They say love knows no
boundaries – and, buoy, they were shore right! The amorous properties of
Trang-by-sea first surfaced in the well-pool of public consciousness in 1996,
the year of the first underwater Thai wedding. 
And the reasoning behind these unconventional, sunken nuptials? A buoyant couple had fallen head-over-heels for each other while participating in the southern province’s inaugural annual eco-tourism drive, “Returning the Natural Beauty to Coral Reef”. Plus, after all, why piddle around in the shallows of matrimony when you can dive straight into the depths of wedded bliss?
Sodden Shoalmates
Presumably the amorous pioneering couple, Noppadol Surapin and Pornlada Krabthong, were ensconced on dry land when the main relationship groundwork was laid. (Or perhaps not – maybe they exchanged meaningful glances through steamed-up diving masks while bonding over a vacillating sea sponge.) Nonetheless, in honour of their romance’s soggy inception, the pair set course for the sea when the time came to take the plunge. The dive-happy duo re-entered the Andaman in full scuba gear for their wedding ceremony, complete with certificate formally signed underwater. Attendance was, in all probability, dependant on PADI-proficiency and air-tank availability.
The New Wave
The gimmicky inaugural
underwater wedding spawned an annual fad, which in turn hatched a-vast Guinness
World Record-breaking event in 2000. 30 couples from 27 countries – including a
clutch of intrepid handicapped divers – got hitched in the drink. Later that
year, Trang Underwater Wedding was awarded the Hong Kong-based Asian Pacific
tourism industry Pata Gold Award (although by April 2001 the AtlantisDive
Center had already
snatched the record away by marrying off 40 divers in Florida Keys National
Marine 
Sanctuary). As of 2006, the Trang annual ceremony was a decade old and
in a rude flush of health: the event is now a fully-fledged tourist-luring
curiosity replete with vigorous promotion, popular media coverage and
sponsorship deals with the likes of the Tourist Authority of Thailand.
Love Bites
Suthipan Muangsuankwan, the only working dentist residing on Koh Phagnan, enrolled in the 2005 event with her husband Dhanin Hiriotappa. Suthipan is an old school-friend of the event’s organiser, Khimpring Totubtieng. Plus, as a keen diver, she thought it would be fun. “Each part of the ceremony was really sacred and memorable,” said Khimpring. “It will stick in our hearts for a long time”. On the final day each couple plants a symbolic tree of love at the botanical gardens at Thung Kai National Park and “a report is sent out to us every year about how our trees are progressing.”
Swept Away
Trang Chamber of Commerce organizes all-in-one three-day packages for those who want to follow wet-suit, including rooms, meals, transfers, a half-day city tour or trip to the Emerald Cave for guests, and “Tank, Weight, and Belt” for the betrothed. The schedule commences in party mode with a parade through the city streets, before moving on to a lavish local ‘Kin Neuo’ pre-wedding party at Somdej Prasrinakarin 95 Park. The convoy then heads to the secluded and picturesque Pak Meng Beach for the traditional Thai-style ceremonies, whereby brides and grooms pour holy lustre water on their hands; and are later escorted to their honeymoon suites by a seasoned, happily-married couple, so that the newlyweds may somehow follow their example (although not literally). The registration procedure takes place off Koh MengIsland, with hundreds of multi-hued fish as witnesses, presided over by a gravel-voiced great white shark (or is that a scene from Finding Nemo?).
That Sinking Feeling
So is all this aquatic
romancing just a shallows gimmick? In its enthusiasm to promote the event, Trang
Chamber of Commerce current-ly buries the not-so-miniscule consideration of the
legality of its undersea nuptials in the small print. But those who tie the
knot in the reef do so with an extremely weighty disclaimer: “The wedding certificate received is merely a
Certificate of Participation in Trang Underwater Wedding 2006 and thus is not
legally binding.” These marriages, it seems, are slippery when wet. It’s enough
to dive you round the bends.
-- Published by One2Go magazine, 2007