Scottish travel agents Joanne Dooey and Jimmy Martin have been together for 18 years but unexpectedly tied the knot on board Silversea Cruises’ Silver Dawn – ahead of plans to make it official on dry land.
The pair, who were on the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association’s first overseas trip since Covid, were ‘blessed’ by the captain at sea during a cruise from Madeira to Lisbon, Portugal, and now plan to register the wedding to make it legal after returning home.
The short impromptu ceremony on April 3 in the ship’s observation lounge came just 36 hours after the pair told fellow council members and Silversea Cruises staff the pandemic put paid to their original plans to wed in 2020 in Mauritius.
“They said why not do it [get married] on board? The next morning we got a phone call that the captain was free at 5.30pm on Monday,” said Dooey, immediate past-president of the SPAA and owner of travel agency Love To Travel.
Within 24 hours, a ceremony was arranged as well as cake, flowers and a wedding dinner in the Alantide restaurant on board the three-night sailing.
Dooey made a last-minute dash to the shops before leaving port in Funchal for a dress and shoes while the pair also bought rings to exchange at the service.
“It was Sunday so not many shops were open. I didn’t have a dress with me to get married in – in the end I bought a casual dress and got married in flipflops!” said Dooey, adding: “We got flowers from the market stall. It was fantastic how the ship pulled it all together.”
Martin, also a past president of the SPAA and owner of agency Jimmy Martin Travel, said: “We could not have planned it any better. We thought we were just going on a SPAA trip, then 36 hours later we were getting married! It was unbelievable; there was no pre-planning.”
Dooey was given away by current SPAA president Mike Tibbert while fellow SPAA council members Janice Hogarth, council secretary, and Alan Glen, owner of Glen Travel, acted as witnesses at the 10-minute ceremony.
The couple had planned to go away and get married but had no fixed date in mind. Both agents said their love of cruising – both selling them and going on them for their own holidays – made a ceremony at sea the perfect choice.
“It made it really special. We always choose cruises for our own holidays, it’s our favourite type of holiday,” said Dooey.
The pair, who first met while working at rival travel agencies in the travel industry, now plan to have a party to celebrate with family and friends as well as honeymoon.
Both have been married before and between them have six grown-up children and three grandchildren. “We face-timed them and told them what we were doing and they were all fine about it because we are going to have a party at home. We are also planning a honeymoon so that will be a priority as soon as we get home!” added Dooey.
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