Our wedding day!  It started out as a typical day, with our typical breakfast of bread and fruit at the cafe.  We traded out our cell phone today.  The first one we had gotten would only stay on for 5 minutes or so, even with a full charge.  After we did that, Lana bought some postcards and we struck off for town looking for the post office.  The directions we got we not the best, but we finally found it, a TINY little building crowded with people who were exchanging lots of cash, mainly Euros.  I suppose that the locals use the Postal Service to wire money back and forth to Europe a good bit.  We walked back towards the hotel past some buildings that I assumed were government housing...they sure looked like it.  We passed two young local boys, and one of them said "Picture"!  He had noticed our cameras.  They did not speak any English, but they obviously wanted their pictures made.  We obliged them, they hammed it up, and laughed at their images on the screen.  I found myself wishing for a battery-operated printer...it would have been so cool to print them each a copy.  We left them and stopped by the local grocery store, where we bought fruit and some rum to spike up the weak drinks we had been getting at the bar.

When we got back to the hotel, we changed and headed for the beach.  Lana left me at the bar ordering drinks while she went to stake out a couple of beach chairs.  I struck up a conversation with a young English lady with a small boy in tow, who turned out to be Karen, the wife of the owner of Sunset Cafe (Pascale) and two other restaurants on the island.  As we chatted it came out that I was getting married this afternoon.  Karen said "What a way to spend your wedding day"!  I couldn't have agreed more...at a bar by the beach, wearing only shorts, sandals, and sunglasses, with a drink in each hand. 

I joined Lana at the beach, we laid out for a while, then grabbed some floats and played in the water for a couple of hours.  We left the beach about 2.  Lana headed to the room to start getting ready, and I sat at the bar and ordered a salad for us to split for a late lunch.  Dave and Sue came by to speak and made a picture of me sitting at the bar on my last day of "singleness".

At 4PM sharp, we were picked up by our driver, Steve, in a white Lincoln Town Car, and driven to Cupecoy beach.  We got there about 4:30, and began to grow a little concerned.  We had stated all along that we wanted a sunset wedding, and sunset was still two hours away.  We had thought it was a little strange that they would pick us up at 4, but figured that maybe they were expecting heavy traffic.  So here we were, two hours from sunset, and they were ready to go.  I spoke with Lucie and we worked things out.  The wedding was being performed by a government official, and she got off at 5, so the ceremony had to be done before quitting time.  This had not been explained to us before, however Lucie had been in the hospital, so perhaps that is how the miscommunication occurred.  The photographer, Jean, agreed to hang around until sundown to get photos in the good light, which was very important to us.  Disaster averted, we headed out to the beach. 

Cupecoy is one of the prettiest beaches on the island, and one of the most photographed.  One end is a typical sandy beach, but as you move east, cliffs rise up, hiding stunning little alcoves of sand and water.  There is a path along the top of the cliffs, and several sets of steps that lead from the cliff-top to the water's edge.  It is also a clothing-optional beach.  Jean began by taking us up to the top of the cliffs, shooting some pictures with the water in the background.  The timing actually worked well, since the sun was still high and showed the color of the water better than a sunset shot would have.  As we stood at the edge of the cliff with our backs to the sea, I heard clapping and cheering.  After Jean clicked the shutter, I turned around to see what the commotion was.  Four naked German guys were standing up in the surf, applauding our wedding!  I waved and wondered if they had shown up in the picture that Jean had just snapped.  That would be just TOO funny!  Jean continued to find new spots for us to pose, and after a few shots, Lana (who has done wedding photography before) said "This guy is GOOD"!  I was glad that she was pleased.

When Jean was finished, we headed back down to the flat section of the beach for the ceremony.  Lucie had set up a simple, elegant arch made of palm branches, and all of our witnesses were there (Dutch law requires 6 witness for a wedding, which Lucie provided).  As it became obvious that we were about to get started, people started to drift over from different parts of the beach to watch and make pictures.  The few ladies that had been topless DID put their tops on before they came over.  Sorry, guys.

The ceremony was simple and elegant, officiated by Joan Berkel, a government official who, surprisingly, did not pass out from the heat, since she was wearing a full-length black robe!  She had a prepared text, but she deviated and ad-libbed a bit, which we liked.  Steve videotaped the whole thing, but, sadly, you could not hear the words over the wind from where he was standing.

When it was over, the beach-goers-turned-spectators clapped, cheered, and took pictures.  A man from Florence ran over and shook my hand, kissed Lana, and grabbed Ms. Berkel and danced with her, all the while babbling in Italian.  We have no idea what he said, but he sure was happy!  We ran into him later in the airport and got this picture...his expression captures his personality perfectly!

A couple from Houston celebrating their 25th anniversary stayed around and chatted with Lana while we waited for the sun to set.  As it did, Jean shot some more pictures, then we all said our goodbyes, and Steve took us back to the hotel.  On the way back, Lana said "This is EXACTLY what I wanted".  That felt good. 

Many Thanks to Lucie Davis, Joan Berkel, and Jean Vallette for making this a wonderful day.

When we got back to the room, the message light on the phone was blinking.  I called the front desk, and they said "Look in your refrigerator".  There was a bottle of champagne from Lana's co-workers at Century 21 Commander Real Estate in Panama City, Florida!  (Charles, was that a good enough plug?)

That night we had dinner with Dave and Sue at L' Auberge Gourmande, another one of Pascal's restaurants.  They were already there when we arrived, and Dave already had an excellent bottle of wine open.  The couple behind us were from Venezuela and had been at Cupecoy today and had watched our wedding from a distance!  The service was excellent, the atmosphere was wonderful, and the food was mind-blowing!  I had duck, Dave had monkfish, and Lana and Sue had lamb.  After we all had our desserts in front of us, Pascal sent another one out to the table as a wedding present.  The restaurant had been crowded when we arrived for our 8:30 reservation, but by 11:30, we were the only people left, still talking and laughing and having a great time.  We finally bid the staff goodnight and headed back to the hotel on foot.  On the way back there was a house that usually had several children outside, and a small herd of dogs that lived to chase cars.  The house was quiet at this late hour, and the dogs were bedded down.  But as we got a little closer, we heard a car coming up behind us...and coming up FAST.  The driver really had his foot in it.  We stepped to the side, expecting him to zoom past, but instead, he screeched to a halt right beside us.  The uniformed man at the wheel leaned out of the window, with Lana's purse in his hand!  She had left it at the restaurant and he had chased us down to return it.

Lana double-dipping on dessert!

Day Five