Wedding Bells

A “Bum” Beginning

This wedding at the Royal St Lucian Resort was nothing but smiles and sunshine

When one thinks about the Caribbean, they envision white sandy beaches, crystal clear water; a haven to cool off from the blazing sun which in itself, is another asset of the Caribbean. You’d imagine the added greenery of the surrounding trees and maybe even the backdrop of lush green mountainsides creating a protective barrier from the outside world. In brochures and on the internet, St Lucia is advertised as the ideal tropical haven, the perfect place especially for beach vacations and of course, the unforgettable beach wedding. When visitors actually get to the island, they realize that no amount of marketing could capture its true beauty.

Unlike other places in the world, December in the Caribbean is much like summertime. With the exception of the occasional hurricane, the weather is predictably fine. Gareth and Joann got their dream beach December wedding at the Royal St Lucian hotel. They weren’t surrounded by family and friends as they made their way down to the beach but the guests and hotel employees who’d become their family for the duration of their vacation made suitable replacements. When Gareth started working as a builder at a hospital in Manchester England where Joann already worked, the 40-year-old blond had been on vacation. It seemed as if their co-workers already knew they’d be just right for each other, they kept hinting to Gareth that he hadn’t met Joann yet. It would only be a matter of time before that changed; two weeks later, Joann was back at work. “The first time I saw Joann, I actually saw her bum first!” he laughed. “She was bent over and I was like, “well the bum looks nice, now lets see what the face looks like!””

Joann did turn around and Gareth says the first time he saw her face, he knew she was the one. They were only friends at first, but the chemistry they shared would not allow them to remain just that. Pretty soon the two began dating and the next thing they knew they were living together. The couple says that it was more of a mutual decision to get married, they’d been living together for ten years and were extremely compatible. There was no extravagant calculated proposal, only the decision to nudge along something that Joann said, “was already happening anyway.” Without even asking, I already knew what Gareth’s response would be when posed with the question, what had attracted him to his wife. Just as I’d predicted, he replied coyly, “her sexy butt and sense of humor”. Joanna says that it was her husband’s sense of humor that reeled her in.

Joann says that the decision to come to St Lucia was made after a friend who worked on a cruise ship told her that St Lucia was overall, one of the best islands in the bunch. Her favorite things about the island are, two things commonly favored by visitors, the fantastic people and of course, the weather. Gareth absolutely loved the island’s pace and the relaxed people. I didn’t doubt the genuinity in Gareth’s answer but suspected that Joann’s laid back, comfortable attitude that quite matched Gareth’s, had a lot to do with their union. In an attempt to get to know the two newly weds a little more, I asked Gareth to tell me one thing that the two of them loved doing together. With a mischievous grin and twinkling eyes, he opened his mouth and started to respond. Joann quickly cut him off. “You’re not going to get any sensible answers out of him!” Joann laughed. Finally they agreed that they loved going shopping together. The actual wedding ceremony wasn’t a tearful one, I suspect one might have felt quite odd crying in the middle of a sunny Caribbean wedding, smiling tourists and locals walking by with words of congratulations and the waves lapping just a few feet away. Here’s wishing the Boardman’s the very best and hoping they enjoyed their honeymoon at the Royal St Lucian hotel and got plenty of time to indulge in their favorite past time!