The Story Behind the Surprise Wedding

I’m sitting in Nairobi, trying not to be nervous for the climb tomorrow, and I thought I’d rewind a bit and write about the wedding plans and how we came up with this fantabulous idea to get married in the jungle at the Tiki Bar.

For the last…five or six years, I’ve known that I do not want like a “real” wedding. Like, no white dress, no first dance, no elaborate plans starting six to twelve months in advance. There was some talk that maybe “one day” I’d do a destination wedding, but even that seemed a little farfetched. The decision for a “non wedding wedding” became clearer after I went to a wedding this summer. It was exactly what I “thought” I would have wanted. A backyard wedding, white chairs, flowers all around, a clear sky. It was the perfect setting, but I still could never see myself in that situation.

It wasn’t that big of a deal because, although I knew Louis was “the one”, I wasn’t in a rush to have a wedding or anything.

And then came this trip to Dubai. For the last year (due to some air-related fights) it’s harder for Canadians to enter the UAE. We have to apply for visas well in advance for a pretty penny. Also, some hotels don’t allow un-married couples to share a hotel room.

This started a few jokes that we should get married, which turned into conversations, which turned into research, which turned into us deciding that we would get married in Madagascar! Although we both have very close families, we decided that they would understand and be happy for us in the long run, and that we would get married, just Louis and I, on a beach somewhere, each with a witness and the mayor.

The plans started coming together nicely, well, sort of. It’s hard to get married here as a foreigner. We need SO MUCH documentation! Louis had to call in a favor, but once that got going, we were ready to get married.

One day at lunch, Louis said, “Tell me if you think I’m a lunatic. But I think we should get married on a Sunday. We won’t tell anyone there, and when our witnesses and mayor show up, we’ll just say, ‘Surprise!’, and whoever is at the pool that day will be a guest at our wedding!”

I thought it was a GREAT idea! Louis and I spend the majority of our Sundays at the pool, and it’s always a good time. Sometimes there are lots of people, sometimes there aren’t so many, but we always have fun!

And then the stupid cyclone put a damper on our plans. We didn’t know what the weather would be like, and we also didn’t know if we would need to leave early. So we came up with a new plan – we’d email everyone that was in town and ask them to come to the Tropical Bar on camp! I sent out the email (not everyone believed us!!) and….well…honestly, I don’t know the rest of the details! I told Louis the things that were important to me and he said he’d take care of it. I think Louis could take on a second job as a wedding planner! I just showed up at the Tropi Bar, and the back was set up for everyone to have a seat, there were a few flowers, and everyone was ready to go!

We all sat down around the table and the proceedings took place. And then it was time for celebrations!!! We all had a good time, laughing, a bit of dancing, a lot of champagne and telling stories. It was the perfect night!!

The next morning we were up early to drive to Tana to catch our plane.

I couldn’t have predicted this like – EVER! But sometimes things just happen like this, I guess. I should know by now that life can take you by surprise, but I guess I’m still learning.

Anyway – I’m not sure when I’ll have time to go through my pictures (and I’m still waiting to get some from a few people), but I’ll post them when I’m back from vacation.

Until then….I’m off to bed…and then on to climb a mountain.