Wedding Day, Shediac Bridge

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Our friend Sam (her real name is Alison) and her partner Barry came to visit with us in Shediac. And, while here, made it a special day on Friday by planning a small wedding service at our AirBnB at Shediac Bridge. That's them to the left, happily married with Shediac Bridge in the distance. It had been a grey dreary morning but by the end of day had cleared with glorious skies for the wedding service.

Sam and Barry stayed in Shediac proper at an historic old Victorian era boutique hotel — the Tait House. I drove into Moncton to pick them up Thursday; they had spent the previous day getting all the paper work in order for the marriage. That evening we five (Paula, Kate, me, Sam and Barry) had a pre-wedding dinner at the Kuro Sushi restaurant on the main street a short walk from the Tait House. Paula had recommended this restaurant, it's sort of a "Barbie meets Japan" themed place with a ton of pink, too many dainty floral arrangements and too many odd little knick knacks tucked around all over the place. The menu was beyond us but, with help, we got it figured out and enjoyed our meal together. 

Paula had pointed out the restaurant out a few days ago when we were at La Coast (maybe three doors down) for lunch and then later that same day for dessert. Paula, who lives nearby, was a good guide to the area.

But back to Sam and Barry. Sam is a childhood friend of Kate's; they were in grade school together in Winnipeg. Kate left when she was in Grade 9 when her family moved to Belleville but she and Sam have maintained a relationship over the years. You'll find pictures of Sam throughout this blog, we often get together when travelling. Notably, I first met Sam at Our Wedding in 1980. She stood up with Kate as her "Maid of Honor". In the photos of the wedding she's the one dressed in black!

As we are all getting on in years maintaining relationships with old friends is important. Kate and Sam had made sort of a pledge to see each other at least once a year. We could go to Winnipeg, they could come here, or we could meet up on our travels (Sam has been with us to Texas several times). Kate had suggested that Sam and Barry should come and meet us in NB if they were interested. Sam knows Paula and we thought it might be fun to explore some of the East Coast together. They said sure, sounds like fun and shortly after agreeing to come sprung the idea of getting married here in NB. They've been together for about six years and had already agreed to get married but hadn't committed to a date and place. I think they wanted to do something simple; like elope to Las Vegas for a weekend wedding. Instead they picked this Shediac holiday.

With Paula's help they found an "officiant" in Moncton (they flew into Moncton) who would conduct a wedding service at a place of their choosing. We had thoughts about having the wedding on some beach but ended up having it at our AirBnB which overlooks Shediac Bridge and the bay. The officiant did a lovely service which actually brought tears to both Kate and me (can't speak for anyone else).

For the service Kate got to be Sam's "Maid of Honor", I got to be Barry's "Best Man", Paula got to be the ring bearer and her two dogs, Jerry and Felix, were the "witnesses" I guess. After the service we took photos of the various participants and some funny photos in costumes that Paula had brought along as a lark. We popped open some bubbly wine to share and invited the officiant to share some and come to dinner with us. That story continues in another blog post on the "Witches Crawl".