For me and the underwater world, it was love at first sight. That is until I met my husband, Joey. We had been dating for two wonderful years before he decided to pop the question in the most unconventional way.
The timing could not have been better. My parents and his parents happened to be visiting us at the same time in Halifax. I guess that’s why Joey was so hell-bent on going out scuba diving – in April. But what’s a little cold when you get to spend time underwater with the fish.
Early in the week, Joey and I organized a weekend scuba diving adventure with my dad and some close friends. Given that Joey was the man behind the mission, you can imagine my disappointment when he came down with a “sinus cold” the day before our planned dive. If we hadn’t done so much planning with all of our dive friends I definitely would have saved myself the frostbite.
Leaving “poor sick” Joey behind with his parents, my mom, dad and I picked up the rest of the scuba troops. I didn’t notice it at the time, but they took A LONG time to get ready and get their gear in the car. Once at the dive site we suited up in gut-wrenching anticipation of how cold the water was going to be, my mom, who is not a diver, stayed behind as shore support.
As we swam through the icy waters of the Canadian north Atlantic, a wooden treasure chest and diver silhouette materialized out of the blue. I could instantly tell from the GoPro on his head that it was Joey. I flipped the latch on the wooden treasure chest in front of him, and out popped this large plastic diamond ring, almost beaming me in the face. In that moment at 20 feet underwater, he pulled open a sign that said:
Of all the fish in the sea you are the only one for me. Will you marry me Alisha? Love Joey”
The perfect man, proposing in the perfect place. It was the most breathtaking tear-up-in-my-mask moments of my life.
Now that you’ve reeled in that perfect catch it’s time to start planning that perfect scuba diver themed wedding. Here are some inspirational ideas from our big day:
Picking the right wedding color scheme can be tricky business. There are about as many colors as fish in the sea. The first obvious choice is blue – just like the ocean. One of the most practical things about the primary color blue is that generally speaking, it looks good on everybody.
We choose a vibrant Malibu blue with a side of orange (because Joey is Dutch) and a splash of red (just like the dive flag). It all went together very nicely!
Go the traditional route with your save the dates and send out some snail mail OR embrace the technological era and code an elegant website to send to all those special people in your life. Think of catchy one-liner such as; “We’re taking the Plunge” or “Diving into Marriage,” instead of the classic “Save the Date.” Given Joey’s background as a nerdy web developer, we went the website route.
As a scuba diver at heart, you are going to want an outdoor venue near the water. Keep your eyes open for boat clubs, resorts, beaches, and banquet halls with gazebos and lots of waterside space for your ceremony and recital.
We had our wedding at a sensational banquet hall that enabled us to have an outdoor ceremony and photoshoot but then head inside for dinner and dancing. It was a good thing we went the banquet hall route as opposed to a full-on outdoor wedding because it rained like crazy on our wedding day clearing up just enough for a dry ceremony and photo session.
After you’ve nailed down the date, time, and location, it’s time to start thinking about your wedding invitations. Are you looking to purchase them prefabricated, or are you going to make them yourself? How many guests are you planning on inviting?
If you’re a crafty cat with lots of scrapbooking supplies, you might want to save a little dough and make the invites yourself. There are a lot of great looking ocean stamps and embossing stencils out there for that unique invitation look you are craving.
Most people would immediately think mermaid style dress for a scuba themed wedding. This mermaid opted instead for an A-line flowy dress with loose ruffles that give the allure of wispy waves in the sea. To add a nice oceany kick, I spiced up the underside of my dress with ocean blue crinoline. It was the best of both worlds, I had an elegantly white attire at first glance, but as I walked and lifted the side of my dress the flashes of blue made their appearance.
Unless your getting married underwater (props to you if you are) wearing your scuba fins on your big wedding day is not really an option. Trust me; I was having a hard time finding shoes and considered it.
Getting your hands on shoes that you will last in during the wedding ceremony and reception can be almost as challenging as finding that perfect dress. I had hoped to find blue shoes that matched with my bridesmaid’s dresses, but the task proved impossible. Instead, I found this wicked pair of sparkly silver shoes that I made my own by painting a dive heart on the sole.
She sells sea shells by the seashore… Instead of going with a floral bridal bouquet, set your wedding bouquet apart by using intricately decorated sea shells. I used a massive starfish as the central part of my bouquet and filled the areas around the arms with shells and pearl-like beads. My bridesmaids got smaller bouquets with mostly scallop shells in a sand-filled wine glass so they could put it down without breaking the shells during dinner.
Instead of giving the wedding bands to the best man, find a small cousin or nieces and nephew to be the ring bearer and flower girls. You can have lots of fun deciding on their outfits for the wedding party and giving them fun beach props to carry down the aisle during the ceremony.
We used the treasure chest from our engagement as our ring box. I had my mom help me make a beautiful pillow to place inside. Our flower girls carried some orange beach lanterns.
Once you take care of all the big wedding things, it’s time to step back and start thinking about some of the finer details. Let’s talk scuba wedding accessories:
The world is your oyster when it comes to your hubby-to-be’s wedding swag. If you can dream it, you can find it out shopping or on the internet. Why not get some cufflinks in the shape of dive flags. The red looks so lovely against a white shirt or the black of a suit.
If your man requires an entirely new suit and your feeling daring, you can get it scuba customized with a jellyfish liner and funny embroidered line of text.
For the groom, groomsman and fathers make their boutonnieres out of seashells or fake coral. It will match so well with the girl’s shell bouquets.
Whatever accessories you decide to get for your man, let your imagination run wild and free.
Time to frost yourself and your maids in some serious bling for your wedding day. From hairpieces and earrings to bridal veils and garters, leave no stone unturned when you’re accessorizing yourself and your lovely ladies. Become the bridal siren you always dreamed of being with some of these beach treasures:
What girls hasn’t seen Channing Tatum in The Vow and had her heart melt as he recites his wedding vows to Rachel McAdams. That moment never ceases to take my breath away no matter how many times I watch and rewatch the movie. In my mind, those vows are the embodiment of perfection. While we may not all be able to come up with such perfectly concocted lines, something that’s bound to get you cuteness points is if you theme your vows after the ocean.
Oh, buoy (pun intended)!!! The seating chart is every bride-to-be’s worst nightmare. Cousins with cousins, friends with friends, but what to do with the long lost relatives three times removed? Regardless of where you seat people, you are bound to float some smiles on peoples faces with this hanging buoy seating chart.
Decorate around your seating chart with colorful glass bottles and maybe even a vintage scuba diving helmet.
If you’re handy at woodworking, make yourself, and your new hubby a custom scuba Mr. and Mrs. head table seating tag. My talented dad crafted this up for us:
There are so many interesting ideas out there when it comes to table numbers and centerpieces. Joey and I pretty much sold ourselves on what we would do for our wedding centerpieces early on; fishbowls that would recreate all the dive sites that we have done together. It was a challenging task, but so rewarding once completed. In total we had 14 tables in which we recreated some reef dives, lake dives, wreck dives and even our recent dive in Iceland’s Silfra fissure that we had done together.
Beside the fishbowls, instead of going with plain old table numbers, we decided to make dive flags with the name of each dive site printed across the white stripe.
Rope your gift table into the whole ocean theme of your wedding by decorating with seashells and lights.
On top of the decore Joey and I also decided to make our card box out of a lobster trap. The only modification we needed to add to the trap was a handle for guests to open the top and deposit their cards.
Red velvet, vanilla, pistachio, pink champagne… Bakeries are getting pretty creative when it comes to wedding cakes. Find a flavor that tickles your taste buds and wrap it in fondant and decor. There are so many great cake ideas of oceanic proportions out on the web you’ll undoubtedly find something you adore.
To make sure everyone got to enjoy wedding cake for dessert, Joey and I ordered a special mini cake that was gluten free, peanut free and dairy free for all those guests with allergies. Cost wise, it was a little extra, but it went a long way in making sure all our guest’s needs were fulfilled.
My favorite part of the wedding planning was fins down the cake tasting. Joey and I agreed on a four-tiered vanilla and strawberry filled cake with the top layer flavored as carrot cake to save for our first anniversary.
We wanted to keep our cake looking chic, so it was iced in plain white and decorated with small, perfectly crafted starfish in various shades of blue and orange. To top it off, my dad helped us put together the most adorable scuba diver bride and groom cake topper. Both scuba divers were Christmas ornaments that we drilled and anchored with a metal rod onto a thin round plexiglass base. I even added a miniature veil to the girl figurine.
Having a photo booth at your wedding is always a fun idea. It is so entertaining for guests during the cocktail and reception hour, it allows people to take home a fun photo strip memory of the night, and it’s a great way to incorporate your guestbook into a visual memorabilia of that big day.
Bring a little scuba flair into your photobooth by making sure you have some ocean themed props for the taking. Guests will love to frolic with the fishes in front of the camera.
It’s not enough anymore to only host a wedding dinner and reception. Society has slowly increased the wedding standards to cocktails, appetizers, dinner, and finally, the late-night snack table. Some wedding couples go the savory route with pizza’s, meatballs and an assortment of other hot and cold finger food. Others, like us, decide to have a sweet table. The wedding candy bar is every guest’s favorite indulgence and worst nightmare. Jars and jars of unsupervised candy, chocolate, and cookies just sitting there waiting to meet your mouth.
Give your late-night candy bar a wave of excitement by finding whale-shaped candies or better yet making these uber cool sand dollar cookies.
Sand Dollar Short Bread Cookies:
If you’re interested in the recipe for these delicious ocean-themed cookies, check out our Sand Dollar Shortbread cookie post. The cookies are the perfect fit for a pool or beach themed party!
Planning a wedding is no easy feat. Our big day took months and months of organization, and we could never have done it without our family’s help. The crazy amount of preparation reminded me of scuba diving. Any diver can attest that you spend more time preparing for your dive (i.e., getting your camera ready, assembling all the gear, setting your tank up, suiting up in your wetsuit…) than actually being underwater. I guess my scuba diving lifestyle had prepared me for this day, a day that required a heap tone of preparation for a short but amazing reward.
I am the luckiest girl on the planet to be o-fish-cially married to my dive buddy for life!
Do you have an amazing scuba diving love story? We love to meet all different kinds of dive buddies from all over the world. Share your tale with us below.
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