Wedding

The summer of 1979 passed in a blur.  I was working hard in Canada, Mac was constructing his Pizzeria on Bequia, and soon we would be getting married.  I have to admit I was apprehensive, I had no idea what the future would hold for Mac and me and our venture together in the restaurant business. I had worked for many summers at resorts and restaurants, but never as a cook and certainly not as an owner.

First of all I needed a wedding dress. My second mother, Nan Maynard, wanted to buy it and took me to her friend’s wedding boutique in London Ontario.  I had lived with Nan and Doug Maynard and their four children while going to University, then again when I left Bequia to earn money as a waitress. They were like a second family to me and I know they thought of me their fifth child. Doug Maynard would be giving me away at the wedding, my own father having been assigned the task of marrying us!

I didn’t want a traditional white gown and opted for a pretty yellow Swiss dot that was actually supposed to be a bridesmaid’s dress.  It had a little cape to cover my shoulders during the ceremony, which could be removed for the party afterwards.  A yellow straw hat for my head and I was all set!

My mother (a born organizer) was doing well with the reception plans.  Some parishioners had offered the use of their lovely home, which included a large pool  at the bottom of a stone walk-way. Mom had hired a steel band to play beside the pool, and guests were advised to bring their bathing suits.  Dinner would be a catered buffet up at the house, and the whole event promised to be simple, elegant, and best of all fun!

On the morning of September 1st I washed my hair and dried it in the sun.  Mom was getting the jitters but I was amazingly calm and relaxed.  The wedding was scheduled for 11:00 and mom was ready and pacing around the rectory kitchen by 9:00.  I think she was worried that Mac would change his mind and be a no-show!

My family was always early for everything, which meant my relatives were seated in the church by 10:30. Mac’s family started to arrive before 11:00 but the most important member was missing, namely Momma Simmons. We couldn’t start without her and she was more than half an hour late. Evidently she had decided at the last moment that she needed to dye her hair! My poor mom was having kittens.

Finally the music began and my younger sister Brenda, my only bridesmaid, walked down the aisle and I followed on Doug’s arm.  Mac was waiting for me in front of the altar with a huge smile on his face, which was three times browner after a summer toiling in the tropical sun.  I could see my father choking up with emotion as he stood watching me approach my soon-to-be-husband.

Turning to the congregation, he spread his arms and said, “Seize be Pleated”.