Uniting two people in matrimony doesn’t have to be a cookie-cutter affair.“I want the ceremony to be the way they want it,” said Ladysmith marriage commissioner Irene Deschene.Deschene and Cheryl Fenner do the job of solemnizing and officiating weddings.“I like being in the public, but what I really like is helping a couple make it easy,” Deschene, a six-year veteran of the business, said.“I offer them choices,” she said.Deschene has her own ceremony she devised.“There’s only two legal parts that have to be there,” she explained.Last year, Deschene performed 53 weddings in the Cowichan Valley area.“I can do them anywhere in B.C.,” she said, adding she travelled to Quesnel for her nephew’s wedding.A retired teacher and principal, Deschene said she performs weddings for former students all the time.“That’s always special.”Deschene said she sees weddings of all types in her profession.From the uber-casual, one time she did an in-house wedding where everyone was wearing blue jeans, to the more elaborate.“I do a lot of weddings at the amphitheatre,” she said of Transfer Beach’s outdoor stage. “It’s quite reasonable and a very popular place.”
