Coffee shop leads coffee-snubs to Wedding Photography

He was sitting quietly at his table at Starbucks, buried in books and lost in the world of theology. In his mind, theology student Mosiah Ramontal was mulling over theories, ideas, and beliefs. It was a calming, eye-opening, thought-provoking silence.

People, and the scene around him, blurred to oblivion. There was no bustle, no noise, no interruptions—just him and utter peace. Suddenly, a voice jolted him out of his thoughts.

“I’m coming to you!” it said . . .

In an interesting twist of fate, or, as they say, God is not without a sense of humor, coffee-snub Natasha March was forced to set foot in a place she had never been. But avoid it as she might, on that fateful day she had no choice but to cross the threshold into Starbucks to request help for car trouble. As she pulled open the glass doors, she knew immediately who she would ask for help. He had looked up only briefly and went back to his books.

“I’m coming to you,” she repeated.

Mosiah blinked. Refocused. The young lady was his future wife, and she needed rescuing.

“I was buried in research and she walked up to me,” Mosiah recalled. “She needed help with her car and I helped her. Then she gave me her business card, and I called her later on to check up on the car. She told me that I’d already called her back once before. I don’t remember that,” he chuckled.

A few calls later and the strangers decided to make it a go at becoming friends.

“Our first date was back at Starbucks,” Natasha laughed. “We went back and had tea together. It was a nice date and we had great conversation. At first I didn’t make anything of it, so it wasn’t until a couple months after talking with him and frequenting Starbucks that I knew he was the one.”

Incidentally, the two both lived in Miami. But that wasn’t where their similarities ended. Oddly enough, and unknown to one another, both attended the same Adventist church, both had Caribbean roots, and Mosiah had known Natasha’s sister for a while.

More peculiarly, neither of the two even liked coffee. Mosiah, who used the environment for study—drank only tea!
So how did the serendipitous encounter of two coffee-snubs happen to be at one of the world’s most popular coffee enterprises? Mosiah had the answer.

“She’s a godsend,” he said. “Prior to meeting her I told God that I wasn’t going to look for anyone, that I was going to wait on Him to send her to me,” he explained. “And He sent her to me. But most times when God sends us something we don’t pay attention to it. Which was what happened with us. As time went on however, she blossomed in my life and I just knew that she was the one.“

Natasha, curiously enough, had asked for the same.

“I told God that I would wait for someone,” she said. “And in the most unexpected place, at the most unexpected time, he came. We attended the same church and never knew each other before we met. Yet, he knew my sister. I had no idea.”

The two traveled back to the Caribbean for their wedding, to the island of St Lucia, where Mosiah grew up.

“I’ve always known that I didn’t want to get married in a church,” he said. “I wanted an open air wedding surrounded by nature. I suggested St Lucia because I left the island at the age of 11 and I remember it was beautiful there. We talked about it, changed our minds a couple times and finally settled,” Mosiah said.

“Then once we decided on St Lucia, I went on the hunt for a photographer,” Natasha, who is of Jamaican descent explained. “I found reviews on Bill Mortley that were very favorable and my mind was soon made up. I said I really want this gentleman to do my wedding. When we got to St Lucia, someone else recommended him. I was so relieved that we had the same person in mind.”

Natasha and Mosiah were married at the Jalousie Plantation Resort on September 18—a fabulous affair surrounded by family and friends. Then they traveled to their honeymoon destination of Costa Rica.

But the memory that lingers, they say, is St Lucia’s lush tropical landscape that provided the backdrop for their
Wedding Photography.

“The view from the hotel is just amazing,” Mosiah said. “It’s nestled between the island’s famous twin Pitons and it is truly breathtaking!”

By Kendall Burton
Until 2001 in St Lucia, the most I’d ever done online was check my email. I’d just got back from Dominica – recovering from a break-up of a 6 year relationship – a place I usually went to, to escape from the stress in my life. I’d come home from a particularly hard day at work one Friday night and after my usual after work beer, sat down in front of my laptop to check my email, only this time instead of logging off as I usually did, I stayed on and decided to take a tour of the world wide web and see what all the fuss was about.
I checked out a few random websites, entered a few random chat rooms, discovered and downloaded MSN messenger and engaged random strangers in meaningless banter. In one particular chat room I encountered a really annoying girl who apparently ticked off everybody in the room.  I was really amused by some of the jeering, but one particular chatter got my attention with her wit and sarcastic skill. Cinnabonn. We began chatting in private and exchanged information. I didn’t hear from her again for months, until late one night when she popped up on my messenger. We began a conversation and the process of getting to know each other.
I would not know this until much later but it turns out that that night was her first outing on the net as well. She had just established an email address and just like me was scouting the net. She was fresh out of De La Salle University in the Philippines where she’d studied psychology so she had time on her hands and I determined to have her spend as much of it with me. The same wit and charm that drew me to her in the first place kept me spellbound for hours on end. The 12 hour difference between our countries meant in order for us to talk one of us would have to be up late, but it never mattered.
As our friendship grew so did our fondness for each other and our curiosity along with it. We decided we had to meet each other and so we decided we would meet in Australia in 2005 but before that could happen, our online time had doubled and it wasn’t long before we began to develop feelings for each other well.
She consumed my every thought day and night and was online every chance I got. We began exchanging letters and cards. The long late night online chats turned into long late night phone calls. Almost daily there were cards and photos, gifts, books, CDs, in my mailbox. At one point we even exchanged items of clothing just so we’d each have something of the other’s. She began keeping an audio diary and I would fall asleep every night with the sound of her voice telling me about her day.
We decided we couldn’t wait until Australia or 2005. I wanted to meet her now and decided to go to the Philippines, she decided to come to Saint Lucia and we argued back and forth about who would go where for months until she called and announced that her ticket was paid for and I had no choice.
Being from a very traditional culture and family background I had to formally write to her mother seeking permission to court her daughter. The wait for a response was long and agonizing. Finally a response came, via phone call, granting permission for the courtship and for her daughter’s trip
The day of her arrival was torturous. Her flight was delayed by several hours and I could into get any information from the airline, so that a flight which should have arrived just around noon didn’t arrive until late into the night. By this point the anxiety and fretting had made me physically sick and I had to go home to lie down. I hadn’t been there very long when the phone rang. It was her. She was here.

My heart was racing as the taxi drove to the airport. I think must have got the oldest slowest taxi driver because the ride took forever. I couldn’t wait to see her. I got out of the car and she was sitting there clad entirely in jeans, with her black boots. Our eyes met and she smiled and stood up to meet me. We hugged and it felt like we’d never been apart. Almost a year went by and she was still with me.

I decided any woman who could put up with me that much and for that long was special and I should hang on to her
She had begun writing an advice column in the Voice newspaper and so I met and arranged with the Editor to place my proposal in the paper in the guise of a letter from a reader seeking her advice. That Saturday we went grocery shopping as usual and I kept the ring in my pocket the whole time.

We got home and we sat down and she hogged the paper as she usually did so that I wouldn’t complete the crossword before she could. She began flipping through the paper and as she got to the page with her column a puzzled expression appeared on her face. She’d realized that the letter was different from what she’d submitted and began reading. She’s always said that she wouldn’t marry me unless I learned to speak her language and so my proposal was entirely in Filipino.
A smile came to her face as she read it and she broke out in laughter. She hugged me tight and said “yes”. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring box and placed it on her finger. We got married in August 19th. That was six years ago. It seems longer.  It has been six years of adjustments and challenges but six years of discovery and reward that I would not trade for anything. Not only did I find a life partner in St Lucia, but I found my best friend and I look forward to every day with her and to growing old with her, because I can’t imagine anyone else I’d rather share my life with.

When it’s nice, do it twice… but what about three times—then wind up the same place you began, more in love than you ever thought you could be? Paul and Denise Weston never in a million years dreamed they’d wind up together again when they split up 33 years ago—and their story is one of the most interesting ones we’ve come across in quite some time!

“I feel like a pop star,” Paul says jokingly when he’s handed the microphone and that sets the tone for the interview that turns out to be both emotional and fun.

The two met for the first time at the of Denise’s older sister. Paul remembers playing kiss catch with Denise and the other kids, and says she let him catch her. They started going out a couple years later and got married in 1974 when she was just 16 and he 17! Needless to say, parents on both sides felt they were too young, but they could do nothing to stop in Paul’s words, the “arrogant youth” who felt they were grown enough to make their own decisions.

“We went ahead,” he says. “We weren’t grown up enough. We just felt it was right at the time. We felt grown up, obviously we weren’t and we felt that it was. It was both of our first serious relationship.”

We got our parents’ permission, but they weren’t happy about it,” Denise added. “They said we were too young… and they were right.”

The couple later had two children, both boys, but wounded up splitting up in 1978, when Paul was 21 and Denise 20. The circumstances of their split led to each of them taking one child along and going their separate way.

We kept in contact because of the children, but we hadn’t seen each other for 33 years,” Paul says. “The children were separated. I had Andrew and she had Vincent, which they don’t normally do but did because of the way it was when we separated.”

Paul and Denise both remarried, but it would not last for either of the two. After 28 years of being married to his second wife, Paul went to Scotland to take care of his retired father who’d fallen ill. He remained there for three years and says it was at that point that his wife of 28 years went off with someone else!

By that time, Denise’s relationship had also fizzled, and it was their son Vincent who wound up playing matchmaker.

“Dad, Mom’s on her own, you’re on your own, why don’t you see if mom will go out to dinner?” he’d told his father. Paul contemplated, then texted his ex-wife whose response was along the lines of: “I’ve had a lot of hatred for you for a lot of years… I don’t know how it will be when we meet up or how we’ll be.”

“We met up and I still haven’t thumped you,” Denise said, driving them both to laughter as they went about their tale.

“It was very emotional, very tearful when we met up,” she said.

“Taking Denise to see Andrew our other son, and we have a granddaughter who Denise had no contact with, it’s been so beautiful,” Paul added. “Very emotional.”

After they’d had their first coffee date, Paul went back to Scotland, and says they kept texting each other. Soon after, his father passed away. He sold the house in Scotland, and invited Denise over and “went from there.”

“I proposed to her all over again,’ says Paul. “I did it the proper way—on one knee!”

Are you convinced yet that true love can survive anything? Denise and Paul sure are!

“It really does seem like it was meant to be. It’s so lovely now because we’ve got our children, “ he said. “We’ve got two granddaughters, and its nice to hand grandma and grand daddy together again!”

What did Paul love most about his wife?

“She’s a very tolerant person, very forgiving that’s probably one of her best qualities,” he said. “The sad thing is, sometimes people walk over her and I’ve seen it so much, especially since I’ve been back with her.

Taking a few seconds to gather her thoughts, Denise told what she loved about her husband Paul.

“What do I love about him?” she said aloud, promptly bursting into laughter. “You make me laugh, you make me happy,” she said finally adding: “And you do a mean dance in the shower!”

“Don’t go there! Too much information,” he laughed.

The setting for their September Wedding Photography  at the Almond Morgan Bay Resort was straight out of a tropical fairytale; bumblebees buzzing harmlessly among the flowers, butterflies floating about, the sun complimenting the scene and the Caribbean Sea in the backdrop. If that’s not a good sign for things to come for the couple then we don’t know what is!

“I had an uncle I was very close to who came to St Lucia to get married,” Paul says of his destination Wedding Photography choice. “I’ve seen the pictures and thought they were very beautiful. When I suggested it to Denise, she liked the idea so we did. It’s out first time to the Caribbean and we think it’s beautiful!”

Although Denise and Paul both feel as though they missed out on each other over the years, and on their children growing up, they’ve already started catching up. At the line “you may kiss the bride,” the couple exchanges a short smooch, and then Denise adds another, longer this time as if for good measure.

“This is it,” Paul says. “This is the last time! We’ll be back next year for the anniversary.”

Though they hesitate to say it, it was almost love at first sight for Michelle and Drew, in a meeting that was inevitable, and compelling.

“The first night, I wasn’t trying to impress anybody, I was wearing ratty old clothes, just playing pool. I saw her and I thought ‘oh my!’ I remember that night as the saddest because I didn’t want to see her go,” recalled Drew, a 28-year-old carpenter and student.

After meeting her brother-in-law’s best friend while visiting her sister, Michelle, a 36-year-old Administrative Assistant and project coordinator with British Petroleum said, “We had dinner; spent a little time together. I called him on my way back home and we talked for four hours…and then I got him to move to Houston.”

That move eventually led to a trip down the aisle at the Sandals Grande Resort in, following a year of “kinda married, kinda not,” which Drew says, “Was weirder than I thought it would be.”

Now the two are where they both want to be, following official pronouncements and exchange of rings on the island’s northern shores. This follows several hours of research and “some unexpected family troubles”, which led the couple to decide to do “something for us. Something that was easy to do.” The bride’s and groom’s wishes were fulfilled, as “was exactly what we wanted!”

“What an adventure, what an adventure!” exclaims Michelle. “Whatever we asked for (Sandals staff) did. It was out of the ordinary.”

The reclusive duo, who admit to spending almost all their spare time with each other, were inspired to explore the island and its people. Choosing to book tours with private vendors instead of the hotel gave them the opportunity to interact with more locals, and their wedding was not simply an occasion to exchange vows but an escapade.

“The rain forest was awesome…we had so much fun. They took us into places where we wouldn’t have gone with the Sandals tour. Beautiful scenery. We also had some local food with our guide Charlie,” comments Drew, who struck up many acquaintances with Saint Lucians, who he found were “all friendly, not just at the resort but across the island.”

Apart from the almost mandatory wardrobe malfunction, (it’s usually the bride’s dress), their only surprise was the rush hour traffic.

Drew and Michelle, also managed to get the most excellent Wedding Photography, a fitting representation of their most memorable day. With Sandals’ “outrageous” charges for every little extra, an aggrieve Michelle says, “I was getting stressed.” They took the bold step of hiring an outside photographer, (Bill Mortley) which is frowned on by the hotel.

Bill Mortley’s professionalism and amazing hospitality however, soon calmed Michelle’s fears.

A scenic drive to some of the most picturesque areas on Saint Lucia was unexpected but says Michelle, “The Wedding Photography are amazing. The best! Drew and I do lots of things on our own and it was an extension of us…The beginning of our lives, just this day to be an adventure!

“We will come back.”