Wedding Bells in Vancouver

Saturday, July 9, 201:

Covering Vancouver

            Today was all about the wedding we had come to the West Coast of Canada to attend: that of Andrew Matthias (son of our close friends Kevin and Louella Matthias) with Laura Martin. Nuptials were at 11. 30 am at the Church of Corpus Christi on Nanaimo Road in Vancouver and the reception was at the Riverside Banquet Hall in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver. We had accommodation arrangements made for us by our friend Margaret Deefholts who lives in a gated complex called Chelsea Gardens in Surrey; but we realized soon enough that we’d have no time to get to Chelsea Gardens from Canada Place in downtown Vancouver where we docked, dress and then race off to the nuptials.

            The plan then was to get to the Holiday Inn in Surrey where our friend Susan had a room. We’d get off the boat (hopefully really early) and cab it to the Holiday Inn, dress for the nuptials there and then catch a ride from Susan to the church. By requesting every HAL personnel to “get us to the church on time”, we actually managed to get our bags out and into a cab and although we docked at 7.00 am, but 9.00 am, we were in the lobby of the Holiday Inn at Surrey—record time all around and thank you HAL!

            Fifteen minutes later, having changed into formal wedding togs, we were in Susan’s rented car and off to the church. The entire ceremony was lovely, the bride was beautiful and radiant, the groom looked handsome and happy, both sets of parents looked very proud and the congregation was truly thrilled to be there to witness their vows. Llew and I were really happy to have made it on time.

            After the service, we piled back into Susan’s car, stopped off at a mall to pick up lunch from a food court (Pad Thai for me, chicken curry for Llew) and were back at Susan’s hotel joining a few of our other friends to eat a delicious meal. An hour later, our friend Margaret arrived to pick us up and take us to Chelsea Gardens and settle us into our lovely quarters—a large en suite room that was bright, airy and spacious. It was all I could do to stop myself from taking a lightning power nap—for exactly 20 minutes, before it was time for us to shower and change for the reception to which Margaret volunteered to drop us off.

            The Reception was a hoot—we had a swell time over a lovely reunion with many of our New York Tristate area friends who had trooped in from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Over cocktail hour, we renewed acquaintance with many friends, enjoyed the speeches and the food and drink and danced the night away. It was a lovely evening indeed but by 12 midnight, we were fading and decided to call it a night. Our friends Ian and Jenny who had a rented car, volunteered to drop us back to Chelsea Gardens where we spent a very restful night.

            Until tomorrow…