our day

on tuesday april 22nd we got married!!  and here is a little re-cap...Our wedding time was at 2:30 pm, so Yann's parents arrived in Marseille in the morning and before the ceremony we went out for pizza. to make sure we were on time for the wedding we arrived 15 minutes before our scheduled court time. well, as we entered the office the woman gives us a curious look and asks us why we are here. We tell her, because we are supposed to get married here in 10 minutes.  She tells us, no, we need to go all the way to the other side of the city where we had just come from!! Ahh! we were kinda scared at this point; thinking at least they couldn't start the wedding without the entire 5-person wedding party! 

so, finally we got there, 15 minutes late, and as we ran around this huge, old building trying to find which door to enter, we were getting blown around by this very, very strong wind.  We entered into the court room and it is very quiet and there is the mayor and his notarie.  So, all in French, they began the ceremony.  I hardly understood what they said, but when they asked me something directly I looked at yann like, "What do I say??!" and he whispered, "Say, oui!"  So, I guess that was the moment we became official! 

we signed the marriage papers and exchanged our rings.  The whole thing was very short & sweet; it lasted probably about 15 minutes.  We received our "family book", which we record important family events, such as births, deaths, ect. Then we were on our way to take pictures outside and  have some champagne!  So easy and so not stressful. This was a perfect way to get married if you don't want all the stress of planning a wedding. However, I'm still looking forward to having a bigger wedding in Sarasota next year. I think until i'm married by our pastor, in front of God, and my family & friends, I won't truly feel married. 

His dad brought a bag of rice which was thrown at us as we came out of the building. The wind was blowing so hard, the rice was stinging our skin as it pelted us.!  We took the pictures ourselves and when a guy walked by we asked him to take some photos of all of us.  Talk about a do-it-yourself wedding.  Besides the wind, there was bright warm sun and a BEAUTIFUL view of Marseille from where we were.  We went over to a hotel across the street and his father bought us a bottle of good champagne to celebrate and toast.  

Then, JC and his parents all had to leave to get back to work & home to Paimpol.  So, there we were back in our old, comfortable clothes and having the rest of the afternoon free we went grocery shopping.  We went to this huge asian market and bought things for sushi rolling and we came home and had a big sushi feast to celebrate.

The next morning at 4am, i had to drive Yann to the train station because he had to go to work...sad!! but he will be back on Sunday night, so it's ok.  Nothing about this marriage was traditional, but we liked it that way.  The next day I went over to my friend's pottery studio and threw pots all day.  She showed me around the Panier area, which is an artist's area, and she introduced me to all the local artists.  I think it's a possibility that I may try to get a studio in that area. we'll see...more info on that later. 

Yesterday I went to the French Alliance and had my first French class and my second is today.  There are 5 of us total in the class; it's a total beginner class.  But hopefully in no time i'll be speaking french!  Ok, hope all is good with everybody and talk to you soon!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Gehan

more coming tomorrow...

i just wanted to post the pics from the wedding and i'll write tomorrow more about it. i'm so tired right now, i think if i wrote about it it probably wouldn't make any sense!!  ok, bye!

WEDDING PICS!!

pics of my neighbourhood!

some pics of the 'hood

Above are some pics i took today while walking to the local swimming hole to sunbathe.  Our neighborhood is in an area of Marseille called Vallon des Auffes.  It's a super cute little harbor where there are a couple pizza restaurants and cafes.  Surrounding the harbor and cafes are very old houses and tons of little tiny sidewalks that lead to old crumbling staircases.  The staircases wind their way up to other little streets where there are more old apartments and houses.  It's a very quaint area in a big city and i love that i can walk to the water in less than 2 minutes.  It's the first time i've lived so close to the water, even when i was living in Florida.  Now that the weather is warming up kids come fishing here with their dads, people lay around and read in the sun,  and couples bring picnics here.  One little girl was brave enough to swim today but i think i'll be waiting until the water warms up a bit more. 

big Big BIG announcement!!!

We're getting married!!!!!! Yes, it's true! i feel like the luckiest girl in the world!!!! sorry for those that had to find out via this blog, but it can be kind of expensive to call everyone in the States and tell them, so this may be the best way to spread the big news.  We have a date set; just a warning...it's very soon...April 22nd, 2008.  Yup; it's in about 12 days from now!!  We are soooo excited about this and it's something we've been working on and talking about for the last few weeks. We went to the marriage place in Marseille and they gave us a long list of documents we needed to gather.  Well, it took about 2 weeks to get everything together; it was kind of like a scavenger hunt.  Well, I won't bore you with all those details, but finally we dropped off the papers today and they gave us the date of April 22nd!!!  And Yann's mom and dad are coming from Paimpol to celebrate with us!

To explain further, France requires that the couple marries first in the court and THEN they will able to preform the marriage in a church or other setting after.  In other words, if you go to a minister to marry you here, he would require your official court marriage papers.  So, what we decided is that we will simply do the legal marriage for now, and one year from now we will have the official wedding celebration in Sarasota, Florida.  That way we won't be rushed to plan the wedding and also it will give enough time for relatives and friends to attend.  

On the date of our wedding we will got to the court at 2:30pm and we have to bring two witnesses.  We are going to ask Yann's best friend, JC, to come and and Yann's parents.  The whole thing is only about 15 minutes long.  It's on a Tuesday, so maybe will will go out for some drinks with friends after to celebrate, and then have a bigger party on that weekend.  We will surely be celebrating big time when my parents are here in May, as we are all going up to Paimpol to hang out with Yann's family.  

I really have met the love of my whole life.  We couldn't be more happy about spending the rest of our lives together.  Yann is my best friend and the man I love very deeply.  I feel honored to be marrying him and I feel very blessed that I have found true love.  Although we've been dating for only 6 months, we are both completely and totally sure that we have found the one!!! and we are so ready to begin our lives together as a family.  I have never met someone who makes me laugh so hard, who takes such good care of me, who listens to me and comforts me, and who loves me, who is the most handsome man in the world, and is truly perfect for me. So, even though we're far apart, I hope you will toast to Yann and I for our marriage on April 22nd!  

PS: My new name is going to be Heather Gehan!!! (Sounds like: 'J-own')