Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor
At Left: Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields (left) and his lady love Kenya Linton (right), join Don and Ayesha Creary at the British High Commission Charity Ball at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on January 6.
At Right: Sophia Leahong (left), Steve Bethel and Kep Quan. - CONTRIBUTED
IT IS still the age of Capricorn, and luvs, there's lots to celebrate, and then some.
Tomorrow being Saturday, the 14th, Phillip Paulwell will be taking time off from his 'Team Portia' campaign activities to mark his very special day. The following day being Sunday, the 15th, however, it will be all about the charmingly lovely Sophia Leahong, of Hedonism III, as this lovely lass will be celebrating her special day in Cardiff Hall near Runaway Bay.
More anon here.
Anyway, last Saturday it was all about the lovely Donnia Bovell as the fab Trinidadian wife of Kingston businessman and facilitator Peter Bovell celebrated her birthday. To mark the occasion, her hubby threw a charming little soiree at their lovely Old Stony Hill home that saw family and close friends joining in the celebrations that went way into Sunday.
Champagne toasts all around, and caviar treats, my dears!
A JAMAICAN HOLIDAY
Then caught up with the absolutely sensationally hot Natasha Holt and her charming hubby, Mark Bond, on the North Coast over the holidays. The former Air Jamaica flight attendant and her British hubby decided on making it a Jamaican holiday and, of course, Hedonism III was their destination of choice for two weeks of fun in the sun.
Love is definitely in the air, and then some!
Legal and political power-player Walter Scott and his lovely companion, Keisha Brown, have decided on making it official and so will tie the knot in a matter of weeks, as he proposed to his belle just before the onset of the Yuletide holidays and she, having said yes, is now sporting one fabulous engagement stone on the 'ring' finger.
Also sporting a fabulous stone is the charming Liz Sheehan, as her beau, the charming David Hall, being the head of Digicel, popped the question while the two were holidaying in Colorado over the Christmas holidays.
No word yet on a date for the nuptials, but the bride-to-be is positively glowing and her betrothed equally so.
JARCHOW NUPTIALS
And speaking of glowing!
My dears, y'all should have seen the blushing bride and the glowing groom after their nuptials last Saturday. Luvs, they were positively glowing, and then some! And no wonder here, as indeed, theirs was a love match from the very get-go. It culminated with their exchanging vows last Saturday in a mid-morning wedding at the relaxing Eden Gardens complex on Lady Musgrave Road. It was the ultimate seal on a whirlwind of a romance that spanned Europe and the Caribbean and dears, how!
FIRST MEETING
Sweet-things, they first met just over a year ago, he being Oliver Jarchow, the young, handsome and debonair son of head of the EU delegation, Ambassador Gerd Jarchow. He was here on holidays from Paris where he works as a translator for the European Space Agency, visiting dad and enjoying the beauty and bounty of the island.
Now, she, Floreen Hopkins, a shy, almost retiring beauty and banker who works here in Kingston with Scotiabank, was out for a drink with friends at the social club of the Jamaica/ German Society in New Kingston. Both had gone there with friends.
Sweet-things, none of the two is saying it was 'love at first sight', as they are both too genteel to describe their attraction to each other in such common-place language. They are not denying, however, the mutuality of the energy that first brought them together.
Theirs was a whirlwind courtship and romance, and after all with the German-born Oliver living in the city of Paris, the language of love being his tool of trade, it was no surprise that within months of their meeting, the two decided theirs was a life to be lived together and not apart. And so the die was cast!
My darlings, with love in the air and blooming, it became quite clear to friends and family that it would only be a matter of time before the long-distance courtship would end with the two walking down the aisle, and not some time in the distant future either, but rather in the very near future. Significantly for some, the first 'official date' for the couple came at the groom's father, Gerd Jarchow's wedding in 2004. It was at Gerd Jarchow's wedding to Mara Mandara in 2004, that Oliver Jarchow first showed his intended to the world.
CIVIL CEREMONY
Anton Burke was the best man at the very small and intimate wedding ceremony that had only immediate family members and very close friends in attendance. The couple exchanged their 'I dos' and pledged their love for each other in a ceremony officiated by the Civil Registrar Silvera Castro at the Eden Gardens complex.
Well, my dears, if the wedding ceremony itself was a beauty, so too was the charmer of a reception hosted by Gerd and Mara Jarchow at their official residence over there in fabulous Jack's Hills. And here too the reception was restricted to immediate family and very close friends, and proved fabulously intimate, and then some!
Precious angels, no standing on ceremony here, just your kind of a family get-together with specially invited friends joining in to share in the festivities and celebrations! But dears, if y'all never knew that the couple had earlier exchanged marital vows, y'all would not have guessed it from attending the reception.
FABULOUS GET-TOGETHER
Luvs, it was simply one fabulous get-together as guests arriving at the Hyperion Road residence for the reception were met by bride and groom as warm and as easy as you please, accepting good wishes and congratulations from those arriving. The groom's father, Ambassador Jarchow, in between welcoming guests, donned his apron and cooked up a storm of German goodies for his guests. His wife, Mara, was busy seeing to the comfort and well-being of guests and the newly-weds as she made the rounds seeing to it that every guest was attended to.
It was a funfest as the groom's mother, Barbara Bottcher, and her husband, Klaus Bottcher, who both jetted in from Munich, Germany, for the occasion, proved riotously funny and their bonhomie spirit proving rather infectious, and thus not only endearing them to those meeting them for the very first time, but also proving fabulous raconteurs.
My daahlings, it was that friends and family not only saluted the newly-weds, they shared the sumptuous German fare, served up in their honour and with premium libations flowing, and anecdotal reminiscences adding energy to the gathering. The affair was one fabulous do and then some, with guests partying way into the hours before pulling down the shutters on a great outing.
Among the family and friends out and joining in the celebration of the couple's nuptials and love were: Kenny Benjamin; Peter and Beverly Rousseau; George Fatta; Capt. Michael and Thalia Lyn; Ambassador Douglas Saunders and Angela Robertson; Tunty Barrett and wife Ambassador Madge Barrett; Wolfgang and Aleena Schmelzle, from the German Embassy; Capt. David McRae; Bob and Angie Fowler; David Hall and his betrothed Liz Sheehan; the charming Helen Tomlinson; Alvin and Sybil Young; Mr. and Mrs. Volker Schlegel; Richard Priestly; Isle Kessler; Owen and Vanessa Miller; Anton and Judith Burke; Owen Bernard; Andrea and Marie Schorlemmer; Emile Findlay; Garfield and Keisha Morgan; Kurt Poltz; Nicole Hoo-Fatt; Philbert Singh; Wayne and Clover Murray; Nicole Hopkins; Sean and Angeline Prendergast; Tasha Cousins; Eric Griffiths; Sheila Coulson; Norton Hopkins; Karen Davis; Lois Bennett; plus a number of others.
And when the celebration was all over, the couple motored over to the North Coast where they vacationed in a private villa - a precursor to their Parisian honeymoon.
