ORANGE BEACH, Alabama — Mike Bowen wanted to make his wedding special, something different. And even though he’d only been on the Gulf twice in his 32 years, he and bride, Jessyca Wood, thought they hit on the perfect idea.
“They’re getting married on the pirate boat,” Rodney Jones, owner of the American Star, said. “They want to go three miles off shore and have a wedding, come back and roast a pig and have a reception.”
For Bowen, this is his first walk down the plank, the second for Wood.
“We wanted to do something different,” Bowen said. “We both think outside of the box. She’s already had her church wedding and this is my first wedding, and we wanted to do something fun.”
The couple went all out, requiring the wedding party to dress pirate for the day, complete with real swords and replicas of weapons from the period.
As luck with have it, Bowen found a treasure chest when he ran across his neighbor, Tom Vandiver, and told him of his plans.
“I’m a collector of antique guns,” Vandiver said. Check.
Vandiver also has another hobby.
“I also dress like a pirate,” he said. Check.
Now to find a minister, one who is a boat captain and can conduct wedding ceremonies, once the ship passes the 3-mile mark that is.
“I’m a captain, and I also conduct weddings,” Vandiver chuckled. “Three in one. So, we got into it and said ‘OK, let’s do this.’”
Bowen was a hearty soul before the boat sailed.
“I’ve managed to avoid it for 32 years, and I thought if I was going to do it, let’s do something different,” Bowen said. “We wanted to go out on the pirate ship, and it’s a really neat ship.”
The wedding party was treated to a barbecue supper after the wedding with tables set up at Hudson Marina in Orange Beach, next to the berth of the American Star, a boat Jones had turned into a replica of the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus’ ships
The tables at the reception each had a different pirate theme setting and Jolly Rogers floated happily on the breeze.
Afterward, the couple honeymooned at a Gulf-front condo in Orange Beach.
The next day, emulating that famous Gulf pirate, Jean Lafitte, they hit Bourbon Street in New Orleans wearing their pirate costumes. They then wore the outfits to their first New Orleans Saints football game.
