Christian Starks, the Marrying Kind
/Christian Starks is an angel among us, one of those people who seem to shine happiness. Besides her exploits as a professional singer and world adventurer, she has officiated over 150 weddings.
Here are a few of her stories of magic, long-distance romance, and love on the high seas.
Christian and Randy Starks
Love Calms the Storm
This couple had come from Seattle and they just had their two best friends as witnesses, who were also married. They were going to have a feast up at the Willows, but they really wanted to get married on the water. And it was one of the wildest storms I’ve ever seen on Lummi Island! I mean, it was just downpouring and lightening and all sorts of things. The bride was so disappointed and she said, “Oh, I just wanted so much to get married on the beach.”
I said, “Well, why not? Let’s just do it.”
She just lit up, she goes, “You’re willing to to do that?” I said, “Whatever the bride wants the bride gets!” Then Riley – he’s so cute – he gave us shower caps! There’s a picture of all of us with shower caps on the beach.
So we go down to Sunset Beach. The photographer was with us, and Riley gave us big golfing umbrellas so we went down. And we put aside the umbrellas …and the rain stops…
It was so perfect. The rain stops, and like, Thank You Lord! She looked so beautiful, and her husband to be, they took off their shoes and walked in the water, which I thought was so romantic.
Then, when I pronounced them man and wife, you talk about timing… the lightning arced! It went from one side of the water, arcing over the couple, and down to the other side. It was like a rainbow of lightning. Except that it wasn’t a rainbow, and after the lightening the sunset happened… I mean, we were all, oh my God!
We all saw it, the photographer couldn’t get it in time, but we all remember it. I’ve never seen anything like it. The bride was so happy, it was her dream!
“When I pronounced them man and wife, you talk about timing… the lightning arced! ”
Everyone’s Here Now
My friend and her husband got married down at the Clubhouse in Scenic Estates. It was wonderful and all my friends were there. We were having wedding cake and I thought to myself, ‘everybody I know and love is right here today’ …except my best friend Linda and her boyfriend at the time.
It was just getting that sunset glow, and we see this beautiful sailboat come in. This couple jumps off the boat, ties it up, and run up. And it’s Linda and her boyfriend! They must have heard me on the airwaves. It was “OK, well everyone’s here now!”
The Siberian Bride
I did a mail-order bride wedding from Siberia. She was a darling, this petite blonde. Just darling. And her husband worked at Microsoft, really shy. And so his friends said ‘you should check out Siberia.’ And he did. And they met, and it was a match. They were so cute together.
We did the wedding at the Willows back when there was a beautiful rose garden, which is now a parking lot. Victoria, she and her husband had the Willows then, was an exemplary cook. She made all these Russian things like Chicken Kiev, and looked up old recipes and made a beautiful, beautiful dinner.
I remember Victoria said to the young bride, “Does this make you think of home?” And she in her halting English said, “I never ate like this in Siberia.” Of course, it’s Siberia!
From One Friendly Island to Another
I married this couple, the groom and his family was from Sri Lanka. I’ll never forget them, they were the most gracious family and invited me to Sri Lanka. Oh, wouldn’t I love that! The mother of the groom was a surgeon, and the father taught in the university as a professor, and the groom’s sister she was a doctor too. And they were all so humble.
“A lot of people, if they don’t have a minister in their church or something, they don’t know where to go. Someone will come to a wedding I have done, and learn about me that way.”
The Heeling Power of Love
A friend asked if I would do their wedding on a sailboat, this hundred foot yacht that they used to race out on the sound. Well, it was so windy. As we are getting on the boat, the captain says to me, “You have the most experience of sailing as anybody here so do whatever I tell you.”
And I went, “Uh-oh, we’re all going to die. We’re all gonna die!”
When he told me that, I go down to the galley area where all the life jackets were, and I put mine on immediately.
I brought up a few and and I said, “Put on your life jackets.” And they said, “No, we’re not going to cover up our wedding clothes!” Oh, I could’ve smacked ‘em!
So we were doing the vows and everything. And – I used to always do this – I would have rose petals and I would drop the rose petals on their head, and they would kiss, and all this stuff. I have these rose petals, and I go to toss them and of course they just went ka-BLAM! stuck to their faces, and I’m like, ‘oh… that didn’t work did it?’
We were heeled over so far, and we finally got back to the marina in Bellingham. Some people were kissing the concrete because they were back on solid ground. Some of them were so scared, they’d never been on a boat and this was a fast racing yacht! That was wild.
