Answer:
Continuing
Explanation:
Following the wedding toast at their reception is “la coupe de marriage,” where the bridal couple drink together from a specially engraved, double-handled goblet, usually a precious family heirloom.
In decorating the banquet hall, tables are often flooded with flowers brought by the guests, and the bride commonly wears a wreath of flowers in her hair.
To signify the uniting of two families through marriage, during the reception the new couple also raise a glass of wine from two different vineyards, pour their wine into a third glass, and drink.
The château’s proprietors, Patrice & Ariane Vansteenberghe, tells us that during cocktails, it is customary for the bride to throw her bouquet into the air behind her, and that the girl who catches it will get married in the year.
“When the desserts are presented, we have a pyramid of champagne glasses that the couple will stand over. They will meet at the top and then share their wedding cake. Then there are often a few films or videos caricaturing the lives of the newly married couple, sometimes with projections directly on the walls of our Grande Galerie.
“All night long we will burn torches,” says Patrice. “We will light them during the shooting of fireworks — which often lasts until dawn!” The park is completely wired with a sound system, and the DJ’s sometimes underscore the grandeur of the fireworks with dramatic classical music.
Below: at left, French wedding traditions in the French château's setting ... at right, in the château's medieval wine cellar.
