Eight years ago, Natasha Lyndon was thumbing through the local newspaper when she came across an ad seeking a candidate to become a marriage commissioner in Kamloops, B.C.“I thought, ‘That is going to be the most incredible job ever,’ so I applied,” she told CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops. She got the gig, and since she started in 2017, Lyndon has married 564 couples. “I love love,” she said. She’s been part of proceedings for all kinds of couples — those who have been together for 30 years, others who have only known each other six months; she’s officiated weddings for multiple sets of brothers, couples who met online and people she’s known for decades. “My second-to-last wedding was a woman in her 30s who, when I first moved to Kamloops 22 years ago, lived across the street from me and was like 10 years old,” Lyndon said. Lyndon, who lives in Kamloops, B.C., said she’s spent many a weekend driving between weddings in the area. (June Photography/Submitted by Natasha Lyndon)She describes each wedding as a “dopamine hit,” getting a particular joy from watching as couples become emotional as they walk down the aisle. But now, she’s hanging up her hat officiating weddings at the age of 65. A former dance teacher, child-care worker and library assistant, Lyndon was in a car accident last October while driving from wedding to wedding. “That kind of got me winding down,” she said. “How many more dopamine hits did I need?” Lyndon spoke with Daybreak Kamloops host Shelley Joyce about her retirement and what she learned during her tenure as a marriage commissioner in B.C.LISTEN | Natasha Lyndon reflects on her time as a B.C. marriage commissioner:Daybreak Kamloops9:27Kamloops marriage commissioner reflects after 500 weddingsAfter eight years and hundreds of ceremonies, Natasha Lyndon retires as Kamloops’ marriage commissioner and shares stories from her whirlwind weekends of love.This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Did you ever get sick of performing wedding ceremonies? No, no, no, never. There’s a lot of driving. Some weekends in the summer when I’d have, for the whole weekend, I might have six weddings, two rehearsals and, like, going up to a Harper Mountain and then out to Monte Creek and then someone’s backyard in Brocklehurst. That, I didn’t love. What made you decide to retire? It might have been all the driving. I think I was just wanting to wind down from that. I felt like it was time. And also somebody else gets to have the job. We’re only allowed to have it for 10 years with the government. I did eight. After 10, you have to retire, so that someone else can apply and have this wonderful opportunity to be part of people’s love stories. Can I ask how much a marriage commissioner makes? We charge the couple $75 plus GST to officiate paperwork. But for each wedding we have to give $25 back to the government, remit to the government. So we get $50. We charge travel time and mileage still, that’s very little really, when you think about it. So did you love the job? I loved the job. Sometimes I’d marry a couple in their living room and they’re wearing their bedroom slippers because they just want to get married. Maybe next summer they’re going to have a big barbecue or a big party, but for some reason they want to get married then. I never ask, “Oh, why are we getting married in the living room in our bedroom slippers?” I’m like, game on. Lyndon has performed all kinds of wedding ceremonies over the years, saying each one was special and memorable in their own ways. (Richelle Marie Photography/Submitted by Natasha Lyndon)Do you ever ask people why they wanted to get married? No. Do you know if those weddings that you officiated have been successful? Do you have any idea? No. Can you tell in advance? Oh, people often ask me that. I always say no, I never ever think that, I never thought that. How would I even know?And also, how could I do my job well if I had any thought like that in my mind? The couple wants to get married, they love each other, and here we go. So no, I never thought that. So which wedding stands out for you the most? Are there any couples or weddings that you’ll never forget? There’s so many, because they’re memorable for different reasons. Sometimes it’s because something has happened in the life of the couple or the life of their family that is so poignant. Sometimes there’s been a death, sometimes Dad has been really ill and he is well enough to stand and walk his daughter down the aisle.Or the ones where couples have been together for 30, 35 years, and they got married. Or sometimes the couple is so in love that the minute we start, everybody just starts weeping because there’s so much joy. Lyndon holds up a marriage licence, celebrating with the couple, at one of the many weddings she’s officiated. (Submitted by Natasha Lyndon)Here’s one we had. It was just them, their two kids, two witnesses. They chose [to have the wedding] on the one-year anniversary of when the man was in the ICU with COVID, and the nurse had phoned and said, “He’s not going to make it, come up here.” He did make it, and a year later, they got married. You bet that was a weeper. Sometimes we’re out in the forest somewhere. We’ve driven up in a four-by-four and we’re looking out at this gorgeous view. There’s a deer walking by. Something like that, where nature is just coming together to make it incredible. Lyndon says each wedding is like a “dopamine hit.” (June Photography/Submitted by Natasha Lyndon)Do you think that you personally learned anything about love because of this career?I learned about hope. People can be very negative about marriage and about relationships or doubtful. The divorce rate is so high, we know this. But just the hopefulness that couples had when they came together of, “This is going to be it, we are going to make this marriage work and we’re going to make this marriage work for our family.”I found that so poignant and I found it so uplifting and so positive. Did you ever have any unsatisfied customers? No. I did have a couple or a gal call me the week after and say it didn’t work out.What are you going to do next? That’s a very good question. Sometimes I wonder, should I officiate funerals? Because it’s similar. You have to bring the same care and attentiveness and empathy and graciousness and bring people together for some event that is incredibly important to them. There’s different emotions because there’s a lot of grief and sadness, but it’s the same wanting to create or facilitate an incredibly meaningful event for a family.
I love love: Retiring marriage commissioner reflects on 8 years of marrying B.C. couples
