Labor Day already? It can’t be! As someone who still measures a year as the period between two Septembers, I cannot tell you how dismayed I am to know that autumn and it’s leaf-dropping chill are just around the corner. I recommend that we all take advantage of temperatures that support water-based activities and do something wonderfully wet…like get married.
Talk about doing your own thing! Oregonians Brian Wilson and Christina Gunn were married under twenty feet of Illinois River water somewhere near the spot where they first dived together. Gunn “said” her I dos in a white veil, a red garter and black neoprene, while Wilson (who also opted for neoprene) wore a red bow tie.
Luckily, the couple found a pastor who is also a diver…or is that a diver who also happens to be a pastor? They wrote their vows on slates and when asked if they promised to be together forever, each held up a sign reading “I do.”
“My family thought it was kind of corny,” said Wilson. “Christina’s family was a little nervous about it because she’s still a novice at diving.”
They eventually jumped on board though.
A small group of family members gathered on the riverbank.
“It’s really different, I’ll tell you,” said Gunn’s grandmother, Genevieve Eppele, who scrambled down the rocks with her husband of 63 years, Fred.
“I told her, ‘Can’t you get married like normal people?’” said Gunn’s mother, Gail Stading.
Good for them, I say. They enjoyed the wedding they wanted, planned it in less than five days, and probably had a total blast. What more could you ask for?
If you’re not ‘normal people’ why should you get married the way they do?
I wish them all happiness.
Right on, Twistie. I’d much rather attend a wedding like theirs than one where every traditionalesque “rule” was followed to the letter.