Mark and Reesa's Wedding Part 2

Friday was spent welcoming friends and relatives. Reesa, her Mom, Mark, Stacey. Jay, Dori and Riley had breakfast with me and Helene in the hotel restaurant. And then we hung out in the lobby and welcomed people as they showed up.

Roberta, Carman, Jonathon and Marla, Sonia, Shelley and Zev, Bernie and Adon, Jack, Tammy, Laura, Zach, Alana and Jordan all arrived and were greeted by me and Helene. Our job was to say hi and then to show everyone Riley. Of course it was her Zaida that she wanted!!!

Lunch was Thai on Denman with Jay, Dori and Riley with Stacey joining us after a bit.

More sitting and visiting and then I took Jay, Dori and Riley back to the their hotel, waited for Jay to change and then back to the Bayshore.

A quick shower and then we all went to the first real event of the wedding weekend. Mark and Reesa had chartered a cruise (The Magic Moments) for their friends and a few family members. A dj played, hors d’ouevre and dessert were served. And it goes without saying that drinks were served.

The cruise took us to an area called Indian Arm. The scenery was beautiful passing through a sort of inner passage - mountains, homes, scenery - were all spectacular.

It was fun meeting Mark and Reesa's friend and spending time with our families. I've met many of their friends before so we did a lot of catching up. Mark and Reesa have an interesting cast of friends. They are all interesting and each has their own interesting stories. We also finally met members of Mark's latest band - Bison BC. It turns out that James (a Bison member) is originally from Winnipeg so there was lots to talk about.

Mark and Reesa's Wedding Part 1

The trip began with a civilized time for departing – our flight left at 8:45 a.m. so we were able to get up at around our normal morning time. Shower, finished packing (although I left my glasses at home – blind when I take out my contacts!), jumped into the cab, picked Stacey up and got checked in and through security – and waited for the plane to depart.

The direct flight to Vancouver is just over two hours. Stacey sat with me and Helene was in the row in front. It was so cold in the plane that Helene was comfortable and Stacey and I froze. But by 10:00 a.m. Vancouver time we were on the ground and collecting our luggage.

The car rented (a mazda 6), luggage loaded and we were on our way to the Bayshore – the wedding hotel. The conversation through the whole trip was filled with anticipation of this weekend where we will be with our friends and family, our new family and will all celebrate another family wedding.

We arrived at the Bayshore and were given rooms next to each other on the second floor. We have a terrific view of the seawall, Cardero’s restaurant and the marina beside it. The clerk offered us rooms with a ‘better’ view but we chose to stay in rooms with a king sized bed and found our view to be just fine. We can see water, the seawall, people and boats – being higher would bring us the mountains but given our normal prairie views this one is more than satisfactory.

It’s been a few months since we have seen Mark so when he appeared in our room we headed over to Cardero’s for lunch and a long talk about Mark’s last semester, preparations for the wedding, how happy he is and how much he is anticipating this weekend.

After lunch Helene and Stacey went off to do some errands and Mark and I had coffee and talked for a long time. It was a very pleasant time – we talked about the past and the future and we talked about how happy we all were.

Then it was time for the rehearsal. The Brock House is an old mansion located in Kitsilano Beach and the wedding will take place on their lawn looking out at the water. We all gathered at Brock House. Reesa’s parents, the bridesmaids, groomsmen (we used to call them ushers), the maid of honour and the best man. Everyone was there but Jay, Dori and Riley. Jay will be a groomsman and Riley (held by her mother) will be the flower girl.

The wedding planner took us through the routine but we will have to be careful to hear any changes the Rabbi might make when he is conducting the wedding.

Just about all of us repaired to HON’s a favourite Chinese food place on Robson for dinner.

Around 11:00 p.m. Helene and I went to the airport to pick up Jay and Dori and Riley. They had taken a red eye from Greensboro to Vancouver through Houston. By the time they made it to Vancouver it was 3:00 a.m. for them and both Dori and Jay were exhausted. Riley on the other had was all smiles and eyes.

We got them installed in their suite in the Sutton Place and finally crawled into bed around 2:00 a.m. It was an eventful day and a great beginning.

Tomorrow we start welcoming out family and friends who will be arriving throughout the day.