up in his sleeve. He invited one of my favorite Argentinian bands, Amapola. How could he top this???

Naturally, we partied until we had to go home because of the noise we were making at 9 a.m

Whew! What an incredible way to kick off our life together. I did marry the right man.

France: A wedding that almost never happened

Our French wedding in Combourg almost never happened.

Just so you know, Nico had almost nothing to do in the French wedding. I just told him to give me his guest list, which I had to force out of him in the last minute. It was my sister who did everything because I couldn't also care less. I am not really the type of person who organizes formal celebrations.

I just gave my sister pegs to follow. I wanted a farm style wedding. That I was sure, then I had a long list of what I didn't want in my wedding: many flowers, a first dance (yes please), cake-cutting with Nico, long speeches that would bore the guests, a video presentation.

But I guess even the simplest or well-organized couple would have no match to what we had to face days before our wedding.

One, before we left for France around a week before the wedding, we were informed that we needed our baptismal and confirmation documents to be officially translated to French. That meant that the documents would be released in two weeks!

Two, when we were on the plane on the way to France, we were informed that there was a massive Transportation strike (the national sport of France lol) and a Gasoline strike as well. All the trains were stopped. It was supposed to be a three-hour train from Paris to Combourg. The guests had started to arrive at that time and not everyone can drive for five hours.

Babe, this is maybe a sign that we shouldn't be getting married. I remember telling Nico.

Thankfully, we pushed through with the plans believing that things that are meant to be will get through any hurdle. We were eventually allowed to get married in France in time for our wedding date. Our 156 guests found ways to get to Combourg despite the strike. Okay, we could start letting out a sigh of relief.

Then finally, when we arrived at the venue, the forecast was that there would be a storm in the coming days. We had no backup plan. We didn't prepare a tent.

I was getting stressed again after dealing with all the sh*t. So, during the welcome party for the guests' first day in Combourg, I drank a little too much to shake off the stress. Nonetheless, I was happy to see all my loved ones. At the same time, I was getting excited and nervous for the biggest moment of my life.

I was relishing this rare gathering. The wedding was scheduled the next day. But I didn't care whether or not I'd be looking my best the next day.

I got sooo drunk. Good thing, one of my best friends forced me to bed because everyone was pushing me to have more drinks.

"She's getting married tomorrow!" she told them off. Thanks to her I did not end up sleeping in the forest.

So my friend was already removing my makeup when suddenly Nico came in the room and slept beside me.

Since we were not supposed to sleep in the same bed before the wedding, one of his best friends was pulling him up to move to another room. But Nico, who was already drunk and tired at 1am, wanted to sleep.

"Leave me alone!" Nico told his friend… and punched him in the face.

Don't worry, I got even on behalf of his friend because the commotion made me dizzy and the next thing I knew was that I vomited on my then future husband's face. Isn't it romantic?

Despite the hiccups we had to face, Nico was able to play football with the boys--on the day of our wedding! My sister-in-law managed to wake me up at an ungodly hour of 8am to prepare for the wedding and looked like a total mess with my hair sticking out and my eyebags swollen.

But I managed to look the best I could to marry Nico, who looked dapper in his suit while I was walking down the aisle--never mind I puked on his face the night before. As I started to move closer to him, I was also looking at the faces of the people from all over the world who made our lives together extra special. Finally, our similar yet distant worlds were colliding.

Our wedding in France might be the "least organized" wedding according to Nico, but it was the funniest and craziest because the people we loved celebrated it with us, coming together in the name of love.

That was more than enough to make an "imperfect" wedding the most beautiful moment in our lives. What a start to making sense of forever, right Nico?

Nico's footnote:

Of course, #wifezilla is always right! But I have to add that one of the reasons why the wedding in France was not organized because Erwan forgot to buy soft drinks to mix with your drinks! #