ALONISSOS – The first underwater civil wedding ceremony, held in the enchanting deeps of the sea surrounding the island of Alonissos, took place on Monday with the island’s mayor Petros Vafinis officiating.

The couple Petros and Myrto exchanged vows in the island’s blue-green waters, in the presence of their two maids of honour, the president of the Tourism Committee Maria Agallou who organised the wedding ceremony and three diving instructors provided voluntarily by the Triton Dive Centre.

The entire ceremony used special waterproof cards in order to fully adhere to the procedures of a civil marriage ceremony and the words said by the newlyweds, who also briefly took off their masks when the ceremony was complete for their first kiss as a married couple.

The wedding was recorded using an underwater video camera and transmitted live on a large screen placed on the beach for guests, while it was also possible to watch on a mobile phone.

“It is impossible to describe the feelings that flood you in the depths during the wedding. In the ideal conditions of peace offered by underwater nature, time stops and this moment belongs exclusively to the couple,” the Alonissos mayor said after the ceremony. Vafidis, who obtained a diving diploma so that he could carry out weddings underwater, on St. Valentine’s Day issued an invitation to couples to organise underwater weddings and aims to make this a new market for Greece and the island.

Alonissos is an international diving destination chosen by hundreds of scuba divers around the world each year, with occupancy rates at 100 pct in August and bookings continuing until the first 10 days of October, Vafinis added.