(Photo via dailycaller.com)I have a secret soft-spot for Celine Dion. She is technicolor, in a monochrome landscape! When you watch her interviews, she is animated, warm and ingratiating, emotionally unguarded and almost uncomfortably romantic and sentimental.... and I like it! A few years ago, my best friend took her mom to a Celine Dion concert within weeks of us seeing Sam Roberts (another Quebecer, albeit a very different type of artist!) and she said that the show blew her away..... Costume changes that got better each time, great production, choreography and lighting, killer vocals, amazing interaction with her audience - my friend wasn't an huge fan before the show, but walked out in awe of the great experience, and raved about what a high-energy, entertaining show this lady put on. Her music isn't necessarily my favourite; I don't own any of her CDs but we do have a copy of 'Unison' lurking in the basement in our treasure-trove of cassette tapes (I gave to to my husband in 1991 when we were dating, which instantly makes me sound old. Probably apropos since it is Throwback Thursday. Now, excuse me while I catch up on my Golden Girls!#getitBlancheDevereaux)
Now fast forward slightly to 1994, when I married my cassette-carrying hubby and less than two months later, Celine married her Rene. While we share our marriage years, believe me, that's where the similarities end. My wedding day was inspired by the togetherness of an '80's sitcom family, with a dash of the '90's grunge attitude (hence the infamous pantsuit instead of a fancy, princess dress; then I growled and kicked of my high heels at the first available moment and spent the rest of the night barefoot) and the budget of, well, there was no budget. You have to have money to have a budget and we didn't have a whole lot, but we knew we just wanted to start our lives together, and all we needed that day was the officiant to make it legal and to break bread with the seventeen people we invited. Ms. Dion was inspired by the opulence of Versailles-meets-Vegas, the beauty of Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, and going very big or going home (and she was NOT going home!)
Her wedding dress and overall look was very oooooold-school and something Marie Antoinette would have rocked the hell out of; a dress that required a thousand hours of work, studded with pearls throughout, a twenty foot train, sleeves were belled with a metric ton of flare, the hip was exaggerated, the waist was cinched in and she topped it off with a crystal headpiece that weighed twenty pounds and had to be sewn onto her head!!! The reception was opulence realized - as it was a December wedding, there were snowflakes falling lightly over the course of the evening and doves cooing and flying overhead. Yes, snow and doves. This girl had Vegas in her before she ever got there!! Oh, and her cake? It was simple little affair, a tower of profiteroles (cream puffs) - a mere 2,677 little puffs of glory in a towering showpiece. Mon dieu!
While this wedding was extravagant and expensive (this is what half a million dollars could get you 21 years ago!) in lieu of wedding gifts, they asked instead for donations to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Her niece has died the previous year from the disease and her wedding gifts gave to the Foundation to the tune of $200,000, and she is still a champion for the cause today. So let's take a look back at some pictures of this 1990's wedding that ended 1994 on a glitzy note and philanthropic note!
~~Modern Day Versailles - Celine Dion and Rene Angelil Extravaganza~~
Wishing you a day as limitless as you are~
Lisa and April
Great readiing this
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