Vietnam getting marriage under the water
28/06/07 (GMT+7)
Getting marriage under the water, friday morning (June 22) at the Cau Da (Rock Bridge) Port of Nha Trang City, young couple Clint Bentley and Tamara Little from Brisbane, Australia excitedly went on board to sail to Mun Island for the first under water wedding in Vietnam
Having scuba dived a couple of times, the young couple fell in love with the beautiful landscapes of the underwater world here and decided to do an underwater wedding to make it an everlasting memory.
They contacted PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) and were introduced to the Vietnam Diving Center (Vinadive) of Vietravel, one of the first PADI Diving Clubs in Vietnam, and the center agreed to organize the ceremony.
The couple spent one day before their “big” day practicing with the help of the center’s staff on Mun Island, the marine protected area having more than 350 kinds of corals and hundreds of marine creatures, about ten kilometers from Nha Trang City.
Under water wedding in Vietnam, on friday, after sailing for about an hour, the boat reached the island and anchored. Some of the center’s staff dove first to bring the gate, decorated with flowers and hung with a table on which was written “Under water wedding,” down to the sandy ground at a depth of five meters.
Tamara and Clint stayed in the boat and wore traditional Vietnamese wedding costumes (ao dai and khan dong) for the bride and the groom over their diving suits. They lingered for a while for their friends to take pictures before putting on life jackets and the diving equipment with weights of approximately 40 kilograms.
Then, before hearing the guidance of the instructor, both of them jumped into the sea and exchanged kisses, while still floating on the water’s surface, to encourage each other.
Tamara, in the red ao dai, went down first with the escort of an instructor, to the sandy bottom where the master of the ceremony, Clive A Carter, from Gravesend, England was waiting.
Clive, who is one member of the dive team from Vinadive, had been working in Nha Trang for 2 years now and has a great deal of experience diving the islands in Nha Trang Bay.
Clint with a bouquet of flowers in one hand followed and swam to Tamara. He presented her the bouquet and knelt down on the white sandy bottom.
They exchanged wedding rings and kisses as witnessed by some of their friends in the romantic setting of the transparent blue water with colorful flocks of fish swimming around them.
They were also given the certificate of the underwater wedding on board. The couple then spent more time exploring other views under the water before returning to the boat to open champagne and cut the wedding cake to celebrate the successful wedding.
“It is such an exotic and special experience for us,” Clint expressed their feeling. They also plan to hold a big party when coming back to Australia.
Being the first to get married under the water in Vietnam, the young couple is presented all the expense of the ceremony by Vinadive of under US$1,000. It could cost up to US$3,000 if doing it elsewhere, they said.
(Source: SGT)
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