Tags
Alberta, Caroline, Diana Schwenk, Dr. Suess, family, growing up, humour, Hump Day Chronicles, joy, kids, living in the moment, love, Relationships, Sanctum Retreat, wedding
This “Dr. Seuss” type invitation would set the tone for the wedding.
We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.
The Ceremony
On Saturday I went to Sabrina’s and Daniel’s wedding, a 2-hour drive from Calgary, on the beautiful grounds of Sanctum Retreat, just outside Caroline, Alberta.
Before the ceremony started, children gathered to hear the story Horton hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. In fact the whole wedding had a Dr. Seuss-ish kind of feel to it.
One knew almost immediately that this wedding would be a bit different when a drone equipped with a camera flew overhead!
The father of the groom, Pat Nixon officiated the ceremony, incorporating vows that sounded like they were written by Dr. Seuss himself!
The bride and groom, and all in attendance, giggled when in turn they said, “I love you when we’re rich, I love you when we’re poor, I love you in a ditch.”
I turned to the guy on my left and said, “I hope they’re not serving green eggs and ham at the reception!”
The reception
We gathered in a great, big, white tent, worthy of a party in Whoville and waited for the bridal party, and ultimately the bride and groom to join us.
The emcee, Daniel’s brother Jeremy, informed us that they would not be showing up until it sounded like we were celebrating. He instructed us to say, “OH YEAH,” together in our deepest voice.
You must listen to the above while I continue. Go ahead, click play, I’ll wait…
Ok, all set?
This is the tune that blasted through the tent as, couple by couple, the groomsmen and bridesmaids headed to the dance floor and performed (I use that term lightly) their own choreographed … umm… dance.
They did not look like they felt awkward at all, nor did the wedding guests seem to perceive any awkwardness whatsoever in this display.
Stories for kisses
We were told that the bride and groom would kiss, not by our clinking of glasses with spoons, but by our telling of stories. I had a story to tell, but I chose not to, because my story was one that resulted in damage years ago because of, you guessed it, a kiss, or rather the blowing of a kiss!
Years ago, when I was a volunteer at the Mustard Seed, Annelie another volunteer, blew a kiss at 8-year-old Daniel through the window as she stood outside on the deck.
Daniel, whom it would seem has always been a little more affected by gestures of love than the average person, reacted by running through the window pane, shattering the window.
I did not wish a repeat of this story. So can you understand why I chose to stay quiet?
Many stories were told and much laughter ensued. Here are my two favourites:
A friend of the bride told of a day when she and others were helping the bride move. They’d loaded the car up with all of her clothes and were driving down the street. People in other cars were trying to get their attention with frantic waving and honking.
Somehow, Sabrina’s clothing was tumbling out into the street and the girls found themselves picking up underwear that was scattered all over the road.
A friend of the groom told the story of when he and the groom worked for Daniel’s oldest brother Jason at Mountain Aire Lodge. The Lodge was quite isolated and they were bored one day, so they set off fireworks in the bush. A small fire was started, they put it out and snuck back to the lodge feeling as though they narrowly escaped disaster.
Jason caught wind of their escapade and to teach him a lesson he told Daniel the next day that there had been a dangerous forest fire and lots of damage resulted.
Daniel, who had always thought this was a true story, piped up from his seat at the head table, “You mean that wasn’t true? I fessed up to that incident when I tried to apply for the police force!”
Speeches
There were many good speeches. Some touching. Some funny. The parents of the bride and the parents of the groom gave particularly touching speeches. But I won’t tell you about them in the interests of brevity. One speech did stand out though and exemplified brevity.
The Best Man, Shane, youngest brother of the groom stood at the podium. He admitted being nervous and then shared that he once was told that the Best Man’s speech should not be longer than it takes the groom to make love to his wife. He then thanked everyone and sat down.
~
A lot of other stuff happened. A lovely meal was served. A touching presentation of photographs and music told the stories of Sabrina’s and Daniel’s childhood. Laughter, tears and great conversations were enjoyed.
At some point in the evening, someone asked me, “Where’s Daniel and Sabrina?”
“Dunno,” I shrugged. “Is there a ditch nearby?”
~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~
After thought: Daniel and Sabrina, I know in my heart that your passion for each other and for others will make you a dynamic duo, effecting great change in this world. Congratulations to both of you and God bless.
