Some of my closest friends were planning their annual Thanksgiving trip to Cozumel and suggested I tag along. I had not been on a warm-water trip previously and the whole idea sounded great.
Cindy happened to dive out of the same dive shop as my friends, but didn't know most of them. To make a long story short, Cindy put her ponytail in front of me on the van ride from the airport to the hotel, I pulled it (as one must) and I was history after that.
The other important thing that happened during that trip, was that I met Frank and Debby Degnan. They organized the Cozumel trip and were the dive masters making sure everything went well during the trip. They sure did a great job on that trip by my reckoning.
Fast forward four years to a Christmas party where Debby was recruiting scuba divers for a trip they were planning for August of 2002, almost two years hence at that point. The destination of the trip was the Solomon Islands. Cindy and I had not done any scuba diving trips since we had met, and Debby sure knows how to set up great trips...we wanted in on that trip.
Cindy and I had been together for about 4 years at that point and the kernel of an idea began to form in my head. When spring time rolled around, I had put more thought into a plan for getting married, but I had not shared my thoughts with anyone at this point.
I asked Frank if he would become ordained in an internet church and be willing to perform a ceremony while we were on the dive trip. Debby was very supportive and immediately got excited about the idea. They gave me confidence to begin the planning.
Over the next year and a half, I slowly got together the ideas of how to pull this off. I bought a ring and some clothing for us to wear, sneaking them into our luggage for the trip. Everyone I shared the idea with was very supportive and helped me think of other things to do. For example, Dave LaDrech came up with the over-the-top cute idea of putting the rings into an aquarium 'treasure chest' and letting Cindy discover it underwater!
That's pretty much the way it happened too! I managed to keep Cindy in the dark and all our friends managed not to leak any information to her. She was totally surprised!
After getting over the shock of the proposal and after explaining what I had in mind, Cindy thought it through and agreed to get married while on our trip.
I had originally envisioned a small, quiet ceremony on the bow of
the boat at sunset. Something simple. Something amazing happened
instead. Everyone on the dive boat, many of whom Cindy and I had
never met, became excited about the event. The
dive boat operators, Monty and
Michelle went far beyond the call of duty and helped to arrange
a very special event on an island in Marovo Lagoon.
With the assistance of a local elder, John Wayne, they created a
palm frond chapel for us and we were covered in flowers for the
ceremony. It was beautiful and especially memorable. Many of
the local villagers came to the wedding and were extremely polite
and friendly.
Frank presided and Debby guided Cindy from the boat to our field
chapel. Frank helped us create a personalized service and added
his own charming style to the ceremony.
I can not describe adequately how much fun the wedding was and how
beautiful the surroundings and people involved. We are very, very
fortunate to have experienced a wedding like that!
Back on the boat we had lobster and lots of excellent food, everyone
wishing us congratulations. What a wonderful memory and wonderful
people.
After our dive trip was done, we spent some time in Brisbane, Australia
and flew home from Sydney. While in Brisbane, we stayed at the most
amazing B&B in the world. If you ever get the chance to go, we can't
recommend this place enough: Sandi Acre B&B on Mount Tamborine. The
hosts were the most charming couple anywhere, the house and grounds
were beautifully manicured, the food was excellent. What a nice
way to wind down from the scuba and wedding!
In a nutshell, that's the story of our wedding.
The Pictures
Greg Belaus took these pictures and graciously posted them on
his personal
website
which is/was hosted by FotoTime. I eventually
stole them off his website and posted them here.
There are lots of other pictures of the wedding and dive trip on his site.
The FotoTime site provides services to purchase
inexpensive, excellent quality prints from the digital
stills. We have ordered several copies and the quality is as good
as a 'normal' developed photograph. Very nice. Thanks, Greg!
You may view a larger sized image by clicking on the image
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The proposal |
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The marriage |
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Local women carry us off after the ceremony |
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Frank, Cindy, Monty, John Wayne, Michelle, Allan and Debby |
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Divers from the Bilikiki |
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Man and wife :-) |