I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t eating five macaroons as I wrote this post. I don’t regret it, not even a little bit (but you’ll also see me at the gym as soon as we get home tomorrow)! What a sweet, sweet ending to a weekend full of love.
It all started with a 2.5-hour train ride from Germany. Dan napped intermittently and listened to his usual sports podcast which drew a lot of attention to us… Mostly because it makes him rotate between giggling like a school girl and full on belly laughter.
As we were getting off the train in Paris, I noticed the man in front of me was extremely well dressed. Ironed dress shirt, dark jeans and nice leather shoes. He stepped off the train and was met immediately with a long slow kiss by a beautiful blonde woman. I smiled and politely stepped around them. That moment I knew we were back in the city of love.
Dan and I took the metro to our hotel. We spotted a Starbucks and stopped in for my first PSL of the season (🖐🏼high five to my other pumpkin spice obsessed groupies! Feel free to send ALL THE PUMPKIN SPICE care packages my way ;). )
Dan was borderline Hangry (hungry+angry) so we also stopped for salad, pizza, and wine. Later that night we met up with Eric and Meg, Dan’s brother and sister-in-law. We walked in the rain to rendezvous with a few of their lifelong friends: Chris, Whitney, Travis and Veronica. (Thank God I packed an umbrella! I definitely learned from our Norway trip!).
We celebrated many things that night drinking wine in the park with the Eiffel Tower twinkling above us. To Jimmy and Sarah, an incredible couple beginning their life in marriage. To Chris and Whitney, an exciting engagement. To Eric and Meg, together again after a long deployment. To Dan and I, tying the knot. To Travis and Veronica, on a European vacation. But most of all, we celebrated life long friendships. Friendships worth holding on to despite multiple moves, decades passing and lives changing dramatically. To all of those things, we sipped wine under the stars and the twinkling lights of the Eiffel tower.
Buzzing on the sweet bubbles we consumed, we walked to a nearby cafe for dinner and conversation. We stayed late into the night and met with Jimmy at an Irish pub for one last drink as a single man.
On Saturday we had a lazy morning including room service breakfast and multiple cups of cappuccino. Dan caught up on sports center and started getting ready about 13 minutes before we left the hotel. It always amazes me that he gets ready so quickly. (And still looked so fancy by the way!)
We didn’t want to be late so we arrived at the church extra early. Dan was rushing me out of the hotel (like usual…🙈 )and I forgot to grab my coat. It was chilly but not unbearable.
The wedding was in the most beautiful church I’ve ever seen, La Madeleine. Talk about memories of a lifetime. Witnessing the joining of two hearts in such a beautiful, historic place was incredible {and in two languages…English and French}. A huge thanks to Whitney for passing out tissues to each of us before the ceremony began. The instant Jimmy saw Sarah the happy tears fell. –>and I bawled like a baby. No big deal.
One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was when the pastor said… “No matter what beliefs you had coming to this ceremony, we are witnessing love today. Where there is love, there is God. God is love.”
In the middle of the ceremony, everyone stood for the passing of the peace. Forgoing handshakes, in true Partisan style, we all exchanged kisses on both cheeks instead. The wedding was intimate and sweet and overflowing with emotions of joy and love.
In France, after the wedding is complete the guests leave first. Then wait in anticipation for the bride and groom to emerge from the doors and walk down the front steps of the church. (I actually really loved this part!) the happiness radiated from them on those beautiful old church steps.
Thankfully it was a brisk walk from the wedding to the reception. Our group of 8 people stopped at a cafe in between for 25 various drinks with espresso in them. The waiter probably felt like a barista.
Hyped up on espresso and ready to party we made our way to the reception at the Westin. The cocktail hour was held in a beautiful courtyard. It had floor to ceiling pillars 😍 and enclosed glass that the guests (including me) couldn’t resist staring at.
We ate delicious food, drank sweet cocktails and danced far past the sunset and into the night. Then we crashed hard for about 10 hours of much-needed sleep.
The next day we drug ourselves out of bed with the promise of at least 6 espressos throughout the day. Dan and I took a taxi to the Louvre.
We met back as a group for a relaxed picnic lunch in the Tuileries Garden. I loved how lazy Sunday’s are in Paris. It’s not uncommon to see couples napping in the chairs surrounding the fountains. The children rented little wooden boats and played with them in the fountains, gently guiding them with wooden sticks. They even had goats eating grass on the edges surrounding the fountains.
After our picnic, we wandered down towards the Arc de Triomphe. Of course, we stopped for a few cups of espresso and some leisurely shopping but we made it there eventually.
After a long exhausting day, we finished our Paris trip with pasta and one of my favorite Italian red wines. As dinner came to a close we said our sad goodbyes. Until our next adventure as a group, safe travels!
Dan and I caught the ICE train back to Germany for a few much needed days of rest. After a weekend full of love, family, and lifelong friendship we were reluctant to leave Paris.
Cheers to a lifetime of happiness for Jimmy and Sarah, who proved that love happens when you least expect it. 🙂
Sometimes the love of your life is just one international flight away!
Love,
Jenny
ps. We drank our bodyweight in espresso this trip and I loved every moment of it.
#travel the world with me 
