A French wedding fête and a Swiss sightseeing day

Remember when we got married? It's been 8 months now!! Well... back in September, David's parents were the only members of his family that were able to make it to our wedding in the U.S. 

His aunt and uncle offered to host a belated French wedding party for us so they could celebrate too- and it happened last week! They live very close to the Swiss border, so we also used the weekend as an excuse to explore Switzerland. We planned the party to coincide with my family's Europe trip so they could meet more of David's family too. And also have an excuse to explore Switzerland.

I hadn't seen my family for about 4 months, so it was great to reunite!!!

We were all tired from traveling- they obviously had jet lag, and due to me and David's delayed flight, we hadn't gotten to bed until 2am the night before. Not to mention both my mom's and Jenna's suitcases were lost!! But we still persevered and got in some fun sightseeing before the party.

With the whole crew (our parents, his aunt and uncle, my sister and brother-in-law), we walked around downtown Geneva and stopped in 2 small Swiss towns along the lake.

Geneva:

Versoix:

Nyons:

It almost all went off without a hitch, besides the small dent in the rental car that happened as my dad got used to tiny European streets :)  He had to assure David's family that in 38 years of driving in the U.S. he'd never done something like that before. Gotta keep up the reputation.

They prepared a huge feast for the party! There was so much good food that even two picky eaters like David and myself were fully satisfied. In all, about 20 people were there. We watched a slideshow of our wedding pictures and had fun speaking an interesting mix of French and English together. I was surprised at the hidden talent English skills of some of David's family! Apparently their English only comes out when they're among people who literally speak not one word of French :)

A highlight for me was watching my family be subjected to the cheek kiss greeting for the first time in their lives. It's added fun because some people in the family do 3 and some do 2... so you never know who will lean in for a 3rd when you're pulling away! It was comforting to not be the only awkward American in the room who didn't know what they were doing.

I think French people are better at partying than Americans. The meal had several courses and the desserts (yes, that's plural) didn't come out until past 11pm. It was a great night, but we (at least me and my family) were falling into bed when it was over! We're so thankful to David's family for giving/finding us places to stay, taking us sightseeing, cooking so much good food and throwing a fun party! 

On the off chance that one of them reads this I should probably translate...

Ma famille et moi sommes tous très reconnaissants pour tous que vous avez fait pour nous- pour nous avoir hébergé/trouvé un hôtel, pour toute la bonne nourriture que vous avez cuisiné, pour nous avoir fait visiter la Suisse, et pour organiser une super fête!

 Merci Nicole, Antonino, Marcelle, and Xavier!!