On the day of the wedding, the secondary members (as far as the Wedding was concerned) of the Powell family had a relatively easy schedule – on paper. Anna and the cakes had to be in Rockwood by noon, Mary-Jo and I had to pick up Adam and Travis and get them to the Church by 2:30. Wedding at 3pm. No problem.
Or so we thought. We were later than we wanted to be leaving home, because Anna’s hairdresser took 90 minutes to put her hair up. And there was some panic when we thought all the cakes and Anna’s make-up kit wouldn’t fit in the trunk; but we stacked the cake boxes in two layers and off we went until we hit the first bump and heard funny noises. A quick inspection abated our fears and we were practically on time at Dana’s. The boutonnieres for Adam and Travis weren’t ready, but we sorted it out.
This was when I pushed the cake box too far and two columns came unstuck. (See the cake story for more details!). But we managed to unload Anna, the cakes, the lactose free ice cream for Adam’s desert, and get the boutonnieres and be on our way.
It turns out, Guelph closes down on the long weekend before school commences because of all the students moving in and getting lost. We also missed a turn but Mary Jo and Emily (her GPS unit) got us back on track, but it was getting late when we got to Adam’s.
We had lunch, changed, adjusted collars, bow ties and boutonnieres,
and were only slightly late as we went out to the car. Adam had announced that he would drive as he knew all the routes back to Rockwood. As he was getting into the car, he dropped his driving license, bent down to pick it up and
split his trouser leg from knee to somewhere North of there. It was, shall we say, noticeable. So Adam changed into another pair of black pants, and Mary Jo asked about needle and thread – that was a lost cause on several levels – and off we went to mingle with the great unwashed, clueless students milling around Guelph looking for their lodging.
The less said about that trip, the better. I recall mentioning that the car was still under 1000 km, and keeping the revs down under 5 digits would be good. Mary Jo was in the back seat with her eyes closed, and a little old lady driver whom we passed on the side-gravel was probably traumatised for life.
But we got there, and the wedding went well. I can’t say I noticed very much, as I was now in a state of fluster-frenzy. I didn’t get a picture of Travis coming up the aisle (thank you Tom!) and forgot to re-set my camera for the bright sunlight outside. Adam appeared to take it all in his stride, to his credit, although his nice boutonniere disappeared soon after. We never did find it.
