May 28th - Johnny-O's wedding day!
We're staying at Fern Resort so I had considered driving up to Couchiching on Friday night and taking my boat or board. However, Dad developed aspirational pneumonia so I stayed in town.
Saturday around noon, after running a bunch of errands, I headed up the 400. Traffic was amazingly good which probably has a lot to do with our crummy weather. Nobody's making the trip to the cottage.
It's been quite a while since I've gone north and it's funny how quickly the retail turns from city to cottage. Of course there's the Cookstown outlet mall but pretty soon you're into the Bass Pro Shop, Confederation Log Homes and the one that made me laugh out loud, Dock in a Box.
I'd forgotten how close Orillia is to Toronto. It's almost the 'burbs - or will be soon. The smell of car exhaust is in the air until you're right up at the lake. Then you finally get the smell of pine and fresh-water lake breeze.
I had just checked in and was unloading my car when I see John & Emily going by in a golf cart, doing the royal (unscrewing a lightbulb) wave! They were on their way to do group photos. Smart to get it done before the ceremony!

My room was on the end, right by the banquet hall and the first things I saw when I opened the door were

a) a fantastic view of the lake

b) 2 bottles of wine, 1 red, 1 white with a "thank you for being part of our special day" card from John & Emily

c) a jacuzzi tub situated perfectly for looking out at the fantastic view without anyone seeing in

I grabbed my camera and wandered outside to check things out. I immediately ran into Gero and his wife, Mike Mcdermott + wife, Jessie and Chris, Bliss & Jaime, Dave Fav, Liz Price & husband, Chris plus assorted Osborne/Stewart relatives. The wedding party were over on the beach having photos done so I took some creeper shots (all on FB). They came over to where we were sitting as soon as they were done. I was so happy to see Courtney and Laura! Both living in B.C. and obviously thriving. Laura & Mark are in Kitsilano and Courtney is in Kelowna.
Court was on crutches - a temporary measure. She'd bruised her heel a couple of weeks earlier, when she was camping. She wanted to spare it until the actual ceremony when she would stand on her own 2 pins.
It wasn't long before it was time to get ready for the ceremony. It was held on the beach with stadium-style seating - rows of patio chairs set up on the pool deck and working down the side. Everyone got a great view of the couple with the lake behind them. I was sitting with Sarge & Marie. Johnny's close family friend (and boss) Julian Wise, was master of ceremonies and was spoke for most of the time. He's very engaging and entertaining. An actual "official" official took over for the legal portion.
From there we moved to the banquet hall and found our seats. Unfortunately none of us were sitting together. I'm not sure why but we decided afterwards that maybe Emily did the seating chart and didn't realize we all knew each other?
As soon as the wedding party entered (each with the de rigueur choreography), John and Emily got things going on the dance floor with Sweet Caroline. It was fantastic - everyone was singing along and dancing - a great way to involve all the guests in the event! It was followed up by a few other songs, wrapping up with Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" which had everyone up on their feet and some up on their chairs!
I knew that the best man was supposed to be Sean and wondered what had kept him from being there. We found out at dinner that he'd gotten married in January of this year and is in the middle of getting his US citizenship. He just wasn't allowed to leave the country at this time. Obviously he and John didn't realize that would happen. He sent his speech via gluetube and we watched on the big screen.