Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Thirty Years

                     vintage wedding scrapbook

 

 

My Vintage Wedding Scrapbook starts out with few photos.

Thirty years ago on this day, French Husband and I were married under a rainstorm. I wore my Grandmother's moth-eaten, paper thin, silk wedding dress. My mother was worried it would fall off of me when I walked down the aisle. 

I didn't care I liked my Grandmother's wedding dress, even if it were shabby and not chic.

 

 

    vintage wedding scrapbbok             

 

French Husband wore the same wedding tuxedo that his Father wore for his marriage. Which was very chic. It was midnight blue. His mother came to California, from France, for our wedding. But his father could not because he was seriously ill.

We told each other we would write our own marriage vows. The eve before our wedding day French Husband hadn't penned his. I was not pleased. My bride-to-be-nerves kicked in. He told me he was going to say them in French. I cried saying he could be saying anything to me and I wouldn't understand. He told me to look into his eyes that they would speak clearly to me. Horrible as it might sound, I smirked at him. I still feel bad about that.

 

 

 

vintage wedding scrapbook

 

 

 

We did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen… we told everyone gathered that they were our witnesses.
My cousin Julie picked Calli lilies from a garden for my wedding bouquet. I tied an old lace ribbon around them and called it good.

 

 

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My father was horrified that his only daughter was "doing" her wedding like this… Threadbare dress, handmade wedding invitations, no professional photographer, flowers from a garden, no maid of honor… no wedding register. What would people think of him! I told him it didn't matter because the wedding was exactly as I wanted it to be.

He nearly died when an Aunt called offering to buy me a wedding dress.

 

 

vintage wedding scrapbook

 

 

French Husband and I were married at ten in the morning in the Catholic church in Willows.

 

 

scrapbook

 

 

To say that the last twenty-some years have been blissful would not be the truth. To say that it has been easy would be a lie as well. To say we have held on to the good moments and stuck it out in through the rough patches would be honest.

 

 

scrapbook

 

 

scrapbooking

 

 

Our marriage is a commitment to bear witness to one another's lives.

To stand by one another and love through thick and thin. 

 

 

 

scrapbooking wedding

 

What were the details of your marriage?

Comments

38 responses to “Thirty Years”

  1. Jeanne

    I loved hearing all about your wedding day.
    Happy Anniversary.
    Many blessings for many more years to come.
    God bless you both always.
    Love Jeanne

    Reply
  2. Cynthia Thompson

    Happy Anniversary and God Bless! We will celebrate 47yrs in October. From being a young military wife, poor and always moving, to growing up and experiencing life and the world together with God protecting, blessing, and guideding us through it all!! Thank you for sharing your sweet story of love!
    Blessings of many more years!

    Reply
  3. Linda P.

    Happy Anniversary!

    Reply
  4. g

    TO LOVE!

    Reply
  5. JulieKP

    Happy anniversary! We celebrated 20 years this summer. Our weddings couldn’t have been more different. Mine was the true princess affair. I had a 15 foot shantung train. That was truly what I wanted more than anything other than my groom. But like you, our marriage has not always been easy but always worth it. Love finds a way to weather the worst storms.

    Reply
  6. Bev S.

    We met at Princeton Seminary the only way a man from the South and a woman from the Northwest could meet in the 80s. I had sworn that I would never, ever be a missionary. He was raised in a missionary family and wanted to go back to Brazil.
    Love does funny things. We were ordained, spent the 90s in Brazil working with street kids who were crack cocaine addicts. Now we co-pastor a church in Virginia. Our marriage has had some really tough times but we are committed to our vows and believe that God brought us together.

    Reply
  7. Chris Wittmann

    Marriage to my first husband was bizarre. I was barely 21. My church wouldn’t perform the marriage as he was an atheist. We found a church that would, and when the day came it was 104 degrees. My parents were arguing all the way to the church and dad nearly drove us into a tree. Everyone was upset because I would be leaving for England a few days later. It was a nighmare wedding! Marriage to my now-husband took place quietly in the living room of our old farmhouse with just a handful of friends. We were surrounded by about 12 stray cats we had rescued and our 2 beloved dogs. It was a hoot, and we are still together all these years later!

    Reply
  8. Diogenes

    I love the way you did your wedding. Simple and heartfelt.
    “…held on to the good moments and stuck it out in through the rough patches…” I think that is as good as it gets for anyone. Perfection doesn’t exist.

    Reply
  9. Patti

    Congratulations on this special day and on your beautiful marriage. You are an example of perseverance to all. On our wedding day, 43 years ago, just as I was to dress for the pictures, I noticed that we were short several purple candles. Never to trust such an important thing to someone else, I grabbed my maid of honor, jumped into my car and drove across Seattle to the only place that would have candles matching the others. We parked in a load zone, hopped out of the car and left it running. I decided, it should be locked, too. We bought the candles and …couldn’t get back into the car. What to do? We called my parents, went into the bakery next to the car and sat on the hood munching doughnuts until they rescued us. Pictures had to be taken after the wedding but we still get a laugh out of the adventure. God has greatly blessed our life together with lots of laughs and adventures.

    Reply
  10. LeighNZ

    I’ve seen some of your beautiful wedding photos and especially love the photo of your dad walking you down the aisle…you looked radiant. Your wedding was simple, heartfelt and true and was perfect for you both. I can say that after reading your blog for several years and staying in your home, you and Yann make it all look so easy and so much fun.
    Much love on your special day XX

    Reply
  11. RebeddaNYC

    Bearing witness to one anothers lives…that’s it in a nutshell. Well done, you two! Here’s to another 30 years! ❤️

    Reply
  12. Kathie B

    Farmboy Husband and I got married in the courthouse chambers of a WOMAN judge, with five close relatives of ours in attendance; I wore a sleeveless knee-length white linen sheath dress, and he wore his only suit. Considering that my parents and various other relatives had eloped when they got married, this constituted a veritable large wedding by family standards 😉
    We’ve been married nearly 51 years now, and my parents were wed almost 55 years until death did them part. Sure, married life is not always bliss, but neither is not-married life, either. C’est la vie!
    Hope you enjoyed celebrating your anniversary just as you wished!

    Reply
  13. s/e

    Congrats Corey & Yann: Thanks for being honest, that relationships take work…..

    Reply
  14. Peggy

    Happy Anniversary! Wishing you the best always. I just watched the video in the sidebar. Love it! Keep on dancing!

    Reply
  15. Ann of Avondale

    Happy anniversary! I love how you outlined the events of your wedding. We have been married 22 years. We met at church and I always say it was a match made in heaven. I planned our wedding for one year and wanted everything to be picture perfect and fun. I’m glad we had a wonderful wedding with relatives and friends who came from all over to be with us. We have wonderful memories of that day. There is one wedding photo that I absolutely love, and when I look at that photo I remember those feelings of love and joy. And when those challenging days come, I look at that photo and say, I want this, I love him, I love our life. I feel blessed.

    Reply
  16. isabel

    I would love to see a photo of you in your grandmother’s wedding dress, and your husband in his father’s wedding tux! Happy wishes on your anniversary!

    Reply
  17. Carole Prinz

    I remember when you were married, Cory. How about a picture of you and Yann on your wedding day. That would be special. Happy Anniversary. Congratulations on 30 year and two beautiful children (adults).

    Reply
  18. dee

    I think it was so admirable that you chose sentimentality over a big showy affair. You always seem to be true to yourself, Corey.
    I was so shallow and I’m embarrassed to admit this…. I was 20 and always thought of myself as chubby. Before I was married I just happened to find a cute navy blue suit with a frilly white blouse. It was the only size 7 I’d ever gotten into. Our wedding was planned right after that and my mom wanted me to pick out a beautiful white wedding dress, but I insisted on wearing my size 7 navy suit. I cringe when I look at the photos.
    My husband passed away 5 years ago and we had been married 47 years.

    Reply
  19. Sfpami

    Your heartfelt post is tender, candid, and so very special. Congratulations to you both on your thirtieth anniversary. I wish you many, many more. I love how you honored your family by wearing your grandmother’s gown. You chose to make it your unique, meaningful wedding day rather than allowing others to change/reshape the event. It is a beautiful story. Thanks so much for the amazingly beautiful, honest recollection. I wish I had your writing skills. My husband of 42 years passed last year and I have so many wonderful memories. Do tell…..what did French husband say in French at the wedding?

    Reply
  20. Candi

    Your ability to share is wonderful. Happy Anniversary!

    Reply
  21. Leonie Buchanan

    With all the divorces around at the moment elaborate weddings don’t appear to mean much. Having said that ours & most of our friends who married in the 60’s had elaborate weddings & only a mall percentage have not weathered the storms!!
    The ones that have though have had their fair share of ups & down….some more than others but have stayed together growing with & within these struggles.
    To be able to look back on 50+yrs, for better or worse, in sickness & in health gives you a wonderful feeling of ‘we made it’.
    This is not a reflection on those who didn’t for many reasons but a feeling for you that makes all those difficult times easier to bear
    Our daughter has been married twice so I understand how sometimes it is too difficult to last the distance.
    Corey, may you & Yann have many more anniversaries….you have completed your apprenticeship!!

    Reply
  22. Leslie in Oregon

    Happy Anniversary, Corey and Yann! Thank you for your lovely, inspiring words about the commitment of your marriage.
    My husband and I were married twice, in April and in July 43 years ago. Our first wedding was in a family law courtroom, before a judge who became a role model for us (we were law students). We liked the idea of separating our legal wedding from our spiritual wedding. The second wedding was the Sunday morning service in the little church in which we had grown together. We made the wedding invitations. I purchased my dress (not meant to be a wedding dress) off the rack for $50 (and, years later, noticed that Hillary Clinton wore the same dress at her wedding). Like you two, we did not have bridesmaids or groomsmen; we processed up the aisle with the members of our families as the groom sang “Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord.” Each member of those families had a role in the wedding service. Our church family was our witnesses. The musicians were our best friends. Our flowers were picked from a nearby garden. There was no wedding register. The sermon/homily was about the symbolism of the wedding rings. Afterward, we had a potluck picnic next to a beautiful outdoor pool on the lawns of our law school campus. Our honeymoon was a camping trip in the mountains with two of our best friends who had come from afar. Three days after the wedding, I reported for duty as a purser for Pan American Airways and flew off on a London trip.
    We would do it all again, just the same way, if we were transported back to that time.

    Reply
  23. Fat Rabbit

    Such wonderful memories- thank you for sharing. Thirty years together with good times and sad times. How lovely that your daughter will marry Martin during this year of celebration! Congratulations to you all !

    Reply
  24. TEXAS francophile

    Happy anniversary to you two! Loved reading about your wedding. Being an only child our wedding was going to be my parents one and only. Large church wedding and a fun reception with a champagne fountain. Hubs best man hid his ‘69 chevelle super sport so nobody would write on it. Honeymooned in New Orleans. Great memories❣️

    Reply
  25. Jenine

    My husband and I celebrated thirty years of marriage last October. We had a small wedding with close family and friends and I wore a lace wedding dress with a short train, which I purchased off the rack for $200 because it was all we could afford. Side note, four years ago my daughter wore my dress in her own wedding and wore her mother in laws veil, which was as old as my dress.
    We have walked through raising a family of three children, the deaths of our parents, two seasons of unemployment (humbling!) and illness (kidney transplant), which almost took my husband’s life. In our early years we didn’t have two nickels to our name but we had an abundance of love and our faith. My mother told me…..Love is a choice and the longer you love the better you get at it. Thank you for being so open and sharing your story. Happy Anniversary to you and your lovely French husband! And best wishes for your daughters wedding. May they be richly blessed.

    Reply
  26. Dd

    Happy anniversary!
    Let’s just say my parents were more horrified than yours, but it has been an amazing 45 years. Have you ever posted wedding picture?

    Reply
  27. Natalie Thiele

    Happy anniversary to you both. Your wedding sounds wonderful and very typical of you. You did it in your own style. We did, too.
    My husband and I got married in our backyard. We let our band, Sourdough Slim and his Saddle Pals, choose a date they were available. I searched and searched for red and white polka dot fabric to make my wedding dress out of, white background, red dots, but couldn’t find any and chose a pale apricot silk instead. My sister was my maid of honor, my husband’s sister was his best person. We had an old wind up music box from my great grandmother that played tin “records.” One of them was the traditional wedding processional, Here Comes The Bride. We used it. A friend brought several bales of hay for the band’s stage and a hot dog stand to use as a bar. It was 107° that day so we all sweltered, but had a wonderful time. We will celebrate our 24th anniversary in August. Yes, there have been ups and downs, but that’s how life is. We are still happy together.

    Reply
  28. Marilyn M

    Happy Anniversary, Corey! I love your description. Marriage is not perfect but what a great journey it can be. My husband and I met later in life, I was 41 and he was 53. He died 21 years later so we were not together as long as you, but I’m so grateful that he found me. Also a serendipitous meeting – in a pub I had never been to that I wandered into on a Sunday afternoon after coming home three days earlier than planned from Italy. Marshall struck up a conversation immediately- he was bright, funny and so present. Our life was good together.

    Reply
  29. Alan

    It’s nice to know that hippies were still around 30 years ago. I would love to be at a wedding like that one, as opposed to one of those over the top extravaganzas.

    Reply
  30. Kathleen

    Happy Anniversary to you both. August 12, 2018 will be 55 years for us. We are not only husband and wife but best friends. Growing old together is truly very special and we do not take a day for granted.

    Reply
  31. Debby H

    I was barely 18 years old in December 1967. There was no proposal. There was a pregnancy test. Yikes! We had been “going together” for two years in high school. My mother was not happy with us. It was not the wedding I had dreamed of as a girl. We were married in my parents home in the middle of December with a solid sheet of ice covering the greatest landscape of north and west Texas. Only immediate family and a couple of friends attended. I made the wedding cake – an applesauce cake, no icing flowers. There were no pictures taken. There was a newspaper announcement but I didn’t keep it. So all I have are the memories. My husband died in 1997 just six months short of our 30th anniversary. I cherish the memories and am now beginning to share the details and memories of that time in my life. Maybe I can find that newspaper clipping on the internet.

    Reply
  32. Kit

    Congratulations Corey and Yann! Your wedding sounds perfect and I love that you both wore family heirloom wedding clothes.
    Our wedding had a similar spirit of less is more. We were still living in the UK, but all my husband’s family were in South Africa so we decided to get married out here at his parents’ house and in their apricot orchard for the braai/bbq afterwards. My parents and brother and a few UK friends flew over and had a holiday while they were here. The local magistrate very kindly came to the house to marry us, I wore red and orange, a silk sarong and top and carried some arum lilies that a friend had picked from the ditch on the way over and had nasturtiums from the garden plaited into my hair. My husband wore a grey silk sarong,in which he cooked the beef fillet over the frill afterwards. No bridesmaids or formal wedding stuff and we all put the food and wine together the day before, very last minute and chaotic but full of love. We’d forgotten to do anything about music, so everyone had to hum when I came in through the door and there was lots of laughter.

    Reply
  33. Kristin

    Happy 30th Anniversary, Corey and Yann. To be a true witness to one another, that is where the strength and longevity of your relationship has its strong roots. May there be many, many more years of learning, sharing and growing in love for you two.

    Reply
  34. Sharon CS

    Happy 30 years together in marriage! May you have another 30+ years together! Your wedding sounds ‘simply’ beautiful…perfect as it was as you wished! <3

    Reply
  35. Jan D-M

    I caused a stir in my Catholic family by marrying a man in seminary studying to be a Protestant pastor. An uncle refused to come because I wasn’t getting married in the Catholic church. The wedding was officiated by both a male and a female ordained ministers because we thought that best represented God. Both my mom and my dad walked me down the aisle, as I wasn’t into the father “giving away the bride” thing and I figured that my mom had played an equal part in my raising. To pay for the wedding, my dad cashed in an insurance policy and told me that he had $1200 and I should not go over the budget. I wanted a simple wedding with a ring of daisies around my head instead of a veil and I chose to have someone make my dress (actually a blouse and skirt) out of white eyelet. My older cousin was so appalled by my choice of a simple wedding dress that she offered to “make it into a tennis dress” when I was done with it. As I dressed for the big event, we realized that we never did sew a button on that skirt nor did we add a button hole, so my sister stitched it closed with a needle and thread. I later had to be cut out of the skirt when it was time to change. When it came time to walk down the aisle, my mom linked her arm in mine and my dad took hold of my hand. I remember thinking that this was the opposite of the way it was supposed to be done, but to this day, I can feel the warmth of my hand in his. It’s a cherished memory from that day. When I joined Jim at the front of the church, he smiled broadly and gave me a gentle peck on the cheek and I remember thinking he was cheating with that early kiss. As we left the church, someone spontaneously suggested that we tug on the rope that rang the bell, so we did. A relative snapped a candid photo of the moment and that will forever be my favorite picture from that day. We had some rocky years, but we’d made a commitment we intended to keep, so we twisted, tugged, and turned to make it work. So richly blessed to have risen like a Phoenix from the flames to enjoy the beauty of a strong marriage. After 35 years, he’s still a dork, though. 🙂

    Reply
  36. Missy

    We were blessed to have 30 years….it was a second marriage for us both. He was a very,very quiet man but so quietly joyful. He took me to the Grand Canyon and as we stared overwhelmed by the sight he said…..”we will do it here…to remind us of the only thing on earth bigger than our love”. There was no formal proposal and the wedding was just us in a tiny chapel. The minister cried and we beamed. Life is amazing. Happy Anniversary❤️

    Reply
  37. Marilyn

    What precious memories. My wedding was over 50 years ago. It was during the Viet Nam war. My college student husband to be was about to be drafted. We ended up marrying 2 months before our wedding and then 2 months later I walked down the aisle in my hand sewn wedding dress. Your description of your wedding actually reminded me of a Quaker wedding. In the Quaker church they have a large certificate that everyone signs that has witnessed the wedding. There are no attendants. The wedding is very simple.

    Reply
  38. Mardog

    Wishing you many, many more years of together. Appreciate your honesty, that it can be work but the gifts it bears makes the journey worth it all. Happy 30th and have a wonderful trip to Portugal!

    Reply

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