This entry could be tricky; There were things in my sisters wedding which I found out of place, and things that I'm sure I didn't understand, and things I was not prepared for. And I don't want to offend Heather, or any of her, (erm, our,) family. I ask understanding then, of all those who are tempted to be offended.

First, the Ceremony. Heather and Ray looked good, and I was happy to see the mixture of people in the room. (It's not often that I'd see my Granny Laidlaw sitting that near to my Dad!) It was also very nice the way some of the groom's guests were mixed up with the bride's, and vice versa. It gave us a better chance to get to know each other. We'd never met before, and at the reception, we were sitting at separate tables.

What seemed odd in the ceremony, was how serious Heather and Ray both looked. I'm not sure if there was any smiling at all. And then there was the praying over the couple. Ok: if they are religious, I can see the point of saying, "Father, Bless this new couple, and their union." But six or eight different people saying it? It seemed... a little excessive. And I was unprepared for the way in which the did the prayer; One person speaking, and the others mumbling something along, and seemingly, giving a different prayer simultaneously. I've since been informed that it's a normal way of praying for Heather and Ray's church, but it sure struck me at the time as peculiar.

Now, onto the Reception.

I found it unfortunate that there was essentially no mingling between the bride's guests and the groom's. But then, at the same time, I was also happy to have family and friends sitting all around me, so I could catch up with them. The food was good, and plentiful, (I know that's not important to you, the reader, but it is something important to me!) The reception... went on too long though. It's what I'm most critical of. First of all, the master of ceremonies... was all right to listen to, though he had little or no idea how to present his body in front of a crowd. The other thing he did was talk too much about himself, and his own life, and about things that had nothing at all to do with the bridal pair. And this behaviour was unfortunately repeated.

A long stream of people from the Church stood up to speak. Each talking a bit about them selves. Each giving a bit of a Sermon. And each only having a few words at the end about the bride and groom. Bride OR Groom. I know that they are passionate about Christ, And want us all to go to heaven, and God is Great... but some of them didn't even TRY to connect all of that with the fact it's a WEDDING Reception. I can imagine it would be similar to my getting up, talking for four minutes about the Ballet Productions I've done in the last years, and then saying "But life isn't a play. Life is Real. And Heather and Ray are Married in Serious Earnestness. I toast to them." Such a speech just doesn't belong in the wedding reception.

My Mom was wonderful, talked about Heather, and about her love for Ray, -and ended in tears of Love. My Granny subtly confronted the concerns which some of us had, (for, as Ray said later, "Reasons we all know.") She took a blessing, or phrase, or something from the Bible, and charged Ray to "Make Heather's whole life as happy as this moment of this day is." Wendy did the Toast to the Bride, and made it about her, and her future with Ray.

There was One speaker from Ray's party who surprised me, whose story I'd like to relate; An older man says to his one son, "There's a Boulder in the front yard. I ask you to use all your strength to move it out of the way." The son is dutiful to the father, and goes outside. But with all his pushing and pulling, he can't move the stone. He comes back in and says, "I am sorry father, I used all my strength, but could not move it." "Son," says the father, "I asked you to use all your strength. No go out there, and Do it!" The son goes out once more, gets a rock, and some levers, but all his might can still not move the stone. So he goes in again, and says, "I am sorry father. I have failed you. I can not move that boulder." "Son, I told you to use all your strength!" says the father. "Now come out with me, and I will teach you something."

-It's here that I was preparing myself for one more sermon, propounding the power and importance of prayer. All about how prayer can move stones, and crumble mountains. But this is what was related to us:

The father gives the son a lever, and takes one up himself. Using the strength of each, they are able to get the boulder out of the way. "Now," said the father, "I hope you understood something. I told you to use your Whole Strength. You should remember, that I too am a part of your strength."

He then went on to tell about how A man and wife should be there for each other, and should remember to ask for help from each other. He also reminded the bridal pair that if they ever have difficulties, We, every one there, are also a part of their strength, and that we will always be there to help. I felt he did very well! Perhaps it was a bit of a sermon, but it applied directly and perfectly to the bridal pair. It was perfectly thought of and done.

After an hour or two, once everyone else had said their bit, the master of ceremonies started a "bit of fun." He actually said that seeing as my Dad was on best behaviour, and not allowed to do anything silly, that the job seemingly fell to himself. So he told of how Honeymoons are to warm, wonderful places, and got his two assistants to sneak up behind Heather and Ray, and put flower lays over their heads. And he presented them with a huge plastic, blowup palm tree and two grass skirts, telling them they'd just have to imagine that they were someplace warm and tropical. (They couldn't take too much time off, so only had a week, and went up Vancouver Island to a quiet town there... and got Heavily Rained on for most of the time.) Perhaps these... Cheesy gifts did help them feel warm and exotic, in the torrential rain. I think they would have had a good time with or without them. It certainly lightened the atmosphere of the reception, and it was the first time that I saw Ray grinning from ear to ear; with bright flowers around his neck, and a grass skirt held up in front of his suit.

Still wearing the flowers, it was time for the bridal pair to make their speech. "While Heather sorts out her problem," said Ray, referring to her entanglement of veil and the flowers, "I'll speak my half." He talked of meeting Heather, and Heather's attention towards him. Then he told of how he felt uncertain of that attention, and of his trying to convince Heather that nothing could happen between them. (To no avail. Nothing would deter Heather.) He went on about his slow coming around, and seeing that she's his fate.

My sister then gave her side of the Getting Together story. About how she knew Ray was special very soon after meeting him, and how she saw their futures together... and liked what she saw. She spoke of how she could never be turned aside, because it was simply God's will that they be joined, and about how she was so happy when Ray eventually understood that too. What I liked about Heather's speech, was how she started it though: She said that all of us there; every single one, is a part of her Family. Ray's family, Her own family, those ones are obvious. Then there were the people she does her church work with, who she feels so close to, just like family. She then mentioned each of the others that were there, and I saw how true her words were;

The Weeks. We have known them for about twenty three years. And we have been close with them for that long. Heather even lived with them for a year or two, when our Mom had moved up the island, and Heather wanted to stay in Victoria. They are clearly a part of her family. Also the Watsons. They were the friends up the street from us when we were little, and they were just as close to us as the Weeks. And for just as long. In the summer especially, not a week went by when one of us wasn't sleeping at the Watson's, or one of them by us. They were also family to us. The Kirk-Gushawaties. (Not that I can spell their name,) were more recent, but their daughter was Heather's best friend when she was a teenager. Those two were always together, and then they were roommates in Vancouver for a year or two. They were closer than tight. And they too were undoubtedly a part of Heather's Family. The one other, perhaps more surprising person, was our Ballet Teacher. We've known her for 17 years now, and trying to explain our connection would take too long. (So I explain it here.)

I was expecting the bridal pair to leave then, as their honeymoon was starting, or perhaps the dancing was about to start? (I've learned in my German Years that the evening's dancing start's with the bridal pair's waltz.) But there was no dancing at all. And the two of them didn't leave right away either. I think that their idea was to go, but each and every one of us got up, and congratulated them personally. -something my grandmother had expected to happen at the very beginning of the reception. (Which kind of would have made sense to me: have them near the door, as we all come in, so we can shake their hands and give them our formal congratulations.) But as it was, we sort of clumped around them, and offered each a few words when we had the chance.

Then the weeks daughter who was there, myself, and our Watson friend stood by my Pianistic brother, Andrew, at the keyboard, and searched through the music books for things we could sing. I guess that we were crooning around for ten to fifteen minutes, while people were filing out. When we stopped, there were only a few people remaining, taking down decorations, and putting chairs away. So we packed up the keyboard, (which Andrew had borrowed for the occasion,) and took it back to the Weeks's where we stayed up a few more hours singing, talking, playing "the stick game," and having a great sociable time. This was wonderful, with the Weekses, my brother, father, and aunt. It was such a pleasure to talk with family and close friends, (whom Heather had reminded me were as close as family. In truth, they are closer than much of my family; My cousins live here and there, scattered across Canada, and I am in truth closer to the Weeks.) It was... a party the way my family used to, and there was a feeling which the reception didn't have much at all. We were relaxed. We were informal. There were snacks. There might have been a bottle of wine. There were diverse topics of conversation... which we were all interested in. There was a lightness of atmosphere, and a lot of enjoying our selves. I can't describe it any better. It was a good Weeks's Party like I remember from my youth.

After came the quietest... but perhaps best part to the day. The most intimate at least. My brother stayed at the Weeks's that night, so we got to sit up until two in the morning talking about life. I tend to forget the fact, but we seem to be able to understand each other very well. Regardless of what tangents we each went on, and how developed those tangents got, we could both see what the other was saying, and understand how it linked into the other topics we passed over. He was able to confide in me, and I in him. And thought I'd strongly love to write about all which we spoke of, it would make me a pretty lousy confidant. All I can say is that it was a real pleasure to talk with him like that again.

I guess that didn't have much to do with the actual wedding, but in my mind it all belongs together.