Terrance & Gina Arsenault

On Saturday June 9 of 2007, Terrance Arsenault and Gina Toonk were married. The wedding ceremony was at 1:30 pm at Glad Tidings Assembly in London, Ontario. The wedding reception and dance started at 5:30 pm in Komoka, Ontario.

For history's sake, I will recap my involvement in all of this...

The preceding Friday, June 8, my only responsibility was supposed to be picking up my rented tuxedo. Fortunately for foresight, I decided to cancel any plans that I had for the day and devote myself to whatever last-minute preparations might be required. Terry wrote me on Thursday night and asked me to help set up the reception hall on Friday afternoon. No problem! So on Friday, I helped Terry do that. And then I helped him pick up one of the rental cars, went with him to pick up our tuxes, bought 21 disposable cameras, drive people to various places, etc.

On Saturday morning, just after 9:00 am, Terry called me and mentioned that I was an usher for the wedding. Oh right, he forgot to tell me that little detail. Ha! I arrived at the church an hour before the ceremony to figure out what had to be done for that. Corsages for the bridal party and immediate family, seating for the immediate family, wedding programs, etc. Jason Roberts was my wingman as the other usher, though he had known that in advance. Good thing, too, since he was able to actually recognize most of the extended family members on sight and I had never met some of them.

As the ushers, we were supposed to give out small commemorative capsules with a soapy solution to blow bubbles. Early on, I asked Terry about when that should be used and he said, "Anytime." As everyone filtered in, Jason and I handed out the programs and bubbles. Most of the men refused the bubbles but the women thought that it was a wonderful idea. I explained that the bubbles could be blown anytime, but most importantly as the Bride was entering. Seemed like a good idea to me.

Well, it's easiest to prove I'm a fool if I'm speaking. Apparently Terry meant, "Anytime as the Bride and Groom are leaving at the end." Someone thought that my instructions were odd and Jason went off to confirm that no, we were not supposed to blow bubbles during the Bride's entrance. Oops. Only twenty people had been instructed in that manner but there was no time to correct them since a massive line of people began to file into the church. I now gave new instructions, explaining that the bubbles would replace the traditional throwing of rice at the end. I was told that there would be an announcement about the bubbles so that no one would be confused.

Somewhere along the way, Zach and Sam, two of the Groom's men, set up three video cameras around the church sanctuary. We had professional photographers for the wedding but the video work was going to be done by these sationary cameras. I was brought in and given instructions about simply turning on each camera since they were already zoomed and focused on where the Bride and Groom would be standing.

The Bride arrived a little after 1:30 pm and everyone got the corsages and flowers ready. At around 2:00 pm, the wedding formally began. Just before that, I realized that the video cameras were going to be useless for any part of the ceremony besides the vows. I sped around the room a bit to get some shots of the entrance and the giving away of the Bride by her father. Ah, and now my bubble instructions came into play. A few ladies did exactly as I had asked, daintily leaning into the aisle to blow bubbles towards the Bride. Yessiree, that was all becasue of me.

From then on, everything went fairly smoothly. Pastor Tim had a nice little sermon about love, marriage and the Christian duties of a husband and a wife. Another guy played a worship on guitar during the entrance and later played a worship song on piano during the registry signing. I kept moving from camera to camera in an attempt to get enough adequate shots to splice together for one video afterwards.

While saying the vows, Terry actually answered, "You bet I do!" Gina giggled like a school girl and they both turned to grin at the audience. They were pretty cute together. And from what I understand, their first kiss as husband and wife was in fact their first kiss ever. Romaticness.

Then came the reception line whilst I gathered up all of the wedding equipment and supplies and prepared to lock up the church. We finally got everyone ready and packed into various cars and then we drove to the Springbank Gardens for the official pictures.
Now, let me take a second to explain that Terry and Gina had asked me months before to be the M.C. for the reception. However, one week before the wedding, Terry also suggested that I should be included in the official bridal party. I got sized for my tuxedo on Friday a week before the ceremony.

So now that we were all at Springbank Gardens, I was included in all of the wedding party photos. It was a little complicated since I three of the visual balance. After all, everyone else was in pairs. Bride and Groom, Maid of Honour and Best Man, etc. We managed to pull off that trick, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing those pictures later. Towards the end, I had to ditch a bit early so that I could get to the reception hall and prepare for the evening's events.

So around 5:00 pm, I arrived at the hall and flew into organizational mode. I spoke with the photographers and figured out what special instructions they needed announced. I spoke to the two music DJs, reviewed the schedule and gave them some special instructions. I dealt with a million and one last minute details. I put out the disposable cameras on every table; opened some doors to get a breeze into the gym; figured out how to announce the kissing instructions since no one remembered to bring a bell; figured out who had the CDs for the special music; dealt with the fact that none of the tables were numnbered as expected; spoke to caterers throughout the evening about special instructions; generally, I was a one-man circus act juggling all of the details. Terry already had a ton of decisions hitting him from all angles and I tried to be a buffer for him and the rest of the wedding party, trying to let them enjoy their reception while I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off.

Beyond that, everything went fairly smoothly. I made an idiot out of myself to get attention while announcing the kissing a few times. I was ordered to pray for the meal, even though that wasn't in my schedule and I'm not sure if impromptu prayers should be allowed like that. I kicked away a line of people that decided, on their own, that it was time for desert.

As for my official duties as the M.C., I purposely didn't plan anything too flashy or say anything too amazing. I knew that we would be pressed for time and, indeed, we ran an hour late at the end. My goal was just to keep things moving and be entirely forgetable. I think that I accomplished my mission nicely.

The very best speech of the night was given by Stan Clemance, the best man. In fact, it was the best wedding speech that I have ever heard in my life. Stan began by acknowledging that another member of our group, the Bachelors, had passed away. He asked for a moment fo silence as Zach hummed "Taps." Stan then followed up with at least five minutes of jokes. He was on fire! He knocked each joke out of the park and just when you thought he was going to be serious, he threw another curveball. He finally did end with a few heartfelt comments and a nice toast. I'm glad we video taped it since it was so utterly brilliant. Hopefully we can post that on YouTube at some point.

As for other comments, Zach led a fabulous rendition of an old Irish ditty about the family Dunn. It's a hilarious song that makes a pun out of the family name, and Zach performed it entirely with an accent whilst two of the Groom's Men joined in on the choruses. Everyone clapped along happily during the jig and the Dunn was fun until it was done.

I should also note that Gina was, in fact, sick for all of the preceding week. She had the flu, she was puking, the whole nine yards. She managed to get through the wedding day through a combination of steel will and four kinds of drugs. Heh. She went from being ecstatically happy and giddy to being overcome with coughing and dry heaves to crying for the touching moments. I'm really impressed that she held herself together so well. I also took note of Terry's reactions at various times. While he had so many things to take care and a lot of stress in preparing everything, he maintained a stolid facade and just tried to enjoy himself. And he and Gina were so cute together as they playfully mocked each other and constantly got each other to laugh. So sweet.

So eveything went very well overall. There were just a few things that I wish that I could have fixed. The bubble instructions, of course. Having a few guys to man the video cameras would have been good. Getting the table numbers and planning out the family tables properly would have been helpful. And most importantly, I would have had the official cake cutting before desert rather than afterwards, and I wouldn't have waited so long between the meal and the desert. At least I know this stuff now so the next wedding that I'm involved in as Best Man or whatever will be even smoother.

Now then, on with a few more pictures. Note that my Facebook account has many more pictures but this selection will have to suffice for my blog. This first picture shows me all done up purty-like.

Here's a picture of the Groom's Men (groomsmen?), all together.

This next picture shows me with Jason. We spent a number of hours together over the course of the entire weekend, and it was fun to reconnect with him since he has been traveling the world for the past few years. We had a bit of a competition going between one another. We were trying to decide who was the least important man in the wedding party. His argument rested on the fact that he was the last guy in the official party, he was single while a few of the other guys were married, that kind of thing.

My argument was based on the fact that I was an unofficial member of the party since I was not on stage during the wedding ceremony, nor was I at the head table during the reception. Plus, I got my suit a week before the wedding and I was informed about being an usher the morning of the wedding. I'm sure I won at being the best loser but he refused to concede his crown to me. Bah! I'm certain that I took first place for being last. What do you all think? (Heh. Just kiddin' around. We both know it was a great honour to be involved with this once-in-a-lifetime event.)
And finally, a note about the first picture at the top of this blog. That is the picture that Terry and Gina used in their official wedding program. Bonnie Clemance created and took this photograph and it's pure genius. Note the two rings creating a reflection of one heart. And note that the background text is actually from the Bible, Song of Solomon Chapters 3 and 4. It's awe inspiring.