Let's Celebrate!

This week, I got to play the priest! A couple staying with us wanted to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary here and renew their wedding vows. They asked us if we could organize a little celebration. We said yes, making sure that it was not going to be just a «little» celebration.

Our whole team was eagerly planning and organizing the event for weeks. It had to be perfect. The guests had sent us the vows they gave each other 20 years ago, as well as two wedding pictures to give us an idea. We were all asked to wear white clothes or at least a white t-shirt.

At some point, someone had to re-write the vows, and guess who had the honor to do this? Since I like writing in general, it was a pleasure for me to do this, although I had no idea what to write about in the beginning. It had to be solemn and meaningful, I thought. And something that would fit various lifestyles, as I didn’t really know them and what they may have experienced during their 20-year journey together. I managed to come up with something and was actually looking forward to holding my speech in front of the entire group of guests and employees that were all invited to the ceremony. I even got to ask the famous question and luckily, they both said «I do»!

After the ceremony, there was singing, dancing, food, cake and party time until the wee hours. All in all, it was a beautiful event and all the guests were very happy.

We celebrate many events here, but never before such a big one. Usually, it’s birthdays, a marriage proposal once in a while, or public holidays, and we always try to come up with a new idea to make it special for our guests. We also like it to be a surprise for them, so we don’t tell them before or have standard procedures. Even though there is always some planning or preparations involved, we try to make it look like a spontaneous event.

Our staff is very good at improvising as well. You have to be if you live on a remote island with no easy access to shops or other providers of supply. But it’s always done with a lot of joy. Our employees never give the impression that they are forced to make an extra effort. I think, they are enjoying these celebrations as well and most of the times, they keep on playing music and singing much longer than they have to. As there are not many distractions here, these are also fun times for them, one of the reasons probably being that they always get a special treat, such as free drinks, sweets or cigarettes.
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But even though we enjoy celebrations, Pulau Pef will never become a «wedding island» or any other kind of party place. As much as we like to have fun, we also enjoy our peace and quiet times again, listening to the sound of the waves and the singing of the birds. And remind ourselves that this is exactly what our guests come here for.