So, why elope in such a secretive manner? Good question. Firstly, it is much easier for us to get married in Canada than in England. To do it in England would require a special visa which is quite expensive. Since neither of us has very much money we decided that Canada was the place to do it. This of course would make it very difficult for my family and friends to be there, or, at the very least, an expensive proposition. Since we didn't want to impose on people we decided not to tell them. To make it fair, since my family couldn't make it, we decided not to tell Megan's parents either.
Secondly, neither Megan or myself likes to be the center of attention. We both found it awkward enough with only two friends watching; I'm not sure we could have managed it with a room full of our nearest and dearest hanging on our every word.
Finally, I think Megan secretly quite likes the romantic side of being able to say we eloped. She will never admit to this if asked.
It was pretty hard not to let slip what we were planning. It was even harder having to tell everyone what we had done on the Sunday morning. Man, was that an awkward morning.
Anyway, we met Kalynn and Craig outside the town hall and went up to the wedding chambers. We had to wait for the previous ceremony to finish. It was an odd affair; the bride was all dressed up in a huge fluffy wedding dress, but we never once saw her with the groom. In fact, it was very unclear which of the four men in suits was the groom. They all exited the chambers separately.
When it was our turn, we entered in and started to walk down the aisle to the front. Frantic gestures from the officiant told us we had to slow down, she expected us to slowly process the couple of steps through the empty room. In fact, a number of times in her little prepared speech she would refer to our audience and then look slightly sheepish when she looked out and saw only Kalynn and Craig.
The officiant read out two poems, one was the cheesiest and soppiest lovey-dovey poem ever, but the second was a First Nations poem, which was pretty cool. Must remember to look that one up!
The ceremony went by pretty quickly and without much fuss. However, despite the lack of pomp and circumstance when it came to saying I will, (whatever happened to "I do"?), I looked at Megan and she looked as happy as I felt.
After the service we all went to the King Edward Hotel for a Champagne tea, with beautiful finger sandwiches, more cakes than you can shake a marriage certificate at, and the best cup of tea I've had in Canada.
So, that's it. We're now married. Crazy. And we're both looking forward very much to seeing everyone back in England this summer. We're going to be over for the whole month of July, so there really is no excuse not to find time for us.
Here are a few photos from the day. Thanks to Kalynn and Craig for taking the pictures and being expert witnesses. They were top notch witnesses. I'd trust them to witness anything.
