2000/08/19
It was a cool Saturday. It had been a hot summer but this day the high was only 20c (68f). It was sunny and no rain was in the forecast. It was on this day, 25 years ago that I married Mrs. IRBS. We enjoyed 23 years of marriage before she passed. Today would have been our 25th wedding anniversary.
I arrived at the church at about 2pm. The ceremony was at 3:30. I remember pacing about the basement prior to the service having nothing to do but burn off nervous energy. Mrs. IRBS was elsewhere no doubt getting her gown on and whatnot. We were not supposed to see each other before the wedding anyways as the tradition goes. My best man came down at one point likely to make sure I wasn’t planning an escape.
The ceremony was beautiful. We had a friend of Mrs. IRBS’s from Ravenswood, WV and one of my new daughters singing. The songs were “I Believe I Can Fly” and “When You Say Nothing At All”. I forget which one sang which.
After the ceremony we had “Higher” by Creed on cassette as our recessional. We played “With Arms Wide Open” also by Creed in case people were still waiting to get out of the church. We gathered on the front lawn for pictures. That took about an hour.
Our reception was on a boat ride through the Toronto Islands starting at the Toronto Harbour (the area now known as Harbourfront). It was scheduled to depart at 7pm. We had learned that my sister-in-law and her husband and my father-in-law had elected to get there via TTC. They succeeded but Mrs. IRBS was concerned they might get lost. After the photos we headed over to the harbour stopping at McDonalds for happy meals. I had forgotten to have lunch that day and Mrs. IRBS was eating for 2 at the time so was also hungry.
We got to the boat reasonably early. We had told everybody to try to be there by 6. I had put a deposit down by credit card and there was $1000+ due upon arrival. I was then told then that he wanted the rest in cash. So some of my friends and me went in search of an ATM. We found one and I was able to get $800 which was the daily cash limit. After stressing about having to pass the hat the “captain” agreed to take the remaining $200+ by credit card.
The boat ride was fabulous. Before we boarded the “captain” went over safely procedures. My wife and her sister were both pregnant at the time and he jokingly suggested that they should always be on opposite sides of the boat. For a while they took him seriously. We had 6 tables and part of the boat ride was supper and wedding cake. My cousins from Kamsack, SK got us 6 instant cameras to put on each table for people to take whatever pictures they wanted. At the end people gave us back the cameras and we developed the film. They had added a picture of themselves holding up signs saying Congratulations and stuff as the first picture of every camera. Unfortunately one of the cameras was misplaced but it was a really cool idea. We got a lot of pictures of the cook. He was a fairly handsome young man. And one of my new daughters who had gotten seasick and took some medicine which had knocked her out. We got a lot of pictures of her sleeping.
You may have noticed that I put “” around the “captain” above. That it is because a true captain would likely not operate a boat carrying paying passengers three sheets to the wind. He was not only drunk but he had his bottle in the cockpit (is that what you call the control room of a boat?) and was openly drinking. Fortunately nothing came of that and just adds lore to the story. His granddaughter was also on board and was spotted many times with her fingers in the icing of the wedding cake.
The rest of the cruise was good. I believe it was a 3 hour tour. I did the whole Titanic pose on the bow and proclaimed myself king of the world.
After the cruise we went to a hotel room in Markham and crashed. It was 1AM and it was a long day. The next day, we headed on our honeymoon. We did a driving tour of 25 states in 14 days including 2 night stays in Atlantic Beach, NC and St. Louis, MO. We had to make it to Ravenswood, WV in order to pick up our daughter who was staying with friends. Then we came home. The states we covered: NY, PA, NJ, DE, MA, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, OK, AR, MO, KS, NB, IO, SD, IN, IL, OH, WV.
It was an incredible 2 weeks at the start of an incredible journey. I am just sorry it had to end.
