A Week In St. Lucia

Wedding Rehearsal Dinner

    I exited the Photo app and turned off my phone. "There you have it, girls. All that in two days." I said. Elizabeth and Amelia smiled, cherishing the memories of the past in their minds. These stuff all happened 20 years back, which was a very long time ago. Now it took us thing long to return. "So, you and dad had to walk all the way to grandpa's suite to get back your luggage?" Elizabeth asked.

I nodded. "Yep, we did. The people that brought our luggage in, dropped mine off in the wrong room."

"Was it really a far walk?" Amelia asked.

"A little." I answered.

   Then suddenly, my mom came up to us. "Anthony, Beth, Amelia, we are going to go eat now." Quick explanation, "Beth" is basically what Tuan, my mom, and also my dad would call Elizabeth for short, since it is quite easier. But me, Tina, Sandie, Bao and Sebastien, however, just call her by her full name. We are capable of calling her that instead of calling Elizabeth "Beth." And also, it is about lunchtime. I wonder if we will do a buffet or order off a menu. I'm beginning to feel hungry.

"Elizabeth, are your mom and dad awake?" My mom asked.

"No, they're both napping right now, grandma." Elizabeth told her.

"Okay. Can you and Amelia go call them so we can all go eat?" And then into their room the girls went. Six minutes later, Tuan and Bao came out. Tina, my mom and I are already ready. We all then head out the door straight away and head down to the front lobby. For this year, all of us are given a different suite now, which is not in the same building as our old one. Looking around, I tried to look for it, wondering where our other suite was as I'm walking.

Two or three hours later, we returned. My mom went to in the room to lay down and Tina decided to look for something in the kitchen.  "Are there anymore photos that were taken during the wedding?" Amelia asked me. "If so, can we keep looking at them?"

I smiled at the idea. "Sure, if you want." I told her.

   Elizabeth, Amelia and I went to sit down on the couch together as I took out my phone and unlocked it. "So later on in the evening, everyone gathered for this thing called a 'Wedding Rehearsal Dinner'." I explained. "I don't know if you two have heard of it before."

"Nope." Amelia said, after thinking for a moment.

"I don't think I have," Elizabeth admitted.

"Okay well, let's get into the pictures." I told them. As I show them the album in my phone, I began telling the girls about the dinner.

    Later on, that same night after the boat ride, my family has been resting in our suite, changed into our comfortable clothes for a few hours. We were basically here all afternoon until evening, when Sandie called my mom on the phone, telling her that it's time to come back down for a wedding rehearsal dinner. This means we have to start wearing our formal, ceremonial outfits. Everyone going to this dinner has to look elegant and suave. I put on a blue collared long-sleeved shirt and white shorts. Soon after I waited in the living room, everyone is all ready to go.

    Tina, Tuan, our mom, Bao carrying Elizabeth in her arms, and I all walked down the hill-y sidewalk until we got to the lobby. When we arrived, we made our way to a large white tent right by the beach where everyone is already chatting and sitting. Yvan and Elisabeth, who were sitting at their table, saw us and waved.

"Hello everybody!" Elisabeth greeted us as she got up from her seat. "Glad you came. You all look beautiful!"

We all just laughed. "Thank you." Tina said.

"Oh, thanks!" I chimed in.

   Tina and I sat at the same table with her and Yvan while my mom sat with Sandie and Sebastien, who were sitting at a table further away. Bao and Tuan sat at another table that is much closer and is across from us. After Tina and I sat down, Vicky came and sat down next to Elisabeth. They said hi to each other and then starting conversing in French. I wasn't sure whether if Vicky and Vince were going to also be sitting with us for the whole wedding rehearsal or if they're sitting at a different table. As I continued watching Vicky and Elisabeth talk as I stay seated and relaxing, I suddenly saw Minh and Anthony talking to Bao and Tuan at their table. After that, Minh and Anthony turned around to my table next and waved at us. Tina and I were the first to wave. Elisabeth, Yvan and Vicky's reactions delayed by a second until they finally looked up and waved back as well. 

   As Elisabeth starting saying hi to Minh, I decided to look around the whole tent to see what else is going on. I can see Sandie talking to Cynthia, both of them laughing about something and having a drink. A lot of waiters and servers are setting up the food on long tables lined up in a buffet style. The wedding rehearsal sure is packed. All the guests are.

   Several minutes later, everyone started getting up from their seats to line up at the buffet to get food once all the guests have arrived at the tent. I got in line, wait for it to move. When I arrived at a stack of plates, I grabbed one at the top then moved on to get some pasta, some vegetables which consists of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Then as the lined continued to move, I grabbed the last thing I wanted, which was a chicken breast. Gotten what I needed, I stepped out of the line. I almost bumped into Tina, who also has a plate full of food.

"Is that all you're getting?" she asked.

"Yeah, for now. I'll go back and get more later." I told her, as I followed her back to our table. We sat down and began eating. When I was done my food, I went to get dessert. I decided to get a chocolate cake with red icing on top and a seemingly lemon or vanilla cake. Next after when all the guests are done eating, everyone was allowed to go hang out around a bar next to the beach and hang out. As I followed everyone out of the tent, Anthony met up with me and greeted me, with Minh close behind.

"Did you like the food?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, of course." I told him. "So now that we're done, what are you and Minh gonna do?"

As we near the beach, Anthony pointed to a ping-pong table up ahead. "I think we are gonna play that."

I watched as they both head over to the table and picked up the ping-pong paddles that were laying on opposite sides of the net. I then turned around to see the other guests. Everyone has sat down at the bar, ordering drinks and talking. I walked around the beach for a short time, looking at the waves crashing on the sand. It's very hard to see everything further away since it's dark out. As I looked hard, I saw a couple of tiny lights lined up in a straight line far away. I couldn't tell if there were boats sailing in the water or if there is land on the other side. As I stopped walking, I noticed Vicky and Vince are sitting at a table at the edge of the rail bar.

"Hello Anthony!" Vicky waved at me. "Having fun?"

"Yeah, I am." I told them. "How about you guys?"

Vicky nodded. "Oh yeah, we're okay." Vince replied.

"Are you guys excited for the wedding?" I asked them. "Tomorrow is a big day."

"Of course." Vicky answered. " We'll be taking lots of pictures and then..." She thought for a moment. "...have dinner. Later, we will dance."

"That sounds fun!" I said, nodding. I then spoke to Vicky and Vince for a few more minutes, before Tina came and called me to head back to our room with her and our mom.

   When the three of us walked back to our suite, I saw Tuan and Bao already going up the hill. As we all made it back in, I immediately took off my shoes and went to settle on the couch in the living room. I took out my phone to see the time. There's about 30 minutes until 10, which means I still have an hour left until I go to bed. As I decided to check on anything I missed, like on my Facebook app, the thoughts of the wedding tomorrow began running through my head. Tomorrow morning, everyone has to get dressed a little early. The weather will be a bit hot and my family and Sebastien's family are going to be outside all day having our pictures taken. It may be a long morning and afternoon.