Friday was J.P. and Debora's wedding; which we attended. The story of the day is as follows...

We arrived at the S.'s house and ate lunch. Shortly thereafter we piled into the car to head to Clearwater. We met up with a young fellow named Charlie for coffee at Starbucks. I say this at the risk of sounding totally not hip--this was the very first time I have put foot inside a Starbucks. The coffee was good. We must have sat there for two hours while the conversation rolled freely.

At the end of that time we had to leave to make it to the 6:00 wedding on time. Turns out the 6:00 wedding was actually scheduled for 6:30; but it didn't get underway til closer to 7:30!! As Tope told us later--for Haitians it is culturally acceptable thing to be anywhere from 1-2 hour late. (So...if you want an event to come off at 6, you should tell them 4!)

J.P. and Debora had a beach wedding--neither one had ever attended a beach wedding before so they wanted something different. It was a beautiful event even with the rain. At least it didn't pour down rain, but rather just sprinkled. Debora was just georgeous and J.P. looked debonair. Andre became an unoffical part of the wedding party because he held the umbrella for Dr. T. It was kind of funny:)

The ceremony was held on the beach (of course!) in a heart drawn in the sand and lined with flowers and shells. I will post pictures once I take my stick to Savannah's laptop. (Besides, I think I had better use the big computer...it would literally take me ALL DAY to post them on this one.) I helped Mr. S. get the video camera set up early on. He had to stand there holding an umbrella over it most of the time...

I am having a difficult time putting into words the dee-lightful time we had pre- and during the ceremony. The entire day was great. It is always a ball to hang out with the S.'s no matter what the occasion.

Random things about the ceremony: J.P and Debora hired a duo to play music for the wedding. I think they were a father and son...the elder playing the cello and the younger the classical guitar. (Which I believe was a Cordoba like mine! Only this one had an amp jack.) They played beautiful music like Bach's "Minuet in G" and Pachabel's "Canon in D" (my Favorite!) During the exchange of vows (or part of them at any rate), J.P. held this big multi-colored umbrella over them--it was sweet.

What was so awesome was the entire lack of racial tension--black people and white people rubbing elbows, laughing with each other (even when the latter's umbrella is unkindly--though unhelpably--dripping on the former), and rejoicing with one another.

The reception got started around 9 or so and ended shortly after 11 p.m. I blew my diet--I ate some rice. I really needed to eat, so I did. I think Savannah and I probably should do the GAPS introducry phase this week. It wouldn't hurt. The dancing afterwards was stuff that we didn't know, so we sat out--expect for the first song. I had done this dance at my cousin Beth's wedding several years ago. You should have seen J.P. bouncing around out there! It was hilarious!

It was about 12:30 by the time we got back to the S.'s house and closer to 1 (if not after) by the time everyone got to bed.

Saturday was a slow day...Mrs. S. made a delightful breakfast for us and I will be honest, I cleaned up the leftovers. However, I also washed the dishes (all three meals we ate with them). Mr. S. jokingly said that Mrs. S. wouldn't want me to go home since I took care of the dishes :) I don't think they would really--I eat a lot!!

Later, Dave and Lucy came over so Dave could get a hair cut. Dave also put something on the S.'s computers while Mrs. S., Savannah, and Lucy went to the store for lunch material. We (minus Dave and Lucy) had lunch not long after they got back. It was about 2 by the time Savannah and I finally turned our tired noses back home.

After we got home I curled up in front of the computer to watch "As You Like It", my favorite Shakespeare play. I'll write a review on it here in a bit.

Anyway, the weekend was tiring, but throughly enjoyable. It is probably actually a good thing that we decided not to try to mooch a ride to General Assembly. We really wanted to go, but decided it wouldn't be best.

        Racheal

P.S. Grrr...irritation has jumped me...
We just found out that my uncle has been over here this afternoon...and he must have taken the cat food!! It has simply disappeared. WHY would he take the cat's food??
 
Immediately after worship, the girls and I started getting the camera's set up while some of the men adjusted the pulpit and the lecturns. Savannah and I set the white balance on all three cameras. From the back of the room, I hollered up at Pastor to please stand where he was going to during the service so I could get him framed right. He was most happy to oblige. (He was almost giddy all day--I think he enjoys weddings ;] )

The groom, K. was grinning from ear to ear during the entire service. M. the bride was a tad tearful a time or two, but she made it :) Everything was going fine until the cake. M. decided on the spur of the moment to shove the cake in K.'s face. As soon as she had done so, she turned and fled from the room, she felt that bad about it. At first, I thought K. was not going to return in kind...he moved the cake slowly toward her, then stopped. When he started again, he'd made up his mind and very deliberately smeared it all over her nose. Personally, I think cake smashing is disrespectful and I will not engage in such shennigans at my wedding. Daddy has always told us girls that if the groom does it to us, to punch him in the gut as hard as we can. I will. (Of course, as he also has said, this subject will be discussed before hand and forbidden.)

With that said however, K.'s deliberate movement and M.'s hesitant look of 'OH NO! I've got it coming!" was one of those moments of perverse humor. I was willing him not to do it (because that would have been the right thing to do), but at the same time it was funny because of how he did it. Forgive me...

Shooting the wedding ceremony went fine. Afterwards I took off with a camera and shot people eating, talking, laughing...the cake being cut, the above reported shennigans...K. and M. opening a gift and K.'s 'toast'.

I have to get to work now...

        Racheal

 
On Monday, I will have a tale to tell--how videoing (sounds wrong, but 'filmming' isn't really accurate) a wedding went. A couple in our church is getting married tomorrow and I volunteered to shoot it. Savannah will be on Camera A, I'll be on Camera B, and Katherine will be on Camera C. (By the way, we are using the church's cameras. I only have one...which for this purpose we'll call, Camera D--as it might also be used tomorrow.)

I do not understand why our dear Doctor marries people on Sunday. To me, it's the Lord's Day. Your wedding day is kind of 'your day', if you know what I mean, so combining the two is strange to me. I will not get married on a Sunday as I don't see it as quite appropriate, but anyway...

I fairly well have the shots I want mapped out (with Savannah's help). I'm going to take my gear with me  (camera, Zoom, AC adapter, flash drive [for bringing home the footage--I hope it will all fit--if not I'll have Mr. Bill burn me a disk or something...], external mic for my camera etc.), so I have to make sure all that is staged and ready to load (along with the food for tomorrow). 

I look forward to editing the footage more than I do the actual shooting of it. I also have another small project in the quay...I took a few videos on Katherine's Birthday which I want to put together.

In addition to planning out this stuff and talking to Mr. Bill on the phone, I have spent some time poking around for free music scores. I have a couple of songs picked out that I think would be good for my documentary. Really just old folk songs, particularly those of Irish and Scottish orgin are good. Particularly for this part of the country, because a lot of the settlers down here were from North and South Carolina originally--and those are a bunch of Scotch-Irish (ever wonder why the South Carolinians were firebrands during the War of N. Agression?) See, the hot-headedness is in my blood!

        Racheal