6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
French Casual
Meet and greet your fellow travelers and new family members at our welcome party - a champagne cruise onboard a Parisian riverboat. Join us on the Seine for drinks, toasts, and a sightseeing tour of the city by water. Enjoy an unforgettable view from the river of the bridges and monuments of Paris as they are gradually lit up at night. Meeting point: When you have the Orsay museum behind you and the river Seine in front of you, please go downstairs until you are level with the Seine and walk about 50 meters to the left. Here you should see 23 Quai Anatole France. The company is called Paris Canal, and the metro stop for this will be the Solférino. Boarding begins at 6:10pm, 20 minutes before departure. Light snacks will be provided, but you may wish to make plans for a proper dinner before or after the event!
5:30 pm - 5:45 pm
Festive Formal Attire, Creative Black Tie Encouraged
We will have a short, standing ceremony on the Pont Neuf, overlooking the city at nightfall. The Pont Neuf is the oldest standing bridge across the river Seine in Paris, France. It stands by the Western point of the Île de la Cité, the island in the middle of the river that, between 250 and 225 BC, was the birthplace of Paris.
6:15 pm - 9:30 pm
Festive Formal Attire, Creative Black Tie Encouraged
After the ceremony, we will make our way to Le Procope, a mythical restaurant in the 6th arrondissement of Paris since 1686. Considered the oldest café in Paris, Procope was founded by Sicilian chef Procopio Cutò and originally served coffee and Italian gelatos to the public. When a theater group moved in across from the café, Le Procope began attracting inventors, artists, poets, and politicians. Voltaire was a frequent patron, sometimes drinking up to 40 cups of coffee a day, which he mixed with chocolate. His desk -and drink order- are still found there today. The café was also the birthplace of the Encyclopédie, representing Enlightenment thought. The Phrygian cap, which became the symbol of French Liberty, was first displayed at Le Procope, as the café earned a reputation for fomenting revolutionary ideas. The café’s influential historical patrons include Chopin, Napoleon Bonaparte, Victor Hugo, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, to name a few.
10:30 pm
After the wedding, a no-host bar crawl through the city has been mapped out for those who wish to test their champagne - or absinthe - stamina alongside the French.
*Thank you to Mrs. Amanda Roark for her influence in the bar selections*