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| An American couple who fell in love with
Trinidad in 1996, ran away from friends and family back home to quietly exchange wedding
vows on a beach in Blanchisseuse in September 1997. With a bandana on his head,
three-quarter pants and a tie, a barefooted Dean Naleway, a record producer from Los
Angeles, California, became the husband of Shannon Clark, a film producer also from LA. |
BEACH WEDDING:With hand upraised, Fr Winston Joseph blesses
the marriage of American couple Dean Naleway, (with bandanna) and Shannon Clark, |
She, too, stood barefooted on the white sandy
Laguna Mar Beach before the officiating priest, Fr Winston Joseph, who said he did the
ceremony because of his friend Fred Zollna. In addition to Fred, who was drafted as
bestman and, and his wife Barbara as maid of honor, Eddie Wade’s three piece
steel band "Pan World" serenaded the couple while bathers and resort employees
gathered to witness the first beach wedding in Blanchisseuse. |
The simple ceremony lasted about 20 minutes
with the couple exchanging white gold rings they designed for each other. Later, said
Naleway, he and his new wife would exchange private vows they composed themselves, in the
privacy of their rooms.
After the ceremony, they smilingly walked hand in hand to the Cocos Hut Restaurant to
celebrate with specially invited guests.
"When we get back to LA we will have a big reception for our friends and
relatives," said Naleway. "But we wanted to keep this part of it very simple and
very private, that’s why we eloped to Trinidad." |
