Martha thinks that it started here, as a limo took us to Cafe Annie in Houston for dinner on her birthday (15 September, 1997). It really started in the spring as we visited John Davis in New Orleans. We had met him years earlier and bought a sapphire (our birthstone) ring from him as a Christmas present for Martha. We were now working in Houston and New Orleans was a welcome break from the 60 hour weeks, so we drove over and stayed in his slave quarters on Royal Street. We had a wonderful dinner at Bayonna and viewed more of John's antique jewelry the next day. After returning to Houston, Martha remarked that there was a very nice diamond and sapphire band that would make a great wedding ring. There was also a beautiful sapphire and large diamond ring that would be a great engagement ring, but it was too expensive. I called John and made arrangements for the ring to be sent to Houston.

The limo was the first surprise. As we walked out of the apartment, I complained that a big limo was parking us in. We walked up to the driver, ostensibly to ask him to move, but he opened the door and welcomed us with a bottle of champagne for a ride to Cafe Annie. As we headed east along route 10, we watched the sun set over the massive traffic jam of cars heading west on the other side of the highway. When we arrived, we were ushered to a corner table on an upper level and ordered a bottle of wine. The waiter then brought the lagniappe from the chef, but Martha's was different. There was a napkin wrapped around a small box and in the box was the too expensive engagement ring. The rest of the dinner was just as good.

We then had to petition the Lt Governer of St Maarten for permission to get married on his island. We choose the date of 15 January to give us a about a month to get things arranged after arriving in mid-December and the 15th to make it easy to remember - four months after Martha's birthday. Eventually, we got a fax back from the gov saying that he had no objections to our marraige.

We contacted Lucy Davis, a local who served as our wedding coordinator, and she proceeded to handle the paperwork, which was mountainous and made moreso because everything had to be translated into Dutch. But it all worked, and on 15 January, this group arrived at our condo to help us get married. Lucy was a half hour late getting to our home at Sapphire Beach Club. The other three couples who were going over with us surprised us with a rented a van and drove us over. We lost sight of Lucy on the 30 minute drive over the hill to Philipsburg and later found that she had to stop and call the hospital because of high blood pressure.

We arrived at the administration building (get your license plates here), walked in, and were sent around the corner by the functionary at the desk. Sure enough, there was a small room with a sign outside it that said "Wedding Hall". In this case, Hall is not as in The Albert Hall, more like the back hall. As you can see, the bride was radiant in an ivory dress with a strand of pearls from the groom and another from the groom's mother. She carried a bouquet of orchids, roses, and lilies in various shades of pink surrounded by sea grape leaves and wrapped in a her mother's wedding hanky. The groom had a dark pin stripe suit (something old) with a yellow tie from the bride's mother (something new) and a single pink rose on his lapel. His courage came from Remy Martin (something borrowed) and his underwear were something blue. Also, sure enough, the room was locked. Lucy finally showed up and after another 10 minutes, we went back into the first entrance, wandered through the maze of offices, stumbled across a minotaur, and arrived at the wedding hall.

Now all we needed was the judge. Unfortunately, he is the head of the census department and they are in charge of what passes for elections here in St Maarten. I could go on, but one of the major legal issues that he had to decide was which colors were assigned to the various political parties. If that is a major issue, you can imagine the rest. He had the only keys to the hall and arrived an hour later, rushed into his robe and bib and started. His bib and shirt collar were askew, so our ever-helpful coordinator came up and adjusted it for the legion of papparazzi. Note Queen Beatrix and consort on the wall behind us.

Rick gives a ring to Martha

The ceremony was quite touching and not at all perfunctory. The bride and groom were front and center with the two witnesses (Ron and Ginny Meyer, our neighbors who have resident status) on each side. Mr Mathews explained that the groom is the head of the household, but he admonished admonished the new head of the new household to be an enlightened head of the household. The bride received the aforementioned antique band ring with square sapphires and round diamonds. The groom received a large platinum ring engraved with initials and the wedding date. The couple then received copious instruction on children and at the end of the ceremony were given a marraige book with spaces to enter the names of 23 children.

Martha gives a ring to Rick

Of course, there was a last minute snafu: Martha's place of birth had been incorrectly entered on the marraige certificate. Lucy prodded the Dutch government into uncharacteristic expediency, especially considering it was well past closing time, and the offending datum was replaced with the truth.

We piled into the van, popped a 1990 Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle (a gift from Claudine who sold us the unit here at Sapphire) and headed for home in the rush hour traffic. We got caught at the bridge that opens at 5:30 to let boats in and out of the lagoon and finally got back to our neighbor's villa for more champagne and smoked fish at about 6PM. After the champagne was opened (Pommery Brut Rose and Brut Royal) and our friends, Rebbe Jerome Bouchner and the Right Reverend Ronald Meyer, conducted an ecumenical ceremony in RR Meyer's living room overlooking the Caribbean as the sun set into the water.

These two really are defrocked and got quite wild, something like vaudeville meets the wedding ceremony, but we all found it quite funny. The high point was the stomping of the glass which Rebbe Bouchner explained symbolized the shattering of a previous life and the start of a new life, but he added that he hoped that our years together would last as long as it would take to put the shattered glass back together.

Dinner was arranged at Chamade, our favorite restaurant here in St Martin. Two magnums of 85 Beaune Premier Cru from the Chateau de Beaune had been delivered to the restaurant. We arrived at about 8PM and were treated to fresh foie gras that had just arrived on that afternoon's Air France flight from Paris. The bride had a venison dinner and the groom went with beef with girolle mushrooms. The cake was a chocolate extravaganza from Antony, the chef. The chef joined for a bottle of Pol Roget Brut Rose, his gift to us.

Our driver, Rebbe Bouchner, somehow managed to get us back to Sapphire by midnight where we found a bottle of Roederer Champagne in an ice bucket on our counter, courtesy of Phillipe, the owner of Sapphire. This champagne went into the refrigerator and the bride and groom went into the bedroom...