‘IT’S A MEMORY MAKER, AN AFFORDABLE FANTASY’ : More and More Couples Are Taking to Sea of Matrimony in Very Literal Way

“Well, they’re going to walk the plank. . . ,” muttered a disenchanted wag having lunch outdoors at a waterfront restaurant in Newport Harbor.

He was talking about the couple exchanging marriage vows while cruising the calm currents of the scenic harbor. Later that day, three other wedding ships--a sailboat, a tall ship in full sail and a million-dollar luxury yacht--would follow the same water route.

It’s the latest adventure for Southern California couples looking for a different way to get married, said Nancy Irvine, who suddenly has found 35% of her Newport Beach boat charter business is in shipboard weddings--which can cost $10,000 and more for a four-hour trip.

“We expect to do 100 weddings this year,” she said, up from 50 last year. “It just came at us out of nowhere,” she added, an observation repeated by other charter companies that once relied mostly on fishing trips and cruises.

Kathy Miller, who operates a Newport Harbor charter service, said, “One thing about a shipboard wedding is that everybody comes to the party.” She anticipates organizing 70 shipboard weddings this year, in marinas from San Francisco to San Diego. Last year, she organized 40, she said.

On a recent sunny afternoon, a crowd of 80 guests started to buzz after the captain ordered “Cast off!” and the party ship Cormorant moved from its mooring in Newport Harbor toward the busy channel. Within 15 minutes, the boat had come to a halt in the water and the wedding of Christy Ray, 25, and Brian Kase, 27, began. Skipper Ken Adams admonished the couple to “communicate with each other in this sea of matrimony” and pronounced them man and wife.

The ship’s horn sounded, the audience applauded and nearby sailors on motor launches, sailboats and a passing yacht signaled thumbs up or called out their congratulations. But a passing six-man rowing crew didn’t miss a stroke.

“It’s better than we expected,” the newlyweds said. “We wanted everybody to have a chance at a good time, and we think that happened.”

The ship continued at 5 knots through the channel for three hours while the champagne flowed.

In Marina del Rey in Los Angeles County, Lee Disney, general manager of the wedding boat Sundowner, said his firm packaged about 200 weddings last year, sometimes as many as three a day on weekends. With a contract for another ship, he expects the figure to double this year.

‘Something Different’

“Whether it’s the couple’s first or second wedding,” Disney said, “people getting married today want something different, not only for themselves but their guests. It’s a memory maker. We call it an affordable fantasy.”

Gary Wright, president of the National Bridal Service, a Virginia-based trade group for the bridal shop industry, predicted the money spent for weddings throughout the nation will total $15 billion in 1985, up $1 billion over 1984.

Contributing to that total were the 19,716 marriages in Orange County in 1984, an increase of 466 over the 19,250 figure in 1983.

Jonathan Gunther, president of the Southern California Wedding Assn., a trade group, said, “We know the marriage industry is booming and a lot of people are trying to have their wedding a little different and more glamorous. We’re even seeing luau weddings on ships.”

Skipper-Minister Kept Busy

But Ken Adams, 51, a licensed skipper in Newport Harbor who is also an ordained minister, said, “I’m kind of amazed. The way it’s going, I could be out every weekend. I’ve seen as many as five different boats holding weddings at the same time.” Dressed in a white captain’s jacket, he often officiates at nondenominational ceremonies and then pilots the boat through some of the 22 miles of waterway in the harbor for the reception cruise. About 80% of his business is in second marriages, he said.

“The common denominator for practically all those getting married aboard ship is their love of the sea and the outdoors.”

Janet Winterhalder, owner-president of the Adventures at Sea boat charter service in Newport Beach, said, “A lot of the couples like the feeling of being on a ship, with the sun shining on them and the wind blowing in their hair. It’s like a return to nature.”

A chance meeting on a hike ultimately led to marriage for Douglas Johnson, 42, and Georgia Rowland, 32, of Newport Beach. “So when we started planning the wedding, we went looking for an outdoor setting,” he said.

$50-a-Guest Cost

“We looked at a lot of different places before we decided to get married aboard ship. It was a first for us and our 50 guests.”

Although $50 a person would be a fairly accurate rule-of-thumb cost for a packaged “affordable” wedding, planners of ship weddings agreed that a very elegant bash costs at least twice that.

For those looking for a smaller, cheaper wedding, Irvine said, “We can put together a party for six on a renovated sampan or on a Venetian gondola.”