This is a sample post from Lynne Pearl’s series The Wedding Journal on the blog Shine A Light On Life
The Wedding Journal
by Lynne Pearl
(Shortlisted for Yeovil Prize for Literature, ‘Writing Without Limits’ 2016)
Written for everyone who:
- Wants to get married
- Is going to get married
- Is organising a wedding
- Is a member of a wedding party
- Is catering a wedding
- Is entertaining for a wedding
- Has to make a speech, address, sermon
- All who love a wedding and the happy every after love story
Introduction: A Wedding on Two Continents
What began as the story of a wedding and its preparations became the story of travel, the intertwining of lives and the joining together of two people, their love and the promises they made to one another
This is better known as an Anglo-Canadian Affair….
I knew I couldn’t wear a hat. As M.O.B. (better known as Mother of the Bride), in England at a summer wedding, I was required to wear a hat. If I did any such thing in Canada at an outdoor Canadian affair, they might say, ‘What’s she got on her head?’ (not in a malicious sort of way, but in a wondering sort of a way, as in the Brits do strange things so what can you expect?) They might laugh in my face. And if I were to wear a fascinator, well that just does not bear thinking about…so here is the journal of a wedding on two continents.
Wedding July 30, 2013
In transit. Waiting in Reading to fly tomorrow morning to Toronto. How come this wedding is so far away? I had in mind something in a village down the road. But I am getting on a plane with a suitcase far too large for me and I really don’t like not being able to manage my own luggage, but much foraging in Reading has not solved my suitcase size dilemma. I am too short for how high my suitcase is so when I get on and off trains, it just about trips me up and yanks me along. I like to feel dignified, not too short to control a purple piece of luggage that I can hardly lift.
I have luggage control issues.
The wedding is in Canada, and so three guests have to fly from Britain. This is now a transatlantic wedding . But I am so excited as I have not been in Canada for three years. How did it happen that half the family is on one continent and the other half on another? That I ask myself too. How do people manage to keep their family close by? I have no idea. Still.
Youngest daughter Vicky just phoned and said ‘Hallo.’ She’s waiting for us over there. I hope I like Toronto. Well too bad if I don’t, I say. The sun will be lovely.
I am not good at waiting. Nor am I good at travelling with others. I like to hunker down and read or write or pretend I am important. I feel important waiting for a plane. Gosh then I am going somewhere. But really honestly, I am better getting on a train and going as far west as I possibly can, before the land runs out which it does by the time the western train reaches Penzance.
Vicky is concerned that the wedding dress has been shortened too much. She tried it on (the fitting with the seamstress) with her flats (specially bought for the wedding) and the seamstress promptly has cut as per requirements. Now physiotherapist has said she must not wear flats but one inch heels. She’s seeing a physiotherapist because of injuring her knee in a fight scene rehearsal for a fringe festival play that has now closed. So Vicky still has an injured knee for a wedding. Still at least the bride does not need crutches . A blessing indeed. We will go shopping and find another pair of shoes. Yes, that will be fun.
Will I recognise Toronto? Will I sound very British ? (yes absolutely yes. You always did. Really). Will my clothes look poor? Most of them come from charity shops. Maybe nobody in Canada can tell because they don’t have charity shops all over their High Street.
I want to go to a Canadian church and no one wants to go. Just to sing, you understand.
Oldest daughter Marie just got home . She didn’t get a bra. She wanted one for the wedding. To go with her matron of honour bridesmaid dress. Personally I don’t see why a bridesmaid dress should be cut so far away that she needs a special bra for it, but then there I had better not say so. I will just talk to the page.
July 31, 2013
I am here in Toronto and in the down-town area in the Eaton Centre it really could be the Oasis shopping centre in Reading. The mall is universal. We don’t seem to get on that well with them in Devon. We rather like the open air, getting rained on if it rains, in the town centre or street side market where one walks up and down in the rain, in the cold, in the sun and watch the temporary stall holders hock their wares. They might only come to town once a week, so it’s appreciated by all, whether stall holder or buyer.
There are so many people here! Is that amazing? Streaming up and down escalators being trendy mostly. I wonder what trendy is exactly? I did say a prayer while in there and yes it made a huge difference to how I felt. Serene even, rather than clutching at Marie saying, there’s too many people here, everywhere and I would want to stop and look and have to hurry on with Marie and I arm in arm, so we don’t get separated.
It’s a Tuesday in July why are so many people out shopping? It’s not food they are after, just shoes and make up and clothes. There’s a limit to how many shoes and make up and coats you need, isn’t there?
Today we had to shop for wedding make up for Vicky which was found in this huge shop on the top floor of the Eaton Centre (which is like a gothic cathedral made of glass, a church of consumerism), dedicated to make up only. Vicky was made up in beautiful make up on a tall stool. It was like a bar stool. I watched in awe. I don’t think I have been made up for anything ever. It was nice watching though.
Marie meanwhile went shopping for a special kind of bra in Sears or the Bay. I didn’t think that was as interesting as sitting watching the make- up session. I did get to go and get a vegetable juice nearby which was my favourite thing to do. I still don’t understand. The atttention to detail, is it for photos, isnt everyone equal anyway? Obviously there is something I am missing. Mind you I have a best dress and a pair of shoes with me.
Marie has brought with her child size parasols for the three flower girls, Ruth, Jenny and Lucy. I think they will love them.
It’s raining outside. Although it is a big city, I can feel the lake nearby. The storm outside must be coming in over the lake and will subside over the lake in a while. It’s night over the city. As I walk around, I wonder where are the cows and the sheep and why isn’t there grass?
My favourite thing in Toronto is riding on the streetcar and the men who drive them, who are funny and patient and wise about humans. They wait as we board and most of the time do not turn around corners or change lanes. Their noise is special, there is the ding- ding of their bell and rattle as they move forward, they are the whale of the main streets.
keywords: Wedding, marriage, bride, bride groom, bridesmaid, wedding dress, Toronto
This is a sample post from Lynne Pearl’s series The Wedding Journal on the blog Shine A Light On Life
