Lesson in love: Unforgettable charter leads to wedding bells for smitten duo

Did anyone call out for a taxi? Joan Gumbs did when she disembarked from a bus plying the Montego Bay route in Three Miles, Kingston, to attend a new-teachers’ orientation at St George’s College. When John Waller answered, he took her to her desired destination. But what this teacher never saw happening was that John would teach her the most valuable lesson about love and charter his way into her heart.

Initially, Joan thought John was good-looking, and her attraction grew quickly. She decided to go into a relationship with him after speaking to the Lord about it. “The Lord impressed on my heart that I was getting a diamond in the rough,” she told Island Wedding.

Describing him as a wonderful man, she was happy to discover that chivalry was not dead among men. “He opens the car door for me; he takes my bags to school; I don’t have to lift a thing when he is around,” she revealed. It helps that he doesn’t mind cooking, washing, or cleaning. But whenever balance isn’t at play, he will go into rebel mode and Joan is all too happy to chip in and play her part.

John admits that at the beginning, he only saw her as a passenger, nothing more. But after taking her around town, he realised just how wonderful and genuine she really was. “By identifying and acknowledging her genuine nature, I decided that she would be the ideal fit for me. I wasn’t sure if she had it in mind, but that’s what I had in mind,” he said. That feeling was most certainly mutual.

In many ways, Joan has guided him through several areas of life, and he continues to be amazed by her attitude towards him, a feeling he describes as stress relieving. “I knew she was the one when I started seeing how in sync we were. We were finishing each other’s sentences, and I kept noticing that we had a lot of similarities. We were in one accord,” he added.

Their dating journey began at Jolly’s Restaurant on West Kings House Road. As a lover of seafood, Joan found the food to be pleasing to the palate and the company, even better.

These days, the pair enjoys going on adventures across the island. “We have the most fun when we are on the road,” Joan shared. While for John, he is happy to reignite their flame while in the soothing company of the open sea. “When we’re by the seaside, the cool breeze helps me to find peace of mind, and I can also freely discuss anything with her at that time.”

After courting her for only three months, John wasted no time in asking the love of his life to be his wife. He popped the question with not one, but two proposals.

“First, I told her I would love for us to get married to see how she felt. Then, when she did not reject it, I went and secured the ring. I didn’t want to buy something she didn’t like, so I asked her to come with me and choose the one she liked. I then proposed to her in front of her father. I was not satisfied with it ending there, so I took it to my pastor and made another proposal before my pastor,” he shared.

Joan, who said yes on both occasions, had this to say about proposal part one and part two: “It was different, but that’s John. He likes to do things differently. And I wouldn’t have him any other way.”

This bride-to-be immediately went into planning mode, understandably so since she is also a certified wedding and honeymoon destination specialist.

“Friends and family pitched in to make my dream a reality as it was hard to be the bride and the wedding planner at the same time. It was not as stressful as people thought it would have been for me as the process was fairly smooth. Things happened, as they usually do, but I was able to go to a plan B or C without anyone noticing,” she confessed.

On May 22, in the presence of God and specially invited guests, Joan and John tied the knot at a destination wedding at Cardiff Hotel and Spa, Runaway Bay, St Ann. Making waves in an ocean of royal blue, the blushing bride made her way up to meet her dapper groom, where they would both say ‘I do’.

“The wedding was fantastic,” the bride said, adding, “It was not what I had initially planned, but it was exactly the way the Lord wanted it to be. The best moment was when the pastor introduced us to the audience as Mr and Mrs John Waller.” The groom shared similar nuptial sentiments, stating that the wedding was more than he had hoped for.

Together, they shared an official first dance as newlyweds to the soulful classic, How Do I Live by LeAnn Rimes, “The feeling was surreal. I felt like I was dreaming. Having waited so long for this to happen, it had still not fully registered at that time that I was Mrs John Waller. You know, John makes me feel safe, so I laid my head on his shoulder as we danced,” she said.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com