Wedding

February 2 2008

The Journal du dimanche announced it for February 8, 2008. But it was a little earlier. On February 2, at 10:45 AM, Nicolas Sarkozy concluded a meeting on the subject of Chad. The first guests were arriving by the avenue Gabriel — 55, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré was full of paparazzi. On the first floor of the Elysee, around twenty people attended the most eagerly awaited wedding of the year: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni — previously only Gaston Doumergue had married during his term as president, in 1931. In the Salle Louis XV adjacent to the office of the Head of State, there was no portrait of the President of the Republic. “I have him in front of me,” joked the mayor of the 8th arrondissement François Lebel, who conducted the ceremony. In ten minutes, just time to read the Civil Code, Carla Bruni-Tedeschi, at 40 years old, became Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, 53. The witnesses on her side: Farida Khelfa, the former muse of Jean-Paul Goude now Mrs. Seydoux, the designer Johanna Fath, the actress Marine Delterme and the musician and producer Julien Civange. On his side: Nicolas Bazire, a top manager of the luxury group LVMH and former principal private secretary under Edouard Balladur, and Mathilde Agostinelli, communications manager for Prada France. After a glass of orange juice, the couple hurried off to La Lanterne, the state residence in Versailles, with the guests. Five hours after the ceremony, RTL announced the news, two hours before the Elysée.