The best journeys are long but worth it, especially when the journey is for love.
When Frances Sadler began her senior year at Hammond School, she heard a new French exchange student was attending. During a free period, she found Théo Lunte sitting outside in an Adirondack chair, all 6-foot-6 of him. He is from rural Besson, France, some 200 miles south of Paris, where English speakers are less common. While Théo’s English was not yet fluent, language differences did not stop the two from getting to know each other — and falling in love — during their shared free period.
In fact, as Frances recounted in her wedding speech, Théo used a white board to explain to her through drawing why Italy did not really win the World Cup fútbol finals match against France. “He was always cracking jokes,” says Frances. “The language barrier didn’t stop his sense of humor.”
Within weeks, Théo asked Frances out. Fran Sadler, Frances’s mother, recalls meeting Théo at a football game and later at the fair. “The way she looked at him at that game — I knew it was special.” The couple continued their relationship through the school year, during which Frances helped Théo become fluent in English, and he became a popular student at Hammond, even being crowned the prom prince.
At the end of the 2015 school year, Théo’s stay in the United States came to an end all too quickly. He and Frances had to decide what to do. Neither wanted to let the other go. “We made a calendar of when we could visit each other,” Frances recalls. Years of short and long-distance romance ensued. “I visited him in France the summer after I graduated from high school,” she says. “I went with his family on a two-week vacation to Italy. They were like a second family.”
From there, the couple took turns visiting each other’s countries and using creative school planning to be together. Frances started college at Clemson, majoring in civil engineering. During her sophomore year, she studied engineering for six months in Metz, France. Théo attended Institute Catholic de Lille in Paris, where he earned his juris doctorate in European private law. When Frances graduated from Clemson, she took six months off to attend French language school in Paris, where Théo was in school.
Later, Théo attended SKEMA Business School in Paris, which allowed him to spend a year at North Carolina State’s International Business School. Employed by HDR Engineering, Frances was able to live in Cary, North Carolina to be closer to Théo. After Théo returned to France, he knew he wanted to propose. He FaceTimed with Fran and John Sadler, Frances’s parents, to seek their blessing. “He knew that step was important to me,” says Frances. “He was so sweet.”
When Théo was in Charlotte, he and Frances planned to go to dinner at La Belle Helene. “We stopped at Freedom Park,” Frances says. “It was raining, but Théo wanted to take a walk, so we did.” Théo steered them to the Mahlon Adams Pavilion, where he proposed. “We were both drenched,” Frances says with a laugh.
After such a long wait, Frances and Théo wasted no time. They decided to marry in France because Théo still had grandmothers living in France and Germany. France requires both a civil and a religious ceremony. Dominique Lunte, Théo’s mother, officiated as vice-mayor at Mairie de Besson. The ceremony was followed by lunch at the Luntes’ home. The religious ceremony would have to wait, however. “Due to the pandemic, everything was booked, so we decided to have the big celebration the following summer,” Frances says.
Wedding planning is complicated enough without the added challenge of coordinating a transatlantic affair. In the case of Frances and Théo, they also needed to accommodate three different languages: English, French, and German. Stefan Lunte, Théo’s father, is German and still has many family members in Germany. “In France, they don’t see the need for a wedding planner,” Fran says. “They also expect the bride and groom to do most of the work.”
During their time in France for the civil wedding, both families met with the caterer and sampled food and wine for the big celebration. Théo enlisted the help of his grandmother, Nicole Maymat, and sisters, Dr. Klara Lunte Camard and Emma Lunte, to work with the florist and other wedding details. Théo chose the music, and multilingual Stefan helped organize the church service, which would be in all three languages. “Frances and I love flowers, and she selected white arrangements with a touch of blue which included white roses, white and blue hydrangea, blue delphinium, and white tulips,” says Fran. “We accepted that most of the planning was out of our control, and we were fine with that. What mattered was that our friends and family were together to celebrate Frances and Théo.”
Frances agrees, saying, “We were so lucky the Luntes did all that planning for us.”
Fran enlisted artist Steven Whetstone to paint the gatehouse of La Porterie, the bed and breakfast where the post ceremony reception was held. It is owned by Geneviève and Rémy Fleury, the Luntes’ friends. The image was used for save-the-date notices. Steven also painted pictures of the interior and exterior of the church, L’église Saint Pierre et Saint Paul in Souvigny. Fran and John gave the Whetstone paintings to the Luntes and the Fleurys. Fran enlisted the talents of family friend Pollie Bristow to paint additional copies for Frances and Théo.
The wedding weekend arrived at last. American and German guests were treated to a welcome party in a historic cave located below one of Stefan’s businesses. The following day, Frances dressed at the Fleurys’ bed and breakfast behind the church. Her Anne Barge gown was white silk with silk jacquard, A-line, with a tank neckline and side slit. Frances topped it with a pearl comb and cathedral length veil with a raw edge.
The ceremony was performed by Archbishop Nöel Treanor, apostolic nuncio to the European Union and Lunte family friend. “He was so nice and insisted everyone call him Nöel,” says Fran. “He joked that he didn’t wear his mitre so he wouldn’t scare the Presbyterians,” she says with a laugh. The Sadler family attends First Presbyterian Church. “Théo and I decided not to do a first look, so it was very special when we saw each other at the church,” says Frances.
Following the church service, guests meandered to the courtyard of La Porterie. “We got to talk to most of the people there, which was really nice,” Frances says. Guests enjoyed heavy hors d’oeuvres and Drappier Champagne, the same Champagne Dominique and Stefan had at their wedding years before. After two hours, the party moved from Souvigny to the Lunte home in Besson, where a great tent was set up in the backyard. Tables were named after South Carolina counties. Guests found their places by looking at a map of the state. On the table were chocolate covered pecans from Young’s Pecans in Florence, South Carolina.
The bride and groom came skipping in to “You’re The First, The Last, My Everything,” by Barry White, while the wedding guests whirled their napkins in the air and cheered. “At first the Americans thought it was Sandstorm, but of course Frances went to Clemson,” says Fran with a laugh. “It was one of many fun French traditions that night.” A succession of speeches followed, which included the parents of the bride and groom, other close family and friends, and the bride and groom themselves. After speeches, everyone enjoyed a four-course dinner. It included melon, roasted duck with peaches and potatoes, salad, and a selection of cheese. The wedding cake was a multitiered naked cake with a selection of fruit fillings. After the cake was cut, fireworks were set off in the field to the cheers of the crowd.
Théo’s sisters had a special treat for Frances. After having been introduced to country line dancing by Frances during a trip to the States, Klara and Emma and their girlfriends came out in jeans, white tops, and cowboy hats and did a line dance to “Hoedown Throwdown,” which they had practiced via Zoom. Later in the night, everyone engaged in a French rugby tradition to the song “Peña Baiona.” Men and women, all in their finery, got on the floor and made a long crowd surfing line around the dance floor. “Stefan was there to make sure no one got hurt,” says Fran. “It was crazy!”
As one might expect, all this partying went late into the morning, finally wrapping up around 6 a.m. Frances marvels at the long celebration. “I thought most of the Americans would leave around midnight, but they hung in there,” she says. “They’d heard that the French always end the night with French onion soup, so they were waiting for that.” Following the wedding, Frances and Théo enjoyed a two-week honeymoon on the Amalfi Coast.
At the end of 2023, Théo finally received his green card after a 15-month wait and moved to the United States just before New Years Day. At last, Frances and Théo are on the same continent together, for good.