14-14-14 puts love on display

Last Friday, 19 couples gathered to celebrate their wedding day at the MSW Events 14-14-14 Mass Wedding. While this could have dampened the special day for some, for Carry-Ann Muschette and Marlon-Junior Williams, nothing could diminish the sparkle of their God-blessed union. At 6 p.m., amid the picturesque setting of Hope Botanical Gardens, all 19 couples gathered on stage, each creating their own bubble-filled moments to seal their vows with a kiss. Though sequestered all the way in the back, the Williams felt the love just as deeply.

Their love story began in 2019 at church.

New to their church, Carry-Ann first met Marlon-Junior and felt an instant physical attraction. However, their bond truly began to develop when she witnessed his deep devotion to her then six-year-old daughter, Amariah.

“Amariah was a student in my class at Bible school,” Marlon-Junior recalled. “We call it ‘Morning Manner’, but it’s like Sunday school. Our spirit just clicked, we just became best friends. We had our handshake, everything, you name it.”

Simultaneously, Carry-Ann was on her own journey of becoming a Christian and discovering ways to serve her church community.

“Of course, she partnered up with me in ministry. So we were and are still in charge of youths in our church. They are all our children, all our young people,” he added.

With constant communication, feelings began to take shape. Moved by her platonic admiration for him, Carry-Ann decided to send him a message expressing her deep appreciation.

“As you can see, he’s a very spiffy young man, but it wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about how he looked, it was just something about him I admired,” she said.

Marlon-Junior chimed in, “The truth is, she’s older than I am, and of course, I wasn’t looking for somebody older than I am, and she wasn’t looking for somebody younger. We’re seven years apart. If it was left up to our own materialistic mindset and how this society has depicted how love should be, we wouldn’t have found each other; and from we broke that barrier about age, it’s no longer an insecurity or an issue that anyone can ever bring up between us.”

The pair started dating a few months later. Soon, they realised their shared love for music, faith, and Amariah, and their connection only grew stronger.

“He is truly my ‘bestest’ friend. I think that’s one of the most important things for us is that we are genuinely best friends. So because of that we just blossom. We can be transparent with each other, we really genuinely love each other, and we both love a very special human being. She for one, just to see how she accepted our relationship, I was like, ‘There is nothing that can come against us’,” the new Mrs Williams said.

Their love became one of the highlights of the evening. After dinner with their invited guests, Marlon-Junior surprised his bride with a saxophone rendition of At Last by Etta James. Not to be outdone, after the Williams’ serenade concluded, all the newly-weds were called together and under a sky full of fireworks, they celebrated the night away as husband and wife.

Off to the side, overseeing every aspect of the evening, Monique Walcott, the mastermind behind the 14-14-14 concept, was shooting hearts at the couples.

Categorising the day as a success, she admitted, “The third staging really pushed us. It pushed us to the limit because we are talking about 14 couples, and then we pushed to 24. We got 130 applicants and up to two weeks before, we had our 24 couples. And then it became a reality for a lot of them: ‘Oh wow, I’m getting married.’ Some of them got cold feet, and some of them decided that this is not how I want to do it; and that is perfectly fine, because I believe love should be celebrated in a way that you feel in love. So, today we ended up with 19 couples of the 24. It’s 19 couples that are so in love with each other [and they] could not wait another day to be joined to celebrate their love, and for me that’s key.”

She continued, “So whether you do it in a mass volume or you elope, or you just celebrate with your family and friends, what should be celebrated is love, union, and joining your lives together and becoming one. It’s what the Lord asked, and I just believe that I’m doing God’s work.”

shanel.lemmie@gleanerjm.com