Looking back at our French Basque wedding, one year later
And how life in the Basque Country feels!
❥ This email may be truncated in your inbox. To make sure you are reading the entire post, please move yourself along to a web browser!
More from me + Absolument can be found in these places:
Website | Instagram | Shop Absolument | Book Recs - Merci, thank you tons and tons for reading!
My goodness, I can’t believe that Jean-baptiste and I are already celebrating one year of being married!
We chose to get married—both the required French town hall ceremony and a more traditional Catholic church service—in the Basque Country because of his family ties to the region. And also because we had created tons of memories while visiting this unique part of the world. We loved it so much (and the wedding undoubtedly added to this love) that we ended up moving to a small Basque seaside town last November. It’s been the best place I’ve ever lived. People are going to have to drag me away kicking and screaming if we ever have to move away.
I wanted to share a few sentimental photographs from our wedding weekend in Hendaye and Biriatou, an update on how life feels here in this region of France, and how we spent our first anniversary!
The past week, in our new “normal” life
If you follow me on Instagram, you already got a peek at the Tamborrada festival that happened in my neighborhood last weekend. Some of our friends, Violaine and Antoine, were in town for the French holiday weekend, so we spent almost every minute of it eating. My favorite hobby!
I also had the luck to meet
for hot chocolate and toast while she was on holiday here! She is so bright, beautiful, and sweet, and I loved sharing some tamborrada moments with her. It totally made my weekend to see her, meet her partner and his family, and talk about our funny experiences as Americans living in the southwest corner of France.One thing I talk about constantly when people ask about the Basque Country (besides the food) is the amount of joy people allow themselves to have. People are naturally more smiley here, and dancing and singing are a firm part of the cultural fabric. Here are some moments from the drum parade, eating with everyone in the town gymnasium, and going by boat taxi to Spain to eat our body weight in good food.
Celebrating our anniversary
Our anniversary weekend was brimming with food and fun! We hopped on our bikes, grabbed sandwiches from our neighborhood boulangerie, and zoomed to the other side of the bay. The views make us want to constantly pinch ourselves! Jb’s family came over to our house to eat Gâteau Basque, and then the two of us left for Biriatou, the little village where we got married.
Of course, we would never miss the opportunity to eat Peio’s outlandishly delicious food at Auberge Hiribarren. Sitting on the steps under the church and being inside the auberge immediately flashed us back to our numerous sentimental visits there, especially the peak-life moments we shared with our closest friends and family. I still can’t process how lovely that entire week was last June!!!
Thanks for going down memory lane with me. ❥
**
Muxu,*
Kelsey Rose
Such a fun way to celebrate! I’d love to know more about your journey with the language in this little town and the interactions with everyone now a year later.
Le pays Basque is such a special place... every time I go back I love it more and more! Beautiful wedding, by the way :)