Diver bride renews vows with husband in underwater ceremony

oke efagene

November 25, 2014 3:04 PM

At least 100 guests watched the couple slip on their wetsuits and tie the knot in Fort William Underwater Centre's 1.5 million litre seawater tank.

A 37-year-old self-employed commercial diver, Dorota Bankowska and her new husband, James Abbott made a huge splash when they decided to have their wedding blessed in an underwater diving tank.

The venue, which is normally used for subsea training and trialling new offshore equipment, saw the bride and groom joined by bridesmaid, Ala Bankowska and best man, Charlie Cran-Crombie.

All four of them dived down in offshore diving suits and the rings were even presented to the couple using one of the centre's underwater robots usually used for the oil industry.

Friends and relatives from far and wide attended, including some from Dorota's native Poland.

Dorota said: "We're both very happy to be able to complete our wedding celebrations in such a unique way - James and I don't do things traditionally!

"People couldn't believe it when I told them our plan. They thought we must be joking."

The couple officially wed in Dorota's home town of Plock in October. But the pair were keen to mark the occasion with friends from the Fort William area at the Centre.

"It is very unusual but it's more typical of the kind of thing we enjoy than the traditional church service we had in Poland," she said.

"It's great that my friends and family will be able to get a better idea of what my job is actually like, and the environment I work in."

Dorota first trained at the Centre in 2007 as a diver and met James when he was teaching P.E in Fort William. The couple will now be living in Great Witley, Worcestershire, after James secured a job there with Dorota making visits to Scotland for her work.

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