Christine and Abdessalem Dridi
March 18, 2003
South Lake Tahoe, California
We were married at the Fantasy Inn in South Lake Tahoe
California, surrounded most of Christine's family. As Christine's
grandmother was also celebrating a special birthday the same day, we were lucky
in that family members from Germany were also available. It was
quite a reunion! We only missed Christine's brother, who was on
overseas military assignment, and of course Dridi's family, who who live in
Tunisia. But another wedding celebration in Tunisia was planned for
their benefit!
As we were coming from France, we didn't have that large of a budget for the
big day. We also needed to make our arrangements completely over the phone
and internet. In doing our long distance research, the Fantasy Inn
seemed like the best option. We were happily surprised with the Fantasy Inn's chapel
in real time. The photos on the net did not deceive: the chapel was charming, not at all gaudy or tacky as we feared
with the name like "Fantasy Inn". It was small, but just the right size for
our wedding party of 16. The staff did a wonderful job of
making our day ceremony special, including playing our selection of songs ("I
Cross My Heart" by George Straight, and Jesu My Heart's Desiring" by Bach), and
tailoring our ceremony just the way we wanted it.
They also did a great job with the flower arrangements.
Our red rose bouquet, boutonniere, and corsages were nicer than we hoped for.
The hostess even pinned the wedding corsages on our guests herself.
We elected to walk in together,
rather than someone "giving the Bride away". The ceremony was simple
and meaningful, and ended with the lighting of a Unity
Candle. Christine cried a lot, but she wasn't the only one-- that's
what happens when there is too much happiness and joy!
After picture taking, we went on
the reception. Our "reception hall" was a private room at the
Best Western. We had to spruce it up a bit, but that was great fun.
With the help of Christine's mother, we strung white paper bells on the ceiling
and decorated the white table clothes with tulle and silk roses.
We made little sachets of candies we brought from France, and gave each table
setting a special cup and saucer we brought from Grenoble (complete with
pictures on the Grenoble Bastille emblazoned on the side of the cup!)
We decorated our own champagne glasses with silk roses on wire, and served this
with one of the best sparking wines coming out of the Napa Valley (La Reve,
Domaine Caneros).
Our menu was light, as we were celebrating Christine's grandmother's birthday
with a special dinner that night. We served finger sandwiches, fruit
kebobs, meat and hummus trays.
The best part was naturally the glorious 2 tier wedding cake. (Dridi
HAD to have a 2 tier wedding cake!) It was not only very delicious,
it was the best "decoration" of all!
As we were already traveling so
far to have our wedding in the first place, we did not go on a separate
honeymoon. But we did splurge and spend our wedding night in
one of the Fantasy Inn's fanciest theme rooms. It was quite
interesting! For fun, here's a
Link to Fantasy Inn
It wasn't big and it wasn't super expensive, but our wedding was a very special
and a truly memorable day. No one was stressed, everyone was happy,
and we had a wonderful time. We would not have had it any
other way!
