A Very Haitian Wedding

Today I attended my first Haitian wedding.  My friends Jimmy and Kathia got married.  We were set to leave the house at 8:30 to pick up Marie France and meet others at the orphanage so I could follow them to the wedding place in Croix des Bouquets.  Arriving at the orphanage, my phone rang, and I was told to head to the hotel to meet up with Jackson and the blue van because Jimmy’s group wasn’t ready to leave, Jimmy included.  It was 9:15, and the wedding was scheduled to start at 10.  We hurried along to meet the other group, when Ruth said, “There’s no need to hurry if the groom isn’t ready.”  I began chuckling to myself while the day’s timeline began to quickly unravel.  There was a major traffic jam on the way to the wedding, and we arrived hot, dusty, and thirsty.  The site was lovely, with large trees providing shade.  I found a thermometer that declared the temperature 100.5 in the shade, at 10:30 am.  I refused to think about it, with sweat running down my arms and legs. 

At 10:45 we went into the small chapel and took seats.  And then we waited.  We waited for Pierre to appear.  Then we waited for Pastor Claude.  While waiting, we were serenaded by Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, and Vanessa Williams, and Boys to Men, because “I’ll make love to you” is an appropriate pre-service song.

Finally, at 11:15, the ceremony started.  Cell phones rang and beeped the entire ceremony.  A woman had an entire conversation over speaker phone while Jimmy and Kathia exchanged vows.  Celine Dion songs played over the speakers in quiet interludes. 

Pastor Claude declared them husband and wife after he said that there were 5 things that happened during the ceremony today:

1. Spiritual union
2. faith was evident
3. witnessed by many
4. Sexual—the marriage was consummated
5. legal—by law

He then announced that ALL 5 had already occurred in the ceremony. **Do not look at Ruth…Do NOT look at Ruth…** oops, there was a glance.  Did he seriously JUST SAY THAT?????

A photo of not us-the photo taker missed the fact that we actually wanted to be in the photo

After the ceremony we greeted the couple.  We went outside to find a seat for the reception.  The bride and groom walked in to “Here Comes the Bride”.  We dined on delicious food while a chicken played under our table.  We ate wedding cake without forks.  And we drank Prestige beer instead of water.  As we left the reception in the sweltering heat, the sky opened and dropped buckets of water on top of us.  I rolled the window down because I decided I’d rather be wet than hot.  We had 3 extras in the car, and no cars were moving on the road.  I asked everyone to stop breathing because the windows were fogging up.  Ruth had half of her left butt cheek on the seat, and thought she might never walk again because her lower extremities were asleep.  The roof began leaking; rain ran down the steering wheel and water puddled in my lap as I drove.  We dropped the 3 extra people on the side of the road for them to catch a tap-tap.  Ruth stretched out, gained consciousness in her left leg, and we dropped Marie France off at home.  With our totally awesome sweaty dirty hairdos we went headed to the the grocery store.  Several men offered to sell me new windshield wipers, but I declined.  When offer #3 informed he loves me, I returned the sentiment and drove on.  We attempted to go in the out doors of DeliMart, but were able to successfully find the entrance.  We purchased our groceries, purchased 3 avocadoes from a sweet woman as the rain began to fall again, and arrived home just before the heavy stuff hit.

Angie: “Is there anymore we need to say?”

Ruth: “Oh my goodness, no.  *laughing* It was a day in Haiti.”