Bertrand and Claire are Married!

This past Saturday, our good friends Bertrand and Claire were married!  On a personal note, this was the first wedding I have photographed solo.  I am used to (happily) being a second shooter with my dad at weddings.  The day started off very early for Matthew and me at 5:00am.  We had to be at Bertrand and Claire's house by 6:30am so I could drive with the girls to get hair and makeup done.  

The next stop was Bertrand's parents house, where Claire got dressed.  Even though we were running late, Claire was one of the calmest brides I have ever seen! 

Mark and Silke met us at the house so Claire could arrive at the church in style (in Mark's spiffy Z3)!  We were only about 30 minutes late by the time we arrived at the Mairie...  By French law, there first must be a legal wedding before a religious wedding can take place.  We arrived at the Mairie (city hall) to a huge crowd of people.  This was so different from the US wedding experiences I have had, where the bride is hidden away until she makes her grand entrance walking down the aisle.  Here, everyone was waiting for Claire to get out of the car, including Bertrand!  After a few minutes of saying hello, it was time to go into the Mairie.  The room was packed with friends and family, and you would have thought it was Brad and Angelina getting married with the number of cameras taking pictures!  I felt like part of the paparazzi.

Right beside the Mairie was the church.  It was a beautiful stone church in the village of Marcillate en Combraille.  Even though I couldn't understand anything that was said during the ceremony, it seemed to be very similar to an American wedding ceremony.  Regardless of the language, it was a beautiful ceremony, and there were definitely tears in Bertrand's eyes!

After some family and group photos, everyone headed to a nearby village for a small reception (Bertrand and Claire are having a big reception/party in September).  The reception was complete with bouquet toss and photo slide show.  About 2:30pm, the family and a few close friends went to a restaurant for lunch.  Claire's sisters-in-law wrote and performed a song (and although, again, I couldn't understand what they were singing, based on their costumes, hand motions, and the laughter from everyone- I am assuming it was really funny!).

After lunch, Bertrand, Claire, Matthew, and I headed out to take some photos of just the newlyweds!  Our first stop was a wheat field Claire had spotted a few weeks earlier.  The weather all day could not have been better, and even though the clouds were quickly building the entire time we were shooting, they created a beautiful background for the photos.

and to show you how hard my "assistant" was working to help me get the shot:

Claire had hoped to find a waterfall to take some "trash the dress" pics (something I was very excited about!).  Unfortunately we couldn't find a waterfall, or even a big enough river.  So, we headed to a fountain in a nearby village.   The water was pretty cold, but Bertrand and Claire had a blast splashing each other.

Matthew still hard at work:

It was a great day filled with lots of love and laughter.  We are so happy for Bertrand and Claire, and SO glad that they decided to get married while we were still living in France!  We love you both!