Vows — Here & Now
One look in your eyes and there I see
Just what you mean to me
Here in my heart I believe
Your love is all I’ll ever need…
Half Moon, A RockResort, continues to be the venue of choice for quite a few of this wedding season’s most fabulous affairs. Add to this list the May 24 nuptials of private equity investor Marlon Day and senior account executive Nathalie Garcia Chang.
How they met…
The couple trace their initial meeting to the pre-teen age of 12 when both were students at Belair High School in Mandeville. “We maintained a friendship throughout high school and started a relationship during our first year of college”, shared the bridegroom.
After five years of a long-distance relationship they decided it was time to live in the same city. A move that proved fortuitous, for two years later, on December 26, 2012 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Marlon popped the question.
The Boxing Day proposal as told to Vows by Marlon…
Nathalie had always wanted to swim with the dolphins at Dolphin Cove. This would provide the perfect opportunity to devise, in conjunction with Nathalie’s parents and brother, how to incorporate the proposal in her swim with the dolphins.
The Changs, my parents and I made arrangements to go to Dolphin Cove on Boxing Day. All told, we were in a group with 25 other people including Nathalie’s brother Justin.
Towards the end of the session, each participant received a souvenir photo of them riding with the dolphin. Just as we were about to get out of the water, the trainer told Nathalie that her picture came out blurry. This meant that she had to retake the photo. She swam out and waited for the dolphin. The trainer discreetly put the box with the ring in the dolphin’s mouth who in turn swam over to Nathalie. Needless to say she was overwhelmed with emotion, covering her face – ring box in hand.
Marlon swam over to her and asked for her hand in marriage.. The proposal was met with thunderous applause from the onlookers.
Here Comes The Bride…
Wearing a gorgeous strapless mermaid gown by Morilee, the bride made her walk up the aisle to the strains of A Thousand Years by Christina Perri as her groom dapper in Hugo Boss, awaited her arrival at the altar.
The ceremony officiated by Rev Courtney Walker, took place at the property’s Lily Pond Gazebo and commenced under dark clouds complete with lightning and thunder. Thankfully, by the time the couple was pronounced husband and wife the clouds had dissipated to reveal a bright, sunny evening and the full beauty of the Paulette Henry- decorated setting.
Cocktails were served at the Royal Pavillion followed by the reception on the Croquet Lawn under a purple-lit clear tent with entertainment provided by a steel band and the musical styling of DJ Devon Reid.
After a lovely wedding reception, the couple enjoyed a week-long honeymoon in St Lucia.
