FOR WEDDING ASSISTANCE CALL THE OPP

Peter and Cathy Oomen

Photo submitted by Peter and Cathy Oomen

I had been notified that my divorce papers had been processed and would be sent to me in the mail. However, the divorce nisi copy would take three months to become final. Well, that wasn’t such a long time to wait to marry my beloved. That would make Friday, February 27, a perfect time.

So, we went ahead and made a few arrangements. Having my mom bake a three-tiered cake, booking a minister, reserving our ski holiday in Vermont, and arranging to spend our wedding night at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in downtown Montréal. You see, Peter lived in Montréal, but I lived in Toronto.

The first hint that all might not go as planned was the announcement of a mail strike. Who would have thought that that would last longer than a few weeks? It concerned me anyway, as my papers had already been put into the local post office’s hands.

By the third week of February, there was no sign of the legal documents! I called the lawyer’s office in Toronto and was assured that they were on their way, but I contacted our minister to see what the consequences would be with no papers. You know, of course, what we were told – no papers, no wedding!

However, he did suggest that he and my lawyer speak on the phone, and if the lawyer made assurances, he would go ahead with the ceremony. But, again, there was another snag – my lawyer was at his hunting chalet in Northern Ontario with no phone.

These exchanges all took place on the Tuesday of the wedding week (only three days to go)!

While trying to get some sleep that evening, I suddenly remembered a time several years ago when my parents had to be contacted over an emergency, and they were of course camping in northern Ontario. Northern Ontario was always a favourite holiday spot. At that time, their lawyer contacted the OPP. So, I thought, I shall do the same.

So, Wednesday, during my lunch hour, I called the Northern Ontario office of the OPP and poured out my long tale of woe. When the officer finally stopped laughing, we decided to plan a strategy. Remember, as this was 1970, communication was not too great up there, so he decided that the only way he could get in touch with my lawyer was to literally go into his camp on a skidoo. It was a great adventure for him! So off he went. Later that afternoon, he called me back to say that my lawyer was very sick and couldn’t travel. My hair turned white that night! However, the OPP came through with flying colours.

The officer contacted our minister, told him about the latest complication, and offered a solution. He would hook up a phoneline between him and the minister, go back out to the chalet and somehow hook the lawyer up too. And that is what they did. The lawyer spoke to the minister, who spoke to the OPP officer in Northern Ontario, to get permission to proceed with our wedding in Montréal. I got the word at 3:30pm that afternoon.

The wedding did proceed, but not without a few more hitches. There was a horrendous snowstorm on Friday morning, so the school closed at noon. (A very rare occurence Quebec.) I was able to make my way out to Ste. Anne de Bellevue, where I got ready to walk to the church in my best galoshes. As no cars were available, the flowers had to be delivered by skidoo, and the photographer never did show up. My brother and sister-in-law, both members of the wedding party, were an hour and a half late getting there. So, at 8:00pm, instead of 6:30pm, my dear husband, Peter and I were duly married.

But our adventures weren’t quite over yet. When we had left Peter’s home, where our small reception was to be held, our beautifully decorated, the three-tier cake was majestically residing on a white tablecloth in the middle of the serving table. The first thing I noticed upon opening the front door when we got back was a trail of white crumbs. Further investigation led me to Woosy, the all-black cat, sitting beside the cake surrounded by white crumbs. The top tier was noticeably missing!

We will be celebrating our 53rd wedding anniversary on the 28th of this February, and the second and third tiers were devoured at our children’s baptisms!

Thank you, OPP! None of this would have happened without you.