A WICKED Wedding

Last thursday, something very special happened here in Khao Lak; A real WICKED wedding.

 

As everyone who has ever been diving with us knows: The moment you step foot on our live aboard boat the MV/ Mariner, you become a part of the WICKED diving family. Two of our newest ‘homemade’ divemasters, Nadja and Roland aus Germany, felt this family tie so strongly, that they decided to not only tie knots during the search and recovery workshop, but also to tie a figuratively knot, and get married right here on the beach in Khao Lak, with all their WICKED relatives.

One for the Family album. (Thank you Chris and Ric from Khao Lak 813 for the photo)

They got engaged earlier in the year in Palau, where Roland proposed on a safety stop, 5 meters being so shallow that it would have had nothing to do with having nitrogen narcosis. Under the pretenses of wanting to show Nadja something small hiding behind a rock, he surprised her with a ring. He didn’t get down on one knee, as that would have damaged the corals, but Nadja got the message and a lot of OK-signs followed.

When all their hard work to become divemasters culminated with the traditional DMT challenge on the beach, Roland thought to himself that ‘right here’ would be the perfect place for Nadja and him to get married. He casually mentioned this to Alex and Keith Saturday after class, wondering if they thought it would be possible. Monday morning Nadja woke up, saying that she had dreamt they were getting married in Khao Lak, and a wedding was inevitable.

There was one big problem however: Thursday, the weekly Wicked family dinner and drinks night where everybody is on land and would be able to participate in the wedding, was only 4 days away. But we aren’t called WICKED diving for nothing, and over the next four days everybody pitched in, pulled strings, dusted off their license to officiate (it does help, when the manager is already ordained), learned new songs to play, and managed to find the perfect wedding dress (and almost a bra) in an hour and a half – Yes, you got it right: Nadja found a wedding dress in 1.5 hour – and thursday evening the wedding took place.

One of the perks of being married shoeless and in 35 degree sunshine is that there is no getting cold feet – not that there would have been any of that going on with these two anyways – and while the sun was setting in the background, Nadja and Roland, looking very happy and in love, promised to always love each other and take out the trash and forgive each other if they ever forgot to take out the trash and never go to bed angry. If we had been wearing masks, quite a few ones would have been flooded with tears, while this epic piece of romance unfolded.

After the ceremony a delicious vegetarian feast followed, with speeches that reminisced about the last six weeks and amongst other things, the happy couple’s first night dive, and how it was cut a bit short due to a dispute over navigation. While we were sipping champagne and cocktails under the stars, one of the first monsoon poor downs of the wet-season set in. But we were too busy cutting cake and giving advise on how Nadja and Roland could bedst smear whipped cream in each others faces to notice it.

Sitting around the table afterwards, looking at all the smiling people, you would not have been able to tell that they didn’t have any DNA in common, and if anyone would have tried to fill a tank with all the “love that was in the air” that night, they would have needed a whaleshark-sized one.

“Well I want you as you are” (Thank you Chris and Ric from Khao Lak 813 for the photo)

Thank you Nadja and Roland for sharing your air and love and WICKED wedding with us, giving everyone an unforgettable evening. We wish you all the happiness in the world, both above and under water.

 

Big love from your WICKED family

 

Written by Marie