Barrie
August 2 - August 5
Saturday - Day FourEDDIE & TASHA'S WEDDING DAYWell, is there any doubt what day this is? For those of you who may not know, this is the reason we are still in North America. It's a beautiful day! Forget cold air or clouds - the weather is perfect. This is a sunny day, and the air is cool - a perfect combination for the men, in their jackets and ties, and the women, in their sleeveless dresses (and for Tasha, whose dress is very bare). We wake up early, as according to the schedule we have to be at the Honeys' by 10:15 to take family photos. After breakfast we borrow an iron and an ironing board, and I proceed to iron clothes. I take out my dress, the product of the New York rainstorm and a pair of new shoes, I am ready. Philip looks dashing in his new jacket, and the mother of the groom is also lovely and classy in green.
There is one small hitch to the taking of the photographs. In all the fuss of yesterday, my cousin Jane-Michele and my Auntie Joan weren't told about the photo shoot, and so Tim and Mizpah were the only Paul (my father's brother) Bethels to be there. Margot, Salina and Toby were, but they were all delayed by the same kind of traffic that Philip and I ran into coming up to Barrie with Uncle Winston yesterday. Peter being Peter, and efficient and quietly professional about taking pictures (half the time you don't know he's taking the things, and the other half of the time he's directing you and taking pictures at the same time), the family photo shoot doesn't take nearly as much time as we Bahamians, who are exposed to the fuss and bother of Bahamian wedding photographs, expect. So Eddie and Tasha are off to a nearby lookout (a scenic spot) for their romantic photos before we know it. Just before they are ready to go, Margot, Salina and Toby arrive, all of them looking great (though Salina isn't dressed yet), and we take some more Bethel family shots (Toby is an honorary Bethel for this purpose as he is with Eddie's side of the family). Then that part of the morning is over. Margot, Salina and Toby come back to the B&B with Philip, Mummy and me. I iron more clothes, stepping out of my wedding clothes for a short while, and Salina, Margot, Toby and I all chat. Philip stays downstairs, organizing and setting up the video equipment. In no time it's noon, and according to the schedule we are supposed to be at the church at 12:30 with the mothers of the bride and groom. Margot has been phoned by Eddie to go to the Honeys' with us to pick up Garland Dean, a member of the Dicey Doh Singers (an a capella men's group Eddie performed with) to take him to the church as well. So off we go. Philip sets up the camera as planned, I am seated by one of the two the ushers (Tasha's brother-in-law, Adam - the other usher is the policeman Mike that Philip met at the men's party), and sit in the pew by myself until Uncle Winston arrives. The rest of our party sits behind me. At five to one Philip (the director) starts looking at his watch. The wedding is expected to start at one sharp. However, something minor holds it up, and so it doesn't start until three or four minutes after one (each of these minutes is punctuated by Mr. Burrows looking at his watch). Uncle Winston and I watch him and chuckle. Then off we go. The service is short and sweet. The hymns are good Anglican hymns, taken at a good pace by Jim the organist. There are two readings, each delivered by one of the mothers, and then the exchange of vows take place. Now one thing you have to understand about my brother is that he has a tendency to mumble. He has a very good speaking voice, but it is obviously his speaking voice, the voice of the vice principal etc, and he doesn't use that in everyday conversation. Tasha has told him that he has to speak up because people don't hear him well when he talks. So in the rehearsal he surprised us all by booming out his vows in his formal voice. I have warned the Bahamians that this is likely to happen, so that they don't burst into laughter when it does. Eddie's vows are not quite so stagey as they were yesterday, but he is still using his formal speaking voice, and we are still quietly amused. Tasha, on the other hand, is fully herself (she has extremely good projection when she speaks normally, and now she uses it all). When asked if she will take Eddie (called Edward for the service, which is done by Tasha's pastor, Dennis Posno) as her spouse, she proclaims "I WILL!!!" with such enthusiasm that everybody laughs. It is all very nice, and the service is over in good time - half an hour at the most.
The reception is to be held in the Honeys' garden, and we drive there, after standing out in front of the church in the sun. The garden is set up with numerous tables and patio chairs, and there is a microphone at the far end, near the table where Eddie and Tasha, and ideally Tim (Eddie's best man) and Melissa (Tasha's matron of honour) will sit; the cake is on a table near the back door. The Honeys' new terrace works really well; people are gathered on it and on the lawn, standing near the table with the drinks and not far from the places where the caterers emerge from time to time, carrying trays of food. Garland gathers Philip, Uncle Winston, Mummy, Eddie and me and tells us that we have to perform some songs, as the Dicey Doh are supposed to sing, and the Dicey Doh are not the Dicey Doh without KC (Kermit Strachan, the leader and the rhymer of the group). As we can't do traditional Bahamian rhyming songs, we decide to do calypsos and one of my father's songs, 'Praise', an anthem of national identity. We are to sing after the toasts. There are two toasts and two addresses. Mr. Honey talks about Tasha, and Mummy speaks about Eddie; then Melissa, as matron of honour, gives the toast to the bride, and Tim, as best man, the toast to the groom. The Honeys, who are saying goodbye to their daughter and sister (who is going to live in the Bahamas), keep it light (in Melissa's words), because if they don't (again in Melissa's words) they think they will probably bawl. Mummy and Tim are both very sincere, and each of them makes one or two guests wipe away tears. It is all very emotional and touching.
The time now comes for the once rehearsed, quickly put together substitute for the Dicey Doh Singers. The six of us head to the microphone and are introduced to the crowd by Eddie. The first number is 'Praise' which is followed by two Bahamian numbers: 'Brown Skin Gal' and then a medley of other Bahamian songs in the style of the Dicey Doh. The response from the crowd was positive and there is a strong possibility that we actually sounded pretty good. We could not really hear ourselves but everyone said that they liked it. I was right in front of the mic and wondered if I may have been too loud. I asked Peter if he thought so and he said no. He did say that being the soprano, I was definitely the lead voice coming through but that was not a problem.
All too soon (for us) the reception comes to an end. Eddie and Tasha appear, having changed, ready to go south to Toronto for their wedding night, which they are spending in the Airport Sheraton. They are flying to Dublin for their honeymoon tomorrow night, and they are booked into the hotel. Tasha has decided that as they are going to be around all day tomorrow, they'll be back for the wedding breakfast, and Eddie has agreed. So off they go. After that, (we presume) the caterers are paid, and we all go. Philip, Mummy and I all return to the B&B to pack (we are all leaving tomorrow) and the rest of the Bahamians, together with Carlo Rosen, Eddie's friend from high school and university, are invited to Uncle Winston's hotel for a drink. We agree to meet for dinner, knowing that some people won't be around that long - Margot and her passengers have to get back to Toronto, and Tim and Mizpah and Auntie Joan are all leaving in the morning for Nassau, and have to leave Barrie at 5 a.m. After we pack and sort ourselves out, we phone around a bit to see where we might have something to eat, and, discovering that there is not likely to be anything in town that will be free, as it is a Saturday, a long weekend, and there is a summer arts and crafts festival in Barrie around the lake, we decide that we will go to the Holiday Inn where everyone else is, and see if there is anything to eat at that end of town. It turns out that there is a nice restaurant in the hotel. We agree to go there for dinner - it is almost empty - and we do. The dinner is wonderful, the kind of meal one has with very old friends. In the middle there is a fire alarm, but our server comes by and tells us that they think it is a false alarm, that there is a wedding reception on one of the floors, and that there is a lot of dry ice there which has set off the alarm. After some time the alarm stops ringing, and we settle into our meal. Then we return to the B&B, and prepare for tomorrow: the wedding breakfast, and our departure for Miami. |
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