UP NORTH 3: THE WEDDING

Here we are at the event that took Collette and I up north last weekend in the first place. The wedding of her nephew Tim to Kate. Tim is the youngest child of Donna, Collette's older sister.

The day turned out beautiful, but did not begin that way. The wedding was on the Sunday. The two previous days had been marked by rain, sometimes torrential downpours, and cool winds. Sunday morning started as the exception; sunny and warm with a pleasant breeze. The problem was, the ceremony was going to be late in the afternoon ... and outside ... with much potential for disaster. I always see potential for disaster. Collette calls that pessimism. I call it hedging my bets.

Sure enough, as the day progressed, the sky began to darken. The wedding ceremony was being held at the site of an old one room school house in Humphrey (just south of Parry Sound) that had been converted into a museum. Due to the layout of the site, there was very little parking and Tim and Kate had arranged for buses to pick people up, take them to the site, then drive them to the hall in Parry Sound where the reception would take place. One thing about rural weddings: There is an awful lot of driving.

Taking the bus did not work for me. I was doing the video for the kids and I had a good amount of gear to ferry. Plus, I always like to have my own vehicle on a shoot, for purposes of flexibility. And I like to sing when I drive. And no one wants to be subjected to that. My first task of the day was to locate the school house museum in Humprhey. I was beginning to think that this was some kind of secret; Donna, the groom's mother, seemed unclear about the location. Was this a clandestine wedding? A black ops ceremony? I finally got directions from Dave, Tim's dad. They seemed clear ... but "clear" to a guy whose memory pretty much resembles said in a sieve, is a very suspect term.

So yeh, I got loss. Went down one long country road that looked like all the other long country roads and realized, when I hit a dead end defined by some gigantic earth moving equipment, that this was not the wedding site. Though I edited a wedding in Thunder Bay where the bridal party arrived at the church on a bunch of back hoes. But Kate has way too much class for that.

So back I go towards Highway 400, trying to figure out where I made the wrong turn. And turn I did. Three point turns on provincial highway, several times. I was once again south bound on the 400 when a car came blazing up beside me, lights flashing, horn blaring. It was Curtis, Tim's brother in law, with Collette's father in the car. He had seen me and swooped up at 170 kph to catch up with me. After declaring I was just returning to Toronto where we had real streets, Curtis led me to the school house. Ah, our saviour.

So I arrive at the ceremony location and feel the rain the moment I get out of the car. I find John, one of Kate's brothers, who is the man in charge. I say to him "Where is the tent? I heard there was a tent?" John informed me that, yes, there had been a tent but twenty minutes ago it had been cancelled ... by Kate. Cancelled. I was sheltering my camcorder from the rain. We were not allowed inside the schoolhouse museum and really, maybe ten people could have fit in there. They were a tiny people, the Canadian shield pioneers. But the powers of a bride on her wedding day are not to be questioned. By the time Kate arrived, the sun was shining.

The ceremony went on without any major issues. Some of the older people (no, not me, be nice) wondered about the lack of chairs .. and bathrooms. The one thing old people are always worry about .. bathrooms.

The day got nicer and nicer as time went on and we all went down to the Stockley Centre in Parry Sound to take some images. This is a lovely location, right on the water, though in true Parry Sound fashion it also houses the Bobby Orr museum. To see some exteriors of this location you can take a peek here, the shots of the hall at towards the end of the video.

The rest of the night went off very well. I took video, Collette took stills, people ate, family members made speeches, lots of really smart people danced really goofily and Tim and Kate looked genuinely happy. And the hall served my brand of my beer. And we all know how I feel about beer.

Hey, who let that hairy old guy into the wedding? Oh well, he has a cool camera, maybe he filmed something nice ...

Kate & Tim's Wedding Video Trailer from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.