How far would you go to make your wedding day special? Dive under water?? Well, meet Nikhil Pawar and Eunika Pogran, who said ‘I do’ under water in the beautiful Kovalam beach.
Located on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, the beach was beautifully decorated on Thursday as the Slovakian woman and the Maharashtrian man exchanged rings but in a unique way – they took their wedding vows underwater and sealed the deal with a kiss. Now that’s new!!
This is the first underwater marriage in India and with the help of placards, the bride — dressed in a white wedding gown and the groom — wearing western formals, carrying their scuba equipment with eight of their friends in scuba diving suits, and went deep in the ocean to start a new chapter together. The ceremony took place nearly 4 metres underwater.
“The underwater stage was made of coconuts shells, palm leaves and flowers — all natural substances. The backdrop was beautiful corals and fishes. They took their oath in front of a friend, who was also the priest for the underwater wedding. They kissed and swam around after their vows” Jackson Peter, Managing Partner of Bond Ocean Safari told NDTV.
Nikhil (in his 20s) is a diving instructor at Bond Ocean Safari in Kovalam. He came up with this special idea of having a wedding.
Eunika (23), a political science graduate from Slovakia, met her now husband in July 2016 in Thiruvananthapuram where she was holidaying. She soon fell for her diving instructor Nikhil.
Seven months later, during a routine dive, Nikhil had proposed to Eunika under water as well. Eunika happily accepted him but the couple planned to add a cool twist to the big ceremony.
Their wedding lasted about an hour, and was organised by Bond Ocean Safari, which provides diving services.
“While this event was the first such wedding in India, the two will soon get married legally, with their family and friends as witnesses, on a date to be decided soon,” Jackson told NDTV.
Watch a video of the wedding here: