My friend Michel came to me with a plan. He wanted to surprise his beloved Chloe with a wedding. "When is she going to find out about this surprise wedding?" I asked. "At the [metaphorical] altar," he said. "Huh? Explain...."
Michel and Chloe had been committed to one another for quite awhile. They already had two-year-old twins together and kept putting off the wedding because, well....it takes a lot of work to plan a wedding! She wanted a nice wedding but just didn't have the time and energy to plan the event (remember I said they had two-year-old twins?). So they finally agreed to go to the courthouse to get married, with the plan that they would have a reception at some point later in the future. But Michel knew that Chloe really wanted a wedding.
So he enlisted the help of friends to bring this wedding dream to reality. I must say, Chloe is a very unique individual. I wouldn't recommend a surprise wedding for the average bride, but in this case...it worked out fantastically. :)
How did he pull this off? He told her that their close friends Mark and Kayt were going to have some kind of five-year commitment ceremony in Old San Juan. Michel and Chloe were to be the equivalent of a best man and maid of honor for this commitment ceremony. So that was the reason to get dressed up, get hair and make-up done, etc. Their supposed courthouse date was to be the next day. He told her they were going to chip in for the photographer so they could have some nice wedding photos for themselves. Upon arrival for the pre-ceremony photos, their friend Mark would be "running late" and I would thus start photos with Michel and Chloe to not waste any time. I had to do a wee bit of acting to make that believable. ;)
So we started photos at the edge of El Morro. Then we started walking the path out toward the fort. When we got to the pre-agreed-upon spot, he told her that he had never officially got down on one knee and proposed to her, so he would do that now. He knelt, he proposed, she said yes. He got up and yelled to the random strangers scattered on the lawn of El Morro, "SHE SAID YES!!!" That was the cue for their friends and families to start appearing from their hiding spot in the fort moat. The mothers of the bride and groom appeared with their two-year-old twins. A friend appeared and handed her a bouquet. Another friend placed a flower crown on her head. She got surprise after surprise seeing friends that had traveled from afar to be with them that day.
Eventually Michel told her they were getting married right then. They had a lovely ceremony standing on the lawn of El Morro, encircled by their friends and families. After the ceremony, all the guests walked to the reception venue on the south side of Old San Juan while I did more portraits with the bride and groom.
Michel successfully pulled off the surprise. What a memorable wedding day it was.
