Our Story
Marcella The Bride: Sorène and I met in Berkeley, California. He was living in the Bay Area after moving from Paris to continue school and I had just moved from Portland, Oregon for a new job. The first weekend I moved I was in tears with the realization that I didn’t know anyone and couldn’t understand what had convinced me to move to a new city on a whim. That very same day, I saw Sorène at the gym and was floored. A few months and many shy smiles later, we finally got up the nerve to talk. Our first summer together, he invited me to meet his family in Paris and the southwest region of France. It goes without saying that I fell in love with Paris and its romantic history instantly, but it was our time together in the south that epitomized everything we loved together. The food! The wine! The open fields of sunflowers and lavender, scattered with old chateaus full of stories.
The Wedding
The south of France for us represents the beautiful counter balance to our working lives: taking time to enjoy the pleasures of family, community, food, and wine.
We chose the
Château Hermitage de Combas for many reasons. We knew that our friends and family would be traveling from different corners of the world to be with us, and the chateau was able to accommodate over 70 of our guests on the grounds in their stunning apartments. When we saw this beautiful 13th century chateau, we knew it was the perfect setting for our dearest friends and family to enjoy the entire weekend together and to taste the pieces of France that we loved so much. The hidden chapel within the château, the beautiful vineyards, and the pool made for a perfect weekend for our guests.
The day of the wedding, our friends and family worked hard to set up our beautiful traditional Persian wedding table. Sorène is half French and half Iranian, and it was important to us to pay homage to the beautifully rich Persian culture. Plus, it was fun to do something different! The table is full of symbolic items, from a book of poetry all the way to the honey that represents the sweet words we promise to speak to each other. We hired a wonderful jazz band to play “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” while I walked down the aisle (I’m from Hawaii!) The ceremony was unexpected and fun for our guests, they had a blast!
The Celebrations
True to French tradition, our dinner was full of good wine, good food and didn’t end until late in the evening. After many tearful toasts and laughs, the dancing began with popular Iranian music and weaved in English and French songs all night. We played our last song at 5:30 in the morning! The feeling of seeing everyone you love, in a place you love, all at once is indescribable. The chaos and joy of the day goes by so fast, but I’ve never seen my husband so happy and I’ll never forget the feeling.