Mannix/Baradat celebration

Invitation to a Celebration

This is not a wedding but!

IMPORTANT UPDATE! (dec.06)

For many reasons, Helene and I have decided that this trip to France for our Celebration just isn't going to work out at this particular time. Too many attendees had to cancel for personal, financial, or conflicting event reas

ons, the housing agency was having us sign contracts for *all* of the houses (putting us solely responsibe for over $10K in costs if disaster struck and suddenly nobody could come or whatnot), together with the fact that our life is in a wonderful, yet *completely* different space than we were ten months or so ago when we started planning this (we've changed towns, houses, school for Liam, started an australian labradoodle breeding business, both of us have switched jobs...), it's just too much to orchestrate this right now without going crazy.

So we hope we're giving you enough advance notice to change/cancel your plans. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If we can find a way to do something like this in the future, you will all certainly be invited, whether we celebrate our family in Europe, Seattle, Boston, Bora Bora, Outer Space or off in the Astral Plane.

-Jake and Helene

We are happy and grateful that in a world of six billion (plus), we have managed to find each other.

But because we are not members of any organized religion, nor are we believers of state involvement in personal or familial affairs. We came up with this idea:

This celebration is not a “wedding”, for a wedding is usually understood as the “start” to something, and we want more to recognize the union and our newfound family as it currently exists, and as we intend it to continue.

This gathering is meant as a way of getting our extended family and friend network together in one place – not for one afternoon (half of which is typically spent all focused on the “wedding couple”), but instead an entire week exploring a beautiful region in the south of France: the magical land of Provence, for everyone to enjoy as they wish.

As this is a celebration for all of us, we don’t want you to spend money on typical wedding presents for us, and we don’t want to spend a ton of money on a typical wedding. Instead, we want to create an opportunity for us all to experience something different.

To this end, instead of staying in hotel rooms, we would like you all to join us in staying in some gorgeous, old, finely appointed Provencal estates.

Because April is (the tail end of) the off-season, and we would be splitting the rental cost among us, the housing price turns out to be extremely reasonable: between $250 and $375 per person, per week in Provence. You will find all the information regarding these under the "Mas de Provence" tab.

So come spend a week’s vacation with us, soaking up the sun, wandering through the vineyards and lavender fields and architecture dating back to the Roman Empire (and before).