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We now had 19 days till the wedding and 16 days until friends and family started to arrive. In France you cannot get married anywhere but at your local Mairie and then afterwards you can do as you please with regards to church blessings, etc.
Not being religious we decided to have a hand fastening ceremony in our garden followed by a buffet and music in our barn.
The garden was pretty much ready, very simply gravelled and edged with stones from what was the rear wall of the house. But the barn, now that was a different story all together.
The barn had been used as the dumping ground for all supplies, materials and salvaged items from the house and quite frankly was going to be a mamouth task to clear and where would we put it all.
We finally decided that stacking everything in one side of the barn and screening it off was the only option so 5 full days of moving oak beams, tommettes, bags of plaster, cement, plasterboard, huge granite quoin stones and mountains of sundries and tools, 3/4 of the barn was clear and ready to be jetwashed and have years of cobwebs brushed away.
After another couple of days the barn was clean and tidy all that we needed to do was hang the fairy lights from the beams, spread straw on the floor and set out seating and tables.
Now I could start to think about getting the food and drink sorted out for the buffet (yes yes I know 12 days before a wedding and nothing sorted out ) Thankfully it seems that we work best under pressure.
Part 6 to follow soon