We spent the day before our wedding the way any normal market-gardening couple would – each at a different farmers’ market, selling veggies (because they don’t stop producing – not even for nuptials).
It wasn’t quite a regular market day though, at least not for me. Just before the Squamish Farmers’ Market began, I was accosted – a floral crown complete with a veil was placed upon my head and a sign announcing that I was getting married the next day set up at my till.
(Thanks Barb — that was pretty much my bachelorette party!) I wonder what would have happened had David showed up instead…)
That night it absolutely poured rain, but somehow, and I still cannot believe our good luck, the weather the next day was perfect. It was sunny, warm – almost a touch too hot right before our ceremony until a big, fat cloud blocked the sun for about half an hour – and, best of all, completely calm.
Much like the weather, and much to my surprise, the day itself was also pretty much perfect. I figured after so much planning and coordinating, after so many conversations and last-minute seating adjustments – in short, after so much work – that we’d just be relieved it was all over. But, on the contrary, it’s been over two weeks and we just can’t stop reliving the day.
The whole thing was just so darn fun. It was fun setting up plates and flowers and table vegetables (in lieu of table numbers) with a bunch of our friends that morning. It was fun to get all gussied up and take pictures next to sunflowers, cherry tomatoes, kale, fence posts, etc. I think all our guests had fun watching our sheep dog, Bean, pop a squat during the ceremony even if we were completely oblivious, on account of facing a different direction.
It was fun to eat chips and drink gin and tonics while listening to all of our favourite ’90s country songs. Or to hear the roar of our guests chatting with one another as dinner started. Or to laugh when our MC announced that whichever table finished their table setting vegetable first would get a prize and to then applaud when a brave soul took a huge bite out of a raw onion.
Then there was the dance with two-stepping, line dancing and everyone’s favourite – the worm. A few shirts may have gotten grass-stained in the process. One of David’s cousins did a karaoke rendition of “Wanted Dead or Alive.” There were a lot of people jumping around, some got in formation, a couple got low and almost everyone seemed to find “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights” an extremely good song to dance to.
I think I saw pretty much everyone out there at some point or another that night. The grass was so thoroughly trampled we could tell where the dance floor had been even after the tent was taken down. And that was it – we danced and we cried and we laughed and had a really, really, really good time.
Alyssa Belter operates Plenty Wild Farms with her partner David in Pemberton. She is glad she didn’t elope.
