The Monk takes a bride at Red House

"It feels ecstatic. Monday! Monday!" These were the words of soca artiste Machel Montano after he said “I do” to his bride Renee Butcher at the Red House in Port of Spain.

On February 17, the tenth Machel Monday will be the final show of his popular Carnival concert series.

The media and a group of people waited outside the Red House to witness a historic moment on Friday morning: Montano’s wedding was the first to be held at the Red House since it reopened last month

Montano’s wife wore white pants and off-shoulder top with a following trail, accompanied with a bouquet of white flowers, with a red and white headpiece.

Montano was also dressed in a white suit and white sneakers.

Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi greeted Montano at 11.20 by his car, holding an umbrella to stop the rain from drenching Montano's suit, and did the same for Montano’s wife-to-be three minutes later.

The ceremony started around 11.30 and was finished about 15 minutes later.

The rain didn't stop onlookers from taking pictures of the bride and groom. Some drivers along Abercromby Street also stopped to take pictures.

Speaking with the media after the short ceremony, Al-Rawi firstly congratulated and sent best wishes to the newly-weds.

He said Friday marked 20 years since weddings had been held in the Red House.

“As you know the Prime Minister announced that we took the step to reintroduced the people of TT to their pride and pleasure, which is the Red House," he said. “Today we had the first wedding in the new renovated Red House. This is the people’s house.

"We spent $441 million renovating this campus and we got two gifts. Number one, you saw today this is the house of the people of TT. And we get to open 125 courts, by the time we shift around the courts in Port of Spain.”

He said the day could not been a greater day to have Machel Montano as the first citizen to have his wedding at the Red House.

“This was a coincidentally wonderful way to welcome Valentine’s Day and Machel. I am the Attorney General, with responsibility for the Ministry of Legal Affairs; the registrar general conducted the civil registry."Explaining his presence as a guest, Al-Rawi said, “I have known Machel for many years. We went to school together, and we have come a long way."

He went on, “Machel is my boy. He is a true national-spirited man and I am so proud of him. He makes TT feel red, white and black and for that red, white and black, you got the Red House. Connecting the dots in the way that we should,"Al-Rawi said.

Although he had been invited to say "a few words," Al-Rawi stressed, "I was not officiating, I am not a priest, just a politician – and a happy one this morning, as I welcomed the people of TT back to the Red House.”

The AG was asked how come there were more than eight guests at the wedding when recently issued rules said the maximum number of people in a wedding party was eight.

He said, “If they were going into the smaller room, it would have been six or seven guests. But we went onto the little terrace, which allows us to have a few more added guests. Technically, we were just on the outside. The Speaker would develop rules over time to permit things.

"There is a beautiful idea to name that terrace the Wedding Terrace. But it would be up to the Speaker in the Parliament.

"But I think this is a great signal of what the people can enjoy in TT."

Al-Rawi said Montano had once asked him if weddings were still conducted at the Red House, and had told him his parents were also married there.

“Bam! The idea was born. But the PM already had the idea. So I congratulate Dr Rowley for having the courage to do all of this today."