The Dixons’ hearts drumming to the beat of love

Secretly, Shanique Bethune had always wanted to settle down with a drummer. A creative artist and dancer, she was always dancing to the beat of her own drum when it came on to love, but little did she know that there was a rhythm in the making that would be the soundtrack to her love story. It’s not one of love at first sight; not one brought on by a match-maker, but a familiar face who would end up having the rock-star qualities she wanted in a husband, she said.

“I was always inclined to music and the beat of the drums. Low and behold, David the drummer … my attraction to him was simply his love for loving persons – me, his students, children in general, just anyone who he would come in contact with – and it was just so genuine,” Shanique tells Island Wedding.

The Kingston-St Andrew born and raised David Dixon, a drummer by profession, was the man of her dreams.

“When he is behind that drum, that’s it. There are no more words,” she said, adding that he not only speaks to her physically but spiritually and through his music as well. “In our numerous late-night talks one night – I will never forget – when he prayed for me, and when I said pray, I mean he prayed for me and spoke to me, not the flesh me, but the spirit me. In that moment, a rush came over me, and I just knew at that moment that this was who God sent for me, a man who will speak over and into my life and speak to the spirit when it needs to be aligned, and it shall be so.”

For David, it was the fact that Shanique could drive a stick-shift vehicle, which he found out at a reunion for the bridal party of his cousin. “There are many factors making our love story unique. You see someone for years and never had an attraction or any intention to say you want to be with this person, but then it happens that you marry this person. When she got into a manual Honda and drove off, I said out loud, ‘That is my wife.’ I [have] been seeing Shanique for years through her interaction with my cousin (they were schoolmates) and to realise how much of the same things we wanted, to now have her as my wife makes our love story unique,” David shared.

Like their love story, the proposal had to be matchless. David spent the pandemic courting Shanique, and when the time came, he declared to all of Jamaica that he was ready to make her his wife by proposing to her on the radio. Nine months after the grand gesture, the two became husband and wife – The Dixons.

ONE-OF-A-KIND MOMENT

Walking to the tune of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, the bridal party made their way down the aisle at the Grizzly Plantation in Richmond, St Ann, giving Shanique some reassurance that she had made the right decision. It was as though time stood still for David, he said, “watching her come to me and having her father hand her over to me was a one-of-a-kind moment”.

“It was my favourite part of our wedding, along with us speaking our vows, which was a mixture of what we wanted to say to each other and what the pastor said,” David continued.

Their families and friends being a fun bunch, used different occasions to drum up excitement – having dance sessions down the aisle at the ceremony to the reception on to the dance floor. The music was applauded for being one of the best components of the wedding day.

stephanie.lyew@gleanerjm.com