Chinnadurai and Swetha took the plunge. Quite literally! While wedding guest lists have been reduced to a mere 50 due to the coronavirus pandemic, this couple from Tamil Nadu decided to swim differently. They got married underwater on 1 February 2021, at Neelankarai, Chennai.
While the groom has been scuba diving for over eight years, the bride took lessons only in the month leading up to the wedding.
“I felt like a fish out of water. Only in this case, a fish in water,” said Swetha, who was quite nervous as this was her first time scuba diving. But after the wedding, she is so much in love with the sea that she is doing her certification course.
A Wedding With a Cause
This wedding was not just about creating a feat by being one of the first ever people to get married underwater in a traditional Hindu ceremony.
Chinnadurai is in love with the ocean, which gives him the “calm he needs” in life, and was quite upset about the plastic accumulating in the water. The couple teamed up with Temple Adventures, a scuba diving centre based in Chennai, who helped set up the expedition. The team has done several ocean clean-up campaigns and was glad to be associated with such a special cause.
All Scuba-Ready
It was in the initial days of wedding planning when Chinnadurai, hailing from Thiruvannamalai, wondered if they could have an off-beat wedding. While the idea was first met with hesitation by both the families, they were soon convinced watching Swetha train.
The bride wore a red sari and the groom dressed up for the big day in a dhoti that was custom-made for scuba diving.
“We have to wear a koorai podavai for the wedding ceremony as per our traditions. It is a very thin material, so with velcro and other techniques, our designer created an outfit that made swimming so easy and elegant,” Swetha said.
“We set up decorations also underwater. We used real flowers, no use of plastic or artificial materials. We tied banana trees and coconut leaves (as per our tradition).”Chinnadurai
The couple rode into the ocean on a boat, went for a 45-minute dive, exchanged garlands and Durai tied the thaali underwater.
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