Wedding details

Today is day 13 of my life as a married woman and so far so good!

The wedding was wonderful - it was set to start at 3pm and amazingly all of us women were ready - myself, Jose (my maid of honour) and all 11 other females in the bridal party as well as Moyiz who got ready with us. Jessica and Barb were both there to help me get ready and they were both a great help. Jessica helped me do my hair from start to finish and though she was quite nervous, she did wonderful. For most of the morning Jessica (who had spent the night) and I just hung out - she put my curlers in for me and we relaxed. It was wonderful not to be rushed. Then it was crunch time - getting my hair done, into my dress, make-up done and then oops - forgot to brush my teeth - SO in my wedding dress with a towel down my front, I brushed my teeth from a cup!! Life is never dull in Haiti!!

We then crammed 15 of us into a minivan and headed off to the church or so I thought that was where we were going. Instead of turning right and going to the church we turned left - Well, I spoke up and said - "The church is that way" and everyone just smiled. We then drove towards Benson's house where all the men were getting ready and the entire car was cheering the whole way there - honking and yellling THERESA - CLAP CLAP CLAP - RONEL - CLAP CLAP CLAP over and over again. It was quite the interesting feeling being the very obvious center of attention. We then got to Benson's to find out that the guys were not quite ready! So I sat in the very hot car (as everyone else was allowed out but me!) jThen out of the corner of my eye I see the guys getting into the jeep and my heart skipped a beat - I wanted to see Ronel so badly but also didn't want him to see me yet. They then passed us so that they would arrive at the church first and I got a glimpse of my groom and tears came to my eyes. I was so unbelieveably happy that this day had finally arrived! I had to try my hardest not to cry as culturally the Haitians would not understand me crying with joy on my wedding day - they would think that I didn't want to get married - which was far from the truth so I kept telling myself over and over - remember walk slowly and don't cry - to the point that I had a very serious face and Karen decided that she needed to come and make me smile before I walked down the aisle. It worked but I still have a very serious look in all the photos. One of my favourite photos is me waiting to walk down the aisle and you can see out the church doors at the crowd of people watching. As the caption aptly says - I felt like a monkey in a zoo. It is an expression that Karen and I used alot when I lived here but I don't know if I ever felt it more than that moment. I am extremely thankful to both Barb and Jessica who took photos and videoed for me. It is not something either of them profess to be good at but it was a real blessing to me.

In our bridal party there was 4 flower girls, a "princess" (for the best of my ability I have NO idea what her role actually is but she is called the princess and she is the first to go down the aisle) 6 girls and 6 guys who are called the men and ladies of honour but are better known as "kituse" (spelling ?? - pronounced KITuse) who DANCE down the aisle in what I like to refer to as syncronized dancing. Then came Pharlie & Moyiz - our ring bearer couple, Moyiz was supposed to walk with me but they didn't think Pharlie would walk by herself (she's only 3 1/2) so they walked together and I walked right behind them with Jose behind me keeping track of my train. As we got almost to the end of the pews, Ronel and Benson started walking towards us, then as we passed them they turned around and then Ronel and I walked separately to our chairs where we sat facing each other with Jose and Benson beside us and Pharlie and Moyiz on a bench at the front of us between Ronel and I. This is where the wedding got fun. We then got to listen as just about everyone who has a singing group came and sang for us. It was beautiful but oh so long! There was alteast 8 different songs, a poem ready by someone, and some scripture and then it was time for us to get married!! It was a little different than the last Haitian wedding I attended because of the fact that I was a foreigner. Pastor Samuel first had us stand and basically give our name, age and name of our parents and whether they were alive or deceased. Then he asked Ronel's mom and dad to come to the front and because my parents weren't there he asked Jessica and Barb to come to the front to be my witnesses (this was unknown to any of us before hand so it was a bit of shock I think to the two ladies)

I had asked that we include lighting of the unity candle in the ceremony - having brought the necessary items with me as I knew they didn't normally do this but was a way to include my Canadian culture into the wedding. The pastor was very good about it and also good about explaining to congregation what was taking place and why. We had the two candles lit prior to our entry as we didn't know who to have light them during the ceremony as both of our mothers were not there. But due to the length of the ceremony, one was almost burnt right out and so as a sudden addition to the wedding we had to light two new taper candles and so Pastor Samuel lit my candle with a match and he had Ronel light his off of mine. Though it hadn't been planned it was a very nice part and also allowed Pastor Samuel to explain what it all meant.

During the exchanging of the rings I was quite nervous that I would mispronounce something and end up saying something completely different but it went very well and after the rings were exchanged we were supposed to kneel for the benediction but Moyiz had fallen asleep between us and so we couldn't so we sat on the bench together which was much easier and made for nice photos. We then stood together and Pastor Samuel was talking and I was so caught up in the moment that I missed hearing him say that Ronel could kiss his bride and Ronel had to look at me and whisper - He said we could kiss as Pastor Samuel repeated himself and as a result the kiss was quite quick and I don't know if anyone managed to capture it on film! (Much to their dismay!) (Somewhere in all this there was also two more songs and the signing of the marriage certificate) Then after he pronounced us husband and wife - Mr & Mrs Clédomin, at which point the entire church (which was PACKED to the roof - I have never seen so many people in that church!) came forward to greet us and kiss us both on the cheek - it was like getting mobbed by nice people! Many of the faces that I recognized I was so happy to see had come and it meant so much to me to have friends there. We then managed to get out of the church - stopping every row to greet more people and more kisses exchanged!

We then got into Benson's jeep and headed across to the compound where the reception was to be held.

When we got there we were greeted by the sign of no electricity which meant everything was black! (As it was now close to 5:30pm and it is dark at that hour in Haiti) So, we had family and the group of students who had come from Montrouis from Canaan where I taught and lived my first year in Haiti come back to our house- It was so wonderful to see many of my old students and see how they've grown and they were all so happy to be there at my wedding. They wanted to take a photo with me. We got to the house and it was packed! We had all the bridal party, the 22 people from Canaan and then family. Plus as the evening went on, more stragglers arrived - much to our dismay as many of them were not friends or family and when everyone had left we found out that the majority of our dinner which had been waiting for us in the kitchen had been stolen along with a bottle of champagne that Benson had brought that was in the living room with all of us, and also part of the ribbon from my bouquet (still can't figure that one out!) Thankfully someone was able to bring us some soup so we didn't have to go hungry on our wedding night! We still aren't exactly sure what happened out at the reception but we do know that somehow they all managed to get food and drink and everyone went home fairly happy!

Once Ronel and I were alone in the house, it was overwhelming. All day long we had been surrounded by so many people and finally it was just the two of us! Sunday morning we didn't attend church but once church was over, we got visitors and they continued all week long. Each time someone new came, out came the wedding cake and this special Haiitan drink (which I tried and it is disgusting!!) And as people came to visit, gifts also arrived. Some of them are very "Haitian" and I say that very lovingly. Others were very practical and some were lovely Haitian handicraft which I love. Some of the gifts which came from large groups (like the rest of the teachers at Ronel's school and the various singing groups from the church) also included cash gifts along with the gift which was also much appreciated.

Ronel went back to school the Wednesday following the wedding and I enjoyed having those three days with him but have gotten used to him being gone for the morning. It means that I awake when he leaves at 6:30am to say goodbye, go back to bed to get some sleep with the fan on (electricity comes on at 7am) wake up around 9am, do some work around the house and Ronel is usually home about noon. He then does his prep work for the next day but atleast he is in the house.

I want to thank all of you who were and still are praying for Ronel & I - It means alot to both of us to know that so many of you care about us