MY HOME IS A CASTLE--the tale of how and why I became a chatelain , four times .This is my present home. If you are visiting for the first time you may care to read the older posts first.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

WHAT A RUSH- BUT THE WEDDING WAS WORTH IT

I couldn't believe it! We had actually booked a wedding for the coming June , it was already February, and there were two huge areas which needed complete renovaton, the long gallery and the Grand Salon. The reception hall was where work had already begun, so we decided to continue with that first of all. Archie continued with the walls and Victoria, my daughter, and I decided to tackle the original floor tiles. They were beautiful, the pattern in cream and rust colours, but the condition was not good with thick layers of old varnish and spattered with paint here and there. We spent at least two weeks on our knees and gradually cleaned back the tiles to their original brilliant colours. Mum helped too, particularly with providing tea breaks!

The long wood panelled gallery was 60 feet in length, with large windows and french doors opening out onto the south facing terrace over-looking the rear grounds down to the lake. The flooring was herring bone parquet which needed stripping back and re-staining and waxing. Some cracked windows needed replacing, and the panelling needed re-staining. We decided to live with the wallpaper, and just hang pictures.

This the end part of the gallery when we first moved in, unfortunately it doesn't show the lovely l windows .
So, over the following months we all worked so hard, the men more than the 'gals because of the 'nature of the beast'! Alex needed to go and buy a mobile scaffold to enable the decoration of the ceiling in the grand Salon! The work needed was so intricate, with all the garlands of flowers, and of course, the ceiling height was just short of 5 metres . He came back , proud as punch, delighted that he had got a real bargain for this 4 metre square "échafaudage" with wheels- saying that it had only cost £150 !!! When they went to collect it in a borrowed van the next day he came down to earth with a bang-- it was really £1500!! After getting over the shock, we laughed a lot and all decided that Alex had better swot up on his french! So, little by little the work progressed and it was hard but fun. Finally the Grand salon was finished....
We decided on different shades of green, with multi-coloured garlands.


The floor had been restored beautifully by Archie ...
Finally June arrived and everything was ready. Our only commitment was the hiring of the rooms, all the catering was being provided by a company of caterers who would staff the occasion and also provide 'le vin d'honneur' which would take place in the reception hall. Guy had also taken care of the music which was to set up in the Grand Salon; the wedding breakfast was to be in the gallery. To our surpise and great pleasure we had been invited to join the wedding party.

This is the gallery set up for the wedding breakfast, as you can see it leads into the G.salon


The bride at the ' vin d'honneur. Bizzarely I do not have a photo of the bride and groom together;also the quality of my photos are poor - sorry!

Some of the wedding party gathering for a photo on the steps from the terrace.

Like all french weddings, the food was superb --10 courses-- we were still eating at 1am. The ambiance was fantastic and we joined in the dancing. It continued until 5am ( we had not put a time restriction on as we were attending) when the onion soup was served! YUK! But it is a traditional french custom sometimes observed at french weddings and is supposed to have a sobering effect. After this the marital couple left for their honeymoon! AAAAHHHHH bless!

8 comments:

  1. Well done! The room is just beautiful.
    I'm sure the bride was delighted.
    Do you still rent this for parties?

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  2. Striking!
    What a life! Hard work, I'm sure -- but what a reward!

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  3. What a gorgeous room! I love seeing these photos. I had to laugh. We had a small renovation done and a couple rooms added and it was far from finished...really far and a roof was also replaced during this time and...on and on...mind you...nothing on the scale of what you are talking about. My niece got engaged in February and got married here in June...WE only had 3 1/2 months to get everything complete, yard replanted in areas, flowers planted, gazebo built, haha...and it was such a smalls cale. I can't imagine the work you went through.

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  4. Anet, Sandy and Cottage girl, thank you all for your comments, the G salon was indeed beautiful, and difficult to take a complete photo. Anet, we moved from this Chateau in 1997, I do not think the present owners let for marriages,but I think they do arrange concerts there for the locals.

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  5. Delphine, You transformed the place.. Stunning.. the floors are out of this world... I can truly appreciate the work you went through!!! Everyone must have been so impressed and the bride must have felt like a Princess!!

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  6. It was worth all the hard work..the room looks a picture.

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  7. Thanks Gwen and Angela, it was a stunning room, I think my favourite out of all the Chateaux- it was so light too with those big windows.

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  8. I'm like Sandy, we're planning our daughter's wedding in August, and the load shrinks now seeing what you had to accomplish. And just a few of you to do it. It is great to have an event like that to motivate you to get things done though.

    That floor really glows, what a room. It must have been fantastic to be part of it, and an all night dinner, how romantic!

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