I was surfing the internet this morning and came across a post that shared video clips of marriage proposals that FAIL.
Sweet!
Which got me thinking about all the marriage WINS around here. It seems like there’s a proposal out on the water at least two or three times a year, either with us or one of the other outfitters. That kind of news always spreads fast, and we all get a big kick out of it.
There was a while, too, where we thought that, being guides, we could do the ceremonies ourselves out on the river. After all, we’re technically the captain of a ship when we’re out there. But after some digging, we found out that we can’t. Maritime law or something. Bummer.
There have been several actual ceremonies out on the river. It’s a beautiful place, after all. The trick is picking a spot close to a rapid, for the aesthetic effect, but not too close, so everyone can still hear over the white water. Only thing is, you can’t tie tin cans to the newlyweds’ raft- they make the boat pretty hard to guide.
We even had a wedding on Bridge Day once. The couple tied the knot (figuratively) on the jump platform, and BASE jumped off the bridge and into the gorge, right after “you may kiss the bride”.
There’s no way to count the number of lost wedding rings in the river, but it’s a huge, scary number. We always tell people to lock up their stuff before heading to the river, and it’s an important bit of advice. The rule of thumb is- the more valuable something is, the deeper it goes.
The poor guys in those videos might have had a chance if they’d have just come here to propose. The New River Gorge has everything a marriage does- adventure, romance, excitement, turbulence, rocky areas, and long stretches of calm, peaceful drifting.
Anyway, it’s a pretty good place for it, if you’re looking. Just sayin’.
Tags: New River Gorge, Romantic Vacations, Songer Whitewater