B.C. couples share a date with royalty
Whether they're tying the knot Friday or renewing decades-old wedding vows, several B.C. couples will have another reason to remember their special day for years to come.
They are celebrating their love on the same day the royal couple walks down the aisle.
Jesse Steele proposed to his longtime girlfriend Alayna Landstad last year during the Winter Olympics.
At a park under the Cambie Street bridge at sunset, Steele, 26, got down on one knee to ask the woman he describes as "the most perfect person who he connects with on so many levels" to marry him.
Like Prince William and Kate Middleton's betrothal while on holiday in Africa, Landstad, 24, said it was all very memorable and romantic. Of course she said, 'Yes.'
The Vancouver couple chose April 29 as their wedding date because they had little money to spend and by having their ceremony and reception on a Friday they saved $6,000.
Little did they know at the time it would also be the same day as the royal couple's grand celebration.
Landstad, who adored Diana, Princess of Wales and remembers shedding a tear when she died, said they were both ecstatic when they found out.
"I was so excited. I phoned all my friends because I thought it was so cool," she said. "My mom met Princess Diana when she was pregnant with me and I've always been fascinated with her and her sons."
Added Steele: "I thought it was a sign that we picked the right day and that this is really happening."
The pair, who started dating four years ago after meeting at a restaurant in Kamloops and developing "a huge crush on each other," will wed outdoors under an Oak tree at Brock House at Jericho Beach, followed by a dinner reception under tents.
It will be an emotional day, said Landstad. Not just because she's marrying the love of her life, or because of the coincidence with the royal wedding, but also because Landstad's father, who has been battling leukemia for many years, said he would do everything he could to leave the hospital so he could walk his daughter down the aisle.
"He's very emotional. I just have this really special bond with my father so it is a pretty big deal," she said. "When my dad heard about the royal wedding on the same day he said it was fate."
When Charlene and George Meechan, of Sidney said 'I do' in 1986, it was the same year that Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got hitched. So, as a bit of a lark, they sent an invitation to Buckingham Palace, inviting the royal couple to their wedding.
Charlene said they had an extra invitation left over and thought it would be a bit of good fun since their family has Glaswegian roots and they were fans of the royal family.
They didn't expect a response, but a few weeks later a letter arrived in the mail: regretfully, the royal pair was unable to attend.
On Friday, 25 years after they married, the Meechans will renew their wedding vows on the Sidney harbourfront, this time on the same day as Will and Kate.
Charlene will even wear the same wedding dress she wore when she married George, albeit with a few lace adjustments sewn into the back — for a bit more room, she said, laughing.
She'll also wear her sapphire engagement ring (though it's not identical to Princess Diana's sapphire engagement ring, which now adorns Middleton's hand.)
The couple's three children — Jasmine, Miles and Alexandra — will attend, but Charlene's parents, who are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year, won't be able to make the trip from Nova Scotia. |
發表於 2011-4-28 17:52
| 