Bonjour!
8th wedding? Oui!
We met in 1982 and fell in love. Three years later we broke-up, both married someone else, and never saw each other until we re-connected in 2001; both going through divorces and annulments. We never lost the love we first shared. He proposed in 2004.
It was in 2004 when we fell in love with St. Martin. I lived and went to school in France and we both enjoy everything about the French culture. Neither of us had ever been to St. Martin and made it our first real vacation together the year he proposed. Wow! Every year since then, we traveled to St. Martin, stayed at the same places and attended the Sunday mass at the Catholic Church at Grand Case. We were married in America on November 10, 2007, (the 25th anniversary of our first date!) We honeymooned at St. Martin. We spent a week at La Samana and a week on Orient Beach.
Now about the 8 weddings….. When we were first married in 2007, we vowed to get married every year, (well, re-new our vows.)! It re-reminds us of the love and devotion we share for each other, creates a beautiful time for friends and family and sometimes strangers to enjoy, gives us an opportunity to have another “best day of our life,†and connects us in a special way! (Oh, forgot one thing…I HAVE to fit in the same dress and he has to fit in the same tux!)
We have been married in a small, Polish imigrant church in Florida, the church where my parents were married in 1955 in Pennsylvania, the church his grandfather built in Pennsylvania during the depression, by Elvis in Las Vegas-he and I share birthdays on January 8th, in a helicopter in Nevada, in the church where my first wedding took place, and in Paris, France at the American Church in Paris. This year, our 10th year of discovering St. Martin together, we would like to get married at the Catholic Church at Grand Case! We attend mass there every time we are in St. Martin. It's really a renewal of vows, nothing official, and no official paperwork-we already have that.
We don’t have friends or family in St. Martin. We prefer our real anniversary which is on Monday, November 10th, for the renewal, but we would also do Sunday the 9th. We would just like to meet the priest at the church, together, in our bridal clothing, maybe have some music played, I walk down the isle, the priest says some prayers and blesses us, we walk down the isle together, and at the end, if there are any people standing around, I throw my boquet into the crowd. If we did this during Sunday mass, we would just attend church in our wedding attire and hopefully at one point, the priest could say a blessing over us. Then we walk to a nearby restaurant in Grand Case, have a bite to eat, and laugh with the locals. We don’t drink alcohol, so the toast is usually Perrier instead of Champagne. (We remember the wonderful priest at Grand Case who used to play the saxaphone after mass! We love that church. And the choir is amazing!) We could do it during the Sunday Mass, or after mass, or anytime on Monday the 10th; the actual anniversary, or whatever the priest would be willing to do. We will certainly give a donation to the priest, the church and the organist or singers.
We would probably just buy some local flowers to carry for my boquet. But, we would like photographs. If you know of any photographers, We’d like to email them. Or, we could bring our own camera and pay a by-stander to snap a few!
We are available and will be able to meet and discuss the plan anytime on Friday November 7th, or Saturday, November 8, 2014.
We call it “getting married again.†Some call it, “the renewal of vowsâ€. We would even be happy with a simple blessing by the priest at the church.
Whatever you can do to help, it would be most appreciated. We didn’t know who to ask for help or how to contact the priest. I’ve just been praying to St. Jude, and voila, your information came up!
Our email is:
MelindaAndChuck@aol.com.
Thank you so much for your time and advice! I can’t wait to hear from anyone who can help with ideas, etc. Merci!
Sincerely,
Melinda and Chuck
