Through Chrissie's eyes

The Deacons' Wedding

Knowing the urgency that Veronica and John had to get married, we expedited everything as we could, we arranged documents, invitations for the guests, the church ceremony, everyone's attire, and finally the party at Jim's house. It wasn't easy, but as everyone was engaged, we managed to do it. We spent Christmas, New Year and finally the wedding day arrived in January 1975.

Me and the girls met at home to get the bride ready. Veronica didn't want to be too chic or draw attention, and we all respected her will. The boys got John ready at Freddie's apartment.

"Oh ... I don't even know what to think" the bride got up, ready "I'm happy, and I was just fine after deciding to get married, and now that we're here ... Am I going to do everything right?"

"I know exactly what you're going through" I leaned closer to her and held her shoulders. "But you van get through all this, focus on John and try to ignore the rest, no matter how difficult."

"I'll try," she managed to smile. "Thank you, Chrissie."

Veronica's parents came to pick her up and took her before us, while we kept waiting for the ride of our loved ones.

"Hurry up because we can't let the bride arrive before us" Freddie sprouted at the door and called us in a hurry.

I blinked a little scared, but I got the message a little later. As we were in three couples, the boys were in two cars. Roger and Dominique went with Mary and Freddie and me and Brian went in our car.

"Freddie is ..." I picked out the words before saying, as we were on the way to the church "drawing more attention than the bride."

"Oh yeah" Brian laughed. "He took the jacket from one set, the pants from, and to complete it all, the scarf."

"And don't forget your sunglasses," I added, "but it's just Freddie being Freddie ..."

"But today he extrapolated, we started calling him Angry Lizard 2.0" - my husband laughed a little more.

"Why angry lizard?" I was curious, that story I still didn't know.

"When we met John Reid the first time," Brian recalled, "he was wearing a scaly jacket with dragon wings on the back, I said he looked like an angry lizard, I remembered that today."

"Only you can make that kind of joke" I shook my head "and how's John doing?"

"He's nervous, less than I was at our wedding, but he's very sure of himself, and that's the most important thing."

"You know what, Bri?" I said thoughtful "I think John was already getting ready to proposal, and the baby was just a little push to give him courage, they had loved each other long before that. And loving each other is the main reason to marry."

"You're absolutely right, my love." Brian smiled and took my hand for a moment.

We arrived and saw that the bride was at the door, waiting for everyone to arrive.

"We can't go in without all the maids and best men here" Veronica said.

"Sorry for the delay," Brian apologized for both of us.

"You're really not late," she explained. "I arrived early, but it's better you're going to your places soon."

"Yes, ma'am," I understood the urgency of the situation and obeyed the bride, hurrying into the church.

Everyone was already in position, between the boys and the girls, there was another couple on John's side. Brian and I gave everyone a quick hello and went to our place.

"It's so much easier being a maid of honor" I realized, speaking out loud.

"I have to agree, but going through all this nervousness is worth it." He kissed my cheek and turned his attention to the door, and then we waited for Veronica's entrance.

She stepped in beside her father, slowly and shakily, near us. John began to cry. Roger, who was closer to him, placed a hand on his shoulder in sympathy. Then I looked back at Veronica, who was crying too. That way, I would start crying too soon. The bride arrived at the altar and quickly she tried to wipe his tears and he hers. John received Veronica from her father. The priest asked them to kneel and the bride and groom obeyed. The ceremony then began.

I watched every word, touched and realized how much more formal and traditional that marriage was. Perhaps it was the demand of the Tetzlaffs, Veronica's family. As little as I knew them, I could tell they were traditional, maybe that was one of the reasons she had become a quiet, shy girl.

After the sermon, the priest went to the rings and finally the question that everyone was there for. John and Veronica went back to sobbing when they said yes and this time I cried with them. Their kiss was timid and quick, but so sweet that it made no one doubt how much they loved each other.

They left the church waving to everyone and we went after them. Before we went to the party, we were bombarded by the photographer's flashes. I felt kind of uncomfortable taking a picture, but three years living with Brian, who sometimes stubbornly took pictures of me at ordinary times, made me get used to it. And group photos were more comfortable for me than just me appearing in the photo.

So we all went to the party, and when I got there, I noticed that it was a little bigger than my party and Brian's. We sat down with Roger, Freddie, Dominique and Mary, since Veronica and John's relatives were kind of unfamiliar to us.

"How many people ..." I let slip, but it was more for Brian to hear.

"It seems that both the Deacons and the Tetzlaffs are large families," my husband replied. "We have far fewer relatives, so our party was smaller."

"Um ..." I agreed, distracted.

What comforted my discomfort of being among strangers was being close to my friends. Time passed and John came up to us, bringing two guests I didn't know with him. The man was one of his best men and the girl was younger than us.

"Uh, guys, they insisted a lot to come and meet you, so I hope you don't mind," John explained. "This is my friend Nigel Bullen, we were from the same band at school, and this is my sister Julie. Julie, Nigel, this is the rest of Queen, Roger, Brian and Freddie."

They exchanged handshakes politely as each of the boys introduced me, Dominique and Mary to John's guests.

"I recognized John on television," Nigel said, "in that video of yours, Killer Queen, isn't it? I barely believed it was the old Deaks on TV."

"Yeah, sounds easy, but we got really hard to get there." Freddie's voice was proud.

"Wouldn't it be possible for you to play something?" Julie asked hopefully.

"Oh no, Julie, maybe our style doesn't please most of the guests, and you also shouldn't give them ideas, they possibly will agree" her brother advised.

"You know John, that song you composed for Veronica, it would be perfect to play now," Roger suggested.

"No, no, no, no," John shook his head. "it's not ready yet, and I'm already doing a lot of exposure of my figure for one day, okay?" I love you guys, but can you give me some time, at least on my wedding day?"

"Cut the drama Deaky, you win" Freddie accepted the truce.

"Thank you," John said sarcastically, but relieved.

After a while, Veronica also came to see us. The poor girl was already tired by all the rush and the baby, and just wanted only a familiar place to rest. John came to sit next to her some time later, and it was there that I saw one of the most beautiful things in my life. The future daddy whispered something to his little unborn baby, that everything he and his mother did was for him, for the family the three of them would soon form.