The wedding in Geneva....joy, excitement, hip hop and rush

My lovelies, I'm back from Geneva where I attended my beautiful cousin Tiana's wedding. These past few days passed so quickly indeed. All went well with the usual ingredients of a wedding : the last minute rush, the excitement, the non ending preparation of food, tears of joy in the bride's eyes, laughters, speeches pronounced by parents with a voice tinged with emotion. I wish I could have taken more pics but inevitably I got caught in the general mood of happy rush, and was busy talking with my numerous cousins. Malagasy families are big, you see. So, I reckon I've been slack on the photo job but this is one of my favorite pics of the happy newly wed couple, Tiana and Bernard. I find it quite amusing. You would never guess, because Bernard looks quite serious but he is an amazing hip hop dancer. He intented a little performance during the cocktail but well, he couldn't really spin on his head, right here on the grass, in his suit. It would have been funny though...

When I arrived in Geneva via Barcelona last thursday, it was hot and nice but then an unexpected heavy rain poured all night long. The temperature dropped to a mere 17ºC and I looked sadly at my pink hat and my muslin dress. I wanted badly to buy some rubber boots and a nice warm sweater. We gathered at my aunt's house, everybody complaining about the cold and glancing from time to time at the fireplace, wishing for a bright warm fire. In the kitchen, my cousin Estelle who caters beautiful bio exotic food for parties (bio food is of paramount importance to her) was not cold at all as she was extremely busy preparing samosas and accras for the cocktail.
On D-day morning, my cousin Pinel still had a million things to do but pretended to stay cool while little Pia is running to get dressed at long last. I'm surprised nobody got trapped in the hoses which lie around a bit everywhere.

Some other cousins, who were less busy, hanged colorful balloons in the garden

After a super quick lunch, we're all ready to drive to the townhall in the Carouge district of Geneva. It's quite chilly but everyone is happy and excited. My aunt worries about the buffet. Pinel worries about the band which is supposed to play outside. We all look at the sky and pray, it won't rain, otherwise....Well, otherwise, we have to push the tables inside to make more room for the band, but it will be a mess.

The little girls are very happy to hold the bride's train and their little exotic bouquet in one hand.

The bride and groom have now been pronounced wife and husband and we all head to the reception venue, passing by the lake of Geneva. As you can see the weather is not on our side.

But..oh miracle...when we arrive at the Domaine de Penthes, the sun shyly appears and stays with us, while the Malagasy band is getting prepared to play during the cocktail.

I loved one of the singers, the young woman with black glasses. She had her baby near her and sometimes would sing with the baby in her arms which I found so cool

The Domaine de Penthes is an extremely romantic and amazing venue for weddings or receptions in Geneva. The cocktail took place on the lawn facing the lake of Geneva and the Mont Blanc in the background. Kids could play and run while adults talked, danced and sipped a glass of bubbly.

I liked very much the mix of different nationalities of the guests invited at the wedding.

Here I am with my lovely niece Selma, my elder sister's daughter. In the end, I wore my vintage dress with a coat lent by my younger sister and a pale green sari on the shoulders.

The cocktail lasted until 8pm. Inside the tables have been set and graced with exotic flowers.

I loved the combination of pink and orange but hum...I think it would have been nice to have some flowers hanging from the ceiling too....

The dinner party was lots of fun, meeting very nice people, dancing, drinking, dancing again barefoot because after midnight my high heels were not friendly any more. Some young cousins did a hip hop performance, the groom joined in. I never tried to spin on my head. It looks an easy thing to do but I think I'm really too old for that.
The following day, groggy but happy, we all joined up at my aunt's house for a late brunch under the tent in the garden

At last, the weather stopped being inclement and we all enjoyed a few hours of sun. Catching up with my cousins and my sisters was the best part of it, besides meeting an amazing young woman who is a brilliant physics researcher and got me hooked on the particles. Physics has never been my forte at school but I'm fascinated by people who can talk about it so passionately. Anyway, gluons and quarks aside, soon it was time for me to leave and catch the plane back to Barcelona. I wish I could have stayed longer and enjoy my aunt's beautiful garden a bit more time.

If it had been warmer, I would have soaked my feet in the little stream which runs in front of her house. Oh well...another time

I felt a bit sad to go because I don't meet my family very often. So I now wait for the next wedding in the family to get together...I felt melancholic but also happy to spend a few days in Barcelona with Monchéri en amoureux. So I'll see you next week with a post on Barcelona.

Have a lovely week end
And thank you, thank you
to all of you who wrote such nice and lovely words of support on my new venture
You're just great !!!