Hi there!  I've totally revised this page, once I realized that it didn't have that much information on it for those of you who couldn't come to our wedding (yes, you Uncle Bud!).  I didn't realize how little was on this page about our own wedding until I split it off from the Ideas page!  When I compared it to some of the pages I had done for my friends, it looked even worse!  So I decided to add some new information about the wedding and events surrounding our marriage.  I've added lots of pictures now that we have a scanner, so this page may take a while to load -- please be patient.

Here's our story:

We met in 1993 in Victoria while I was working in the Textbook Department of the UVic Bookstore and Joe was attending UVic as a Graduate Student.  We dated for a year or so before we moved in together in Victoria and were together there until Joe was offered a great job in Vancouver (where I am from).  When we decided to move, Joe asked me to marry him.  Even though I knew it was coming, he was very romantic, we took a walk in Beacon Hill Park and Joe got down on one knee and I, naturally, cried (while I was saying "Yes!!").  After that we had a wonderful dinner at Il Terrazzo in Victoria (across from Market Square -- a delicious place to go if it's still there) with candlelight, wine and romance.

Since we got engaged a year before the wedding, we had lots of time to prepare and make the wedding everything we dreamed of.  I was baptized at St. Mary's and was active in the parish community as a teen.  I knew how beautiful the church would be for such an event and there was no place I would have rather had it.  The reception was held at Point Grey Golf and Country Club, where my father has been a member for all my life.  We have had many an Easter Brunch there (and egg hunts when my brother and I were little) and I've known since I was young that I would have my reception there.  The setting is lovely and the location very convenient to my parent's home -- a consideration as they are older.  As the details started to fall into place, the guest list written, the invitations bought, the dress bought and fitted from Sandra Bridal, florist and cake found, we got a little creative.  We decided to do something a little different with our favors and bought picture frames our for place cards.  We also practiced our vows (we used the traditional Anglican marriage service) so that we could say them without prompting  Whenever one of us said to the other "Pop quiz!" we would have to recite our vows.  

I also wanted to do something special for Joe's Nanny -- she had given me a pendant some time earlier, and it had a special significance for us.  Joe's grandfather was born in January and his Nanny in October.  Joe's grandfather had given Nanny the pendant, an opal surrounded by garnets, for their anniversary.  The garnets surrounded her opal with his love.  When Nanny gave it to me, she knew that Joe was born in October, but not that I was born in January!  So it became very special to us.  For the wedding I had it sewn to the bodice of my wedding dress so that we could feel Nanny there in spirit since she could not make the long trip from Newfoundland.

Vancouver, well known for it's for rain, never seemed wetter than in the spring of 1996.  We had months of rain and record precipitation, and we were well aware of it on the mornings we went to St. Mary's to hear our banns being read.  As we approached our wedding date, we decided that we wouldn't be disappointed if it rained -- after all with so many days of rain, it couldn't be personal!  The weekend before our wedding, our out-of-town guests started arriving (most from St. John's but also New York, Toronto, Winnipeg, Los Angeles, Calgary and Victoria).  Two days before the wedding our family members (who could come), attendants and speakers met at St. Mary's for our rehearsal and dinner.  We had an odd number of attendants: Joe really wanted his step-father (also a Joe) to be his best man and his friends John and Dave served as groomsmen/ushers.  I wanted my friends Mindy, Rose and Leah to be my attendants, but Mindy could not get away from her job in Japan to come.  So I had two bridesmaids instead -- nobody could replace Mindy so I didn't try.  (Mindy did make her presence known by sending her grandmother's ring to me to wear for something borrowed and blue all the way from Japan, uninsured and disguised as a cassette tape!)

As we went through the rehearsal everything went smoothly.  When we got to the vows our reverend, Wendy, said "here you'll say the vows" and Joe, showing off, spouted them really quickly.  She was surprised that we knew them and had us recite them at normal speed as we would at the ceremony in two days.  It was very moving for both of us to say our vows in the church with just our closest friends and family present.  Leah was crying by the end of it and so was I.  Joe admits to being a little choked up as well.  I felt like it was there that we really pledged ourselves to each other.  Afterwards we had our rehearsal dinner at Milestone's, a restaurant on Fourth, just down the street from our apartment.  It was great fun to share our excitement with our friends and family.  Only two days to go!

Lynda and Joe exchanging vows at their wedding rehearsal.

Lynda with her bridesmaids, Leah and Rose

Joe with his groomsmen: Joe Collins, Dave and John

The day before the wedding we took it easy.  Joe and I had his parents over to our apartment for dinner, our last as single people.  That's when Lyn met Fudgie -- they really took to each other.  We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves over dinner before I left Joe with the dishes.  I spent the night at my parent's home.  The following day I got up and headed over to the hairdresser to get my up-do and makeup done.  I met Joe there as he was getting his hair shellacked into place.  It was a good thing he was there as I had forgotten my veil at home.  He fetched it for me and then we said good-bye until the ceremony.  I wasn't superstitious about seeing him on the day, I just didn't want him to see me in the dress.  My bridesmaids met me there and then we went for a quick lunch before heading to my parent's home to meet the photographer, Al Gough.  He was wonderful and we took quite a few pictures with Mom and Dad and Leah and Rose before he went off to meet Joe and his family and groomsmen at the church.

Joe's Mom, Lyn, with her son -- the groom just before the  ceremony. (Click on image for a larger view.)

Lynda's father walks her down the aisle -- that smile is for Joe. (Click on image for a larger view.)

When I got to the church the guys were inside and my Mom was waiting to see me before I went in with Dad.  The doors were closed so Joe couldn't see me.  Once Mom was seated, we were on.  Rose went in and then it was Leah's turn.  When my turn came I wasn't nervous because I had been a crucifer many times at this church as a teen, so had walked down this particular aisle many times.  However, when I went in, I was surprised to see everyone facing me!  Joe had been nervous because he hadn't seen me in the dress but when I saw his face he was smiling.

Dad and I walked in and then I stopped by my mom to give her a rose from my bouquet.  My friend Andrea had done that at her wedding and I really liked the sentiment.  Then Dad brought me up to Joe and I was supposed to kiss him before I went to Joe but I completely forgot!  I guess I was a little nervous.

The Wedding Ceremony led by Rev. Wendy
(Click on image for a larger view.)

The ceremony itself passed in something of a blur -- another reason to be happy about the rehearsal.  My friend Andrea read one passage and my brother Dean another.  I can't remember what they were anymore though.  We both remembered our vows flawlessly and I was really happy about all that practicing (I still have them memorized today).  After signing the registry, Reverend Wendy introduced us and Mr. and Mrs. R.!  That was very cool.  As we made our way out, I stopped one more time and gave a rose to Lyn, my new mother.  After the recessional, we gathered with family and friends outside the church in the sun and did a lot of smiling, hugging and kissing.

After the chatting, we returned to the church for some photos of the whole wedding party and family.  My Mom had to leave to rest her back, so we didn't get any with her, which was a shame, but we got some excellent ones of Joe and Joe Collins.  Then Joe and I got a few minutes alone in the back of the limo on the way to the reception (It was only for 2 hours -- our car was at the reception site thanks to Dave).  We took some more photos there before my Mom put her foot down and told us to get inside -- she was hungry!  We did the whole receiving line thing and then finally Mom got to eat after we started the Buffet Line.  True to form, the food at Point Grey was great.  After we all ate our fill, we had the usual speeches, with a more informal "open mike" format -- anyone who had wedding wishes for us could come up and tell all as well as the messages from those who could not be with us.  We all laughed uproariously when Ross, our MC, read the naughty limericks (5 of them!) that he, Leah and Rose wrote and when Joe's mom told cute, embarrassing stories about him (including the Christmas Chickens one).

We danced with our parent to the Payola$ song, Here's The World and our first dance was to Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately.  We had an eclectic mix of songs -- and the wedding was at the start of the Macarena craze -- I had never seen the dance until Rose, Neil, Leah and Ross did it!  Just before our photographer left, we cut the cake and enjoyed the carrot cake and chocolate cake we got from Valley Bakery.  The whole party went on 'til midnight, when they kicked us out.  We thought our car escaped the usual hijinks but when Joe when out to check, he found cans on it.  He dismantled that, but Lada and Sarah (I know it was you!) got creative with pixie sticks and shaving cream (on the door handles!).  And of course we got pelted with rice when we left!  We were digging that out of the car for weeks afterward.

After stopping at our apartment to drop off Joe's tux and my dress, we headed to the Wedgwood Hotel in downtown Vancouver for the first night of our honeymoon.  Leah and Ross had given us a present to open there, and we found it contained wine glasses and a bottle of Champagne.  To Married Life!  We passed the rest of the honeymoon at the Salty Springs Resort on Salt Spring Island -- it was wonderful and restful and we enjoyed every second of it.

Lynda and Joe under a tree If you look closely, you can see the pendant from Nanny on Lynda's  dress and Mindy's ring too. (Click on image for a larger view.)

Joe and Lynda cutting their yummy cake! (Click on image for a larger view.)

And that 's the story of our wedding.  It was a wonderful day and the start of great things.
 
 

Friend's Weddings:

Mindy's Wedding!!!

Lynda's best friend Mindy got married April 17, 1999 in San Francisco, CA and Lynda got to be there to enjoy the festivities.  After the wedding was over, I made a little webpage for them as a wedding present from the photos taken.  It's the only way to go these days when friends can be scattered all over the world!
 
 
 
 
 

Sarah's Wedding!!!

Lynda's high school friend Sarah got married October 2, 1998 in Vermont, just in time for the fall colours.  What a wonderful day for them both -- and a gorgeous setting.  The website was a wedding gift from me, with the photos supplied by their photographer.  The link at the bottom right of the page takes you to our old homepage and not back here, so use your back button to get back if you want to.
 

Lada's Wedding!!!

Lynda's high school friend Lada Kokan got married November 26, 1999 on the beach in Hawaii to a wonderful guy, Tom.  Their website of the wedding is down (unlike me it seems they can let old pages go...) but in case they repost it, I'll leave this here.  In the meantime, here are two photos from their visit to Houston in late October 2002 with their daughter Amanda...

Isn't Amanda cute??????  Now in January 2004 Lada and Tom and Amanda have a new baby -- Ariana.  I'll have to get a picutre of her when I am out in San Francisco in November 2004.