Oh la la...(and yes, guilty as charged)

Congratulations Dyani and Brice!
This makes me happy.

I know, I know, I have not updated the Internat for over a week. Here's the thing: whenever something monumental happens, I feel extreme pressure write the most wicked-killer post ever, and consequently get very nervous, push it off another day, and wake up in the early morning thinking about how I'm letting you, my loyal readers, down.

I know this doesn't help the fact that you have been hitting refresh constantly for the past week and have taken to perusing Facebook instead for your midday mindless-pleasure/voyeurism fix, but I want you to know I feel guilty and I'm sorry. That said, let's dive into the french fairy-tale that was my 3 night whirlwind trip to la France. May I suggest you grab un boisson first, since this is going to be a long one.... (if you just want the pictures check out these, or these)

As I last reported from l'aeroport, Jessica's tummy (damn you Lupus poopus) prevented her from coming to Paris at the last minute. As consolation (I hope) I decided to bring her along in paper form and utlized the excellent Google printers yet again. Here's Jess enjoying breakfast a lovely cafe in Paris:
I arrived Thursday morning, and after spending Thursday afternoon taking in the Parisian sites (and pastries), Erin and I reunited with Megan, Sally and Jeff for dinner. Tim, who coincidentally (?) was in town for work, also joined us.

Most of us dined on escargot and steak frites, accompanied by plenty of red wine and pain. There was much chatter about the wedding weekend ahead-- we had heard rumors of the groom wearing a sword and the celebration featuring a harpsicord concert...oh la la, we were excited to see what was in store. Tim was jealous, clearly. And after several glasses of wine he agreed to come with us as Erin's +1/Jess' body double, assuming this was fine with the bride. Lucky for all, she said Mais oui!

So Friday morning, the 6 of us headed off for Chateau de Chailly, where Dyani and Bryce would wed, in the largest car available in France (a modest 5 seater van with 2 miniseats in the back). The aventure was lead by Jeff, who I quickly renamed 'dad', for his excellent skill in car packing, navigating french roadways, and carrying his large camera with that cross-shoulder strap only dads purchase. Here's a pic from the backseat of the Eurovan...luckily Jess took up very little room and we both slept a fair amount:

When not sleeping we did a dramatic reading of the new Universal movie script, codename "Hopper," that Sally is working on. When hunger struck, Dad happily ablidged and we exited for lunch at a random spot which turned out to be "the most typical french town" according to Wikipedia:
Typical french town meant plenty of choices for anything but typical snacks, and after wine, sandwiches and mini macaroons, we were on our way to Chailly.

In Chailly we were united with the rest of the Stanny crew: Kat, Chels and Kbo, Nikki and Gab. Dream dream dream (or shall I say: rêve, rêve, rêve). We all headed into town to the only open restaurant for dinner. There was of course much more Pain, Vin and escargot. And many toasts to our lovely Bride. Since there were no bars open in town, Tim talked the restaurant owner into letting us purchase a half case of wine to bring back to l'hotel. Clearly the french ablidged as they shared deep concern for letting any hours pass without wine.

Saturday morning we were up early to head over to the Chateau where we would all stay for the night. That was of course not before a stop in town-- apparently there is no such thing as brunch in France, so full service breakfast was unavailable at 10:30am. Instead we hit up the boulangerie for some goodies and brought them into the bar, which was I might add, bumping. Here we have le wedding crasherre enjoying the finest of le petite village:
The chateau was exactly as you would imagine: completely magnifique! We stayed just across the lawn at an adorable little apartment, which was perfect for le preparty: we popped some bubbly and got ready, then met up with all guests outside of the chateau entrace. The bride processed down this fabulous stone staircase and out the door of 16th century Chateau to meet her dad. It was nothing short of fairy tale:
French tradition has the entire wedding process through town to the church, so off we went behind the bride. The gentlemen layed down their swords (yes, multiple men were in french naval costume including swords) before entering the church, and we sat in pews older than the USA for the french-english ceremony. We all walked out and the newlywed couple led us back to the Chateau for celebration:
Following that there was a harpsicord concert, and champagne hour. And then came the food. And then came more food. And then came toasts. And then came more food. Several hours and several dozen decedent courses later, dancing began. Brice and Dyani's coregraphed 1st (salsa) dance, kicked off the party...which was fueled by plenty of bub and featured everything from the electric slide, to line dancing, to Lady Gaga.
Oh la la what a wedding.... (and Internat debut for Tim!)