To book or for more information contact us:

info@greatdivide.ca


Box 343 Lake Louise,
AB Canada T0L 1E0
Phone: (403) 522-2735
Toll free: (866) 522-2735

Hiking season...
June 1 - September 30

Snowshoeing season...
December 27 - March 31

"It was an incredible experience to be surrounded by that much love for three whole days."

We had a great time and many people told us afterwards that it was one of the most fun weddings they'd ever been to. We've tried to recreate some of the ambiance in this photo album.

Wedding events appear in order. The main events happened from September 19 to 21, 2003, but family stayed for a number of days afterwards.

Hikes, September 19

We gathered at the Post Hotel for breakfast and then people headed out for a day on the trail. Some went to Consolation Lake and some went to Sentinel Pass.

Looking at bear scat on the way to Consolation Lake.

The final effect...

The Ceremony, September 20

If You Bring the Fiddle, If You'll be My Bow

If you'll bring the fiddle, if you'll be my bow
You could play sweet and high, I'd sing low.
And the beauty we make will be what we know
If you'll bring the fiddle, if you'll be my bow.

Romance is sweet when uncertain and new.
We smile with our eyes and we hope it stays true
Through the beginnings, past failures to forgivings.

Chorus

Romance turns bitter, or so I've been told.
So let us find comfort that friendship holds
Find wonders that stay, day to day.

Chorus

In our lifetimes when the learning comes slow
And fears challenge the love we know
Friends will remind us of hope and of kindness.

Chorus

Mike Kerr, our first boss at Parks Canada married us. He is now a public speaker and humour in the workplace consultant. As you might guess, he kept everyone laughing...

Mike Kerr

Welcome friends and family of Joel Alexander Hagen and Nadine Pamela Fletcher. Welcome everyone who made the journey from far and near, especially, you know, Joel and Nadine - thanks for showing up.

And please can we thank Mandi and Kim for the wonderful music.

My name is Michael Kerr. I have the honour and privilege of officiating today's ceremony. I think we're going to make wedding history today folks, because this is probably the only wedding where the ceremony will be shorter than the invitation.

The reason Joel and Nadine asked me to referee this affair is because, well not only because of their impeccable sense of fashion, not only because I do weddings for cheap, they told me they feel I am responsible for them ending up together because I hired them at the same time and forced them to cohabitate together . . . the same summer Stephen Legault started, so it could have easily been Steph and Joel up here, well maybe not in Alberta . . . .

The only significant fact I could find about this date in history was this: Playboy released their magazine edition which featured an interview with President Jimmy Carter, who admitted that he sometimes lusted after women in his heart.

Joel

Welcome to everyone and many thanks for coming from near and far to share this special day with us. We chose this spot to get married for several reasons. One is because of the beautiful view of Mount Temple. It's underneath this mountain that we met, courted and now live. We also wanted to have water nearby. And we wanted a space big enough and accessible enough for all of you to join us.

Nadine

We chose this time of year for many reasons:
1. We first got together in the fall and it has always been our anniversary time (sign: eleven years and counting).
2. We both spent a lot of time in school and at university, so fall is associated with beginnings in our minds (mortar hat).
3. It's near the equinox - a good time of year to think about balance (yoga pose: the eagle).
4. It's rutting season for the elk (elk bugle).
5. It comes with fabulous fall colours (tie and silk shawl).
6. And it fits the time of our romance - we're not spring chickens anymore (rubber chicken).

We'd now like to introduce our families and Joel's best man, Mark Finlay...

Joel

Our first reading is a poem by May Sarton. It is about being fully present in this moment, a very important thing to be, especially on your wedding day. We have taken some liberty with the personal pronoun in this poem, changing it from "I" to "we." The poem is called "Now I Become Myself."

Now we become ourselves. It's taken
Time, many years and places.
We have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces.
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"Hurry, you will be dead before – "
(Before what? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel our own weight and density!...
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour we live
All of ourselves and do not move
We, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the Sun!

Nadine

This reading is from the letters of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. He was a very thoughtful man whose views on marriage we appreciate very much.

"Marriage is a new task and a new seriousness, – a new demand on the strength and generosity of each partner, and a great new danger for both.

The point of marriage is not to create a quick commonality by tearing down all boundaries; on the contrary, a good marriage is one in which each partner appoints the other to be the guardian of his solitude, and thus they show each other the greatest possible trust. A merging of two people is an impossibility, and where it seems to exist, it is a hemming-in, a mutual consent that robs one party or both parties of their fullest freedom and development.

But once the realization is accepted that even between the closest people infinite distances exist, a marvelous living side-by-side can grow up for them, if they succeed in loving the expanse between them, which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other as a whole and before an immense sky.

.... So those who love must try to act as if they had a great work to accomplish: they must be much alone and go into themselves and gather and concentrate themselves; they must work; they must become something. For the more we are, the richer everything we experience is. And those who want to have a deep love in their lives must collect and save for it, and gather honey."

Joel

This section of the Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran, picks up on some of the ideas of Rilke, in a more poetic way.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Nadine's Vows

Joel, my soon to be husband.
I am so glad that last September, you asked me to marry you. It has forced me to reflect deeply on our relationship and of its potential to bring great happiness to me, to you and to the many people that surround us.

I have learned that understanding is the foundation of love. I vow to learn as much as I can about the things that cause you pain and about how to water the seeds of happiness within you. I am aware that the willingness to love is not enough. It is not a question of willingness or hope, but of practice, of deeds.

We are a community of two, coming together to practice love. I vow to practice the art of love and happiness. The practice begins with loving and taking care of myself and blossoms into loving and taking care of you. I vow to be fully present to both your pain and your joy. I vow to be a cause of your happiness.

Happiness is not an individual matter. Our happiness is the happiness of many people. Through my love for you, I vow to grow in my love for humanity and for all beings. If I succeed in loving you, I will be able to bring that larger love to fruition.

Let us love each other, take care of each other and make each other happy.

Joel's Vows

Nadine,

I wrote my vows for you beside the Bow River, not only because it has been our companion these 11 years, but because I needed the river to help me say what I am about to say to you now.

To me our love has been like the river, and my hope is that it always will be so. It has been constant, but also ever changing. It sometimes rises and bursts its banks, and sometimes lies low and frozen. It sometimes flows clear, sometimes mysterious silty blue, and sometimes angry brown.

The river is pulsing, vibrant and strong, but it is also made of small things – drops of water, clear pools, riffles and rapids. Along the banks of the Bow, and sometimes in the current itself, we have shared the small moments that make up the river of our love – walks and kisses and conversation.

Like the river, you are a true companion, always nearby and always familiar. There is much I love about the familiar – watching you, listening to you, touching you, being with you – all are joys. No one would deny that the river is beautiful, and you too are beautiful... and wise, and deep, and intelligent, and sensual.

An old proverb says that "no man can step into a river twice, for he is not the same man, and it is not the same river."

In our 11 years together, I believe I have come to know you well, but in the same way the river will change, and yet remain a thing I love, I pledge to love the changes in you. I look forward to stepping into the river, I look forward to getting swept into the current of a grand amour, a grand adventure, and I look forward to the places it will take us. But mostly, I look forward to doing all of these things with you.

Mike Kerr

I brought along a reading of my own... a selection from Richard Scary's Big Picture Book: "In summer, we go to the beach. It is fun."

Can you tell Joel and Nadine are park interpreters? Stephen and I will give some feedback after the ceremony. I actually have it on good word from Nadine that even their wedding night later on this evening is going to feature some props ...

All good interpretive programs have an element of audience participation.

Nadine and Joel wanted today to be very much a community celebration and for friends and family to be involved in their ceremony and with their commitment to one another. So with that in mind they have asked me to invite all of you to now make a vow today alongside them, in which you promise to support them in their marriage.

Joel and Nadine passionately believe that much the same way that no person is an island, no couple is an island either. Perhaps a peninsula, maybe even a cape, but not an island, so it would mean a lot to them to hear you say "I do" to the following vow they have written:

Do you gathered here today agree to support Joel and Nadine in their marriage to one another and celebrate their marriage with them, as Humphrey Bogart said, "Not just today, not just tomorrow, but the next day and for the rest of their lives?"

Guests: "I do."

Now that Joel and Nadine have pledged their commitment to one another, and now that together we, as friends and family, have promised to support their commitment...

By the powers vested to me by King Ralph in the province of Alberta on this, the 20th day of September 2003, I declare them husband and wife.

Nadine, you may kiss the groom.

John Hagen played the trumpet as we kissed! Champagne was poured while Kim and Mandi played a lively instrumental piece, then we moved on to the toasts.

Anita Hagen's Toast

Life is full of surprises. Today's event is one of them, even thought the real surprise came a year ago when Joel and Nadine told us they were engaged via the modern way - by e-mail.

We are pleased! Not because you are now married. As far as we're concerned you have been "married" for these ten years. As the years have passed, we've marked your September anniversaries as you have.

We are pleased because of what today means to you. A year ago you told us about your desire to state commitment to each other and "to the world" and we've watched that commitment grow through ten years of getting to know yourselves as well as each other.

Given that you live and work together in the small domain of your home - enhanced by this great mountainous outdoors - this marriage is all the more miraculous and meaningful.

We love you dearly, greatly enjoy our times together, and don't worry about you too much!

John Hagen's Toast

Anita has spolen of our pleasure in your engagement. I was also humbled and proud that you asked us to toast you in your marriage vows.

But you made it easy and rewarding with your ceremony today, with your profound and deeply moving words on your relationship and commitment to each other.

Let us all raise our glasses now to toast Joel and Nadine - to celebrate that co-mingling of mind, body and spirit in love and commitment before this community of family and friends.

To Joel and Nadine. Sköl!

Mark Fletcher's Toast

Dear friends and family!

We are now celebrating today Nadine and Joel's relationship. On behalf of our family, I wish to express just how proud we are both of Nadine and Joel.

These two people share an incredible life together. Whenever I tell anyone what they do and where they do it, the common reaction I get is that they are an example of someone who has gotten it right.

My sister once told me that, in a relationship, you have to invest in your partner's happiness. That has been very helpful advice in my own life.

Perhaps it is for all of us here today to try to invest in their happiness by being supportive, steadfast and having a great deal of fun tonight.

Joel, Nadine, I want to say it again: we are all proud of you, your happiness and your success. You are both fantastic and exceptional people who care and love. Thank you for letting us be a part of your relationship today and in the future.

To Joel and Nadine!

Formal Photos, September 20

All members of both the Hagen and Fletcher clans.

Our official wedding photo.

Dinner and Dance at the Banff Senior Centre, September 20

Everyone provided food for a fabulous potluck feast!

Dinner was interrupted for more words and entertainment: Kim and Mandi performed the wedding song again, the young people presented a dance number, Erika played the violin, David Hagen (Joel's brother) said a some lovely words, Nadine put in a plug for same-sex marriage (a timely topic in September) and Nadine & Joel sang a song to thank people for coming.

The dance was a lot of fun for those who wanted to physically express their joy!

People in the light, left to right: Paul, Terry, Jenny, Ellen & Josee.

Kathryn and Donna

Dancing to Kung Fu Fighting - a blast from the past!

Walk at Emerald Lake, September 21

The next day, a number of people took a walk around beautiful Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park. It was a mysterious, misty morning that quickly turned to sun. We spent some time fish watching with Mike Engelsjord, who is a fisheries biologist and had a lot of fun with "bunny teeth."

Over the Next Week

It was a real treat to have much of our family stay for the next week. At the end of it all, it was hard to say goodbye to one of the most enjoyable times in our lives.

The Hagens and the Fletchers in the Banff Hotsprings pool

Nadine, Joel and Erika play music

David, Nadine, Erika and Joel at Morant's Curve