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It was late in the evening post-midnight buffet and we were happily chatting when the entire boat rocked, and I said (sadly presciently) "Huh. If we were in a plane I'd say we just did a 180º turn." Nothing much happened for a bit and then we started hearing an announcement in the hallways of "Would Mr. and Mrs. X please pick up the nearest courtesy phone." Ok, somebody has gone missing - it's the night of the Midnight Feast so they're probably in a food coma somewhere.

We continued with our lounging, and after about another half an hour the announcements were now in the cabins...huh. Ok, so much for trying to sleep but now they're going to wake the people up and it should be over soon...

About a half hour after that there came a knocking on the door. The poor, very harried looking cruise employee apologized and said "We're looking for Mr. and Mrs. X, and I need to search your cabin." Ok, well that's a bit odd, but we let them have a look around, but no - no one was hiding in our cabin, or seemingly anyone else’s. Uh oh :-(

The in-cabin searches meant the overhead announcements had finally stopped. We were able to get some sleep, which was good because we had hair appointments at, I think, 9am and Chad and R were supposed to do some helmet diving sea walking, which one should probably be awake for!

Morning arises and we're still at sea, which was expected. Then 9am rolls around and we're still at sea...which was not expected.

This next part is hearsay, but I trust the source :-) R and Chad were at breakfast, both having noticed that they were still at sea, and both not saying anything cuz they don't want to freak each other out. Finally, they have to admit it's a problem and wander over to the courtesy desk. While waiting they hear another passenger exclaim that they've been on this cruise 3 times, and they've still never made it to Aruba!

In that tradition - in our household, Aruba is not actually a real place

Then R approaches the purser and asks about arrival time in Aruba. The purser kind of sighs and says "We're not going to Aruba." R being quick on the uptake says, "Oh. They were supposed to have a wedding on Aruba. Let me get back to you." The horror on the purser's face was a site to behold.
R then came up to the salon where he knew we'd all be, and let me know we weren't going to Aruba. We actually have a photo of that very moment :-P

R says, "Let me see if they can get us a place to do this, since we have all the people we need." and I agreed happily. C, N, and I decide to finish getting our hair done, but not immediately go back to the cabin to dress since we didn't know exactly when anything was happening.

The purser found Chad and R, and offered to help in any way possible. The purser asked with a look of total horror on his face "Do you need the Captain to perform the ceremony?" R assured him no and said, "Honestly we just need a place." The crew jumps on that and takes R on a tour of the options. R comes back to Chad, and then me, with descriptions.

The choices were a neon jazz club, a Grecian tiled room, and a third that I can't remember. We choose Grecian - because how can you disagree with ~almost~ homoerotic art blessing your wedding :-)

When asked about decoration, R wondered if it were possible to fold a towel horse, as I was supposed to arrive at the site via horseback. Nope, turns out horses aren't a possibility, but would elephants do? Absolutely says R - and now elephants are our celebratory animal

Hair done, the three of us decide to head down to the central gathering area of the boat and check out shops and whatevs to waste time. We're in the elevator and a passenger is exclaiming loudly that her entire vacation is ruined if she doesn't get to Aruba (now, keep in mind we are on day 5 of a 7 day cruise. Aruba was literally the last stop)

Suddenly a complete stranger points excitedly at me, and drowns her out saying "THIS lady was supposed to get MARRIED today. She's the only person on this boat who gets to be that upset!" Well, the passenger stammered quiet, and the rest of us just kind of looked at each other bewildered. We thanked our champion and she said some words of comfort as we got off the elevator.

Once off the elevator, C admits that she made it her goal for the cruise to tell at least 10 people a day that we were getting married on Friday...so yeah, not so much with the subtle :-P We got a lot of kind words of congratulations/sympathy as the morning progressed.

So, room chosen we all agree to meet for the ceremony at 2pm. Chad and R get there a little early to find that not only have they folded a bunch of towel elephants, they've also laid flowers, baked us a cake, brought champagne, and assigned us a flunky. They have gone way above and beyond. Turns out the fact that we were all being so mellow about it brought out the best in people :-)

Ceremony went off without a hitch (well, ok, I was late to it but in my defense I didn't have a watch and both C and N were of the opinion that a bride cannot be late to her own wedding.) The crewperson was lovely, and mostly bored since we're all pretty self sufficient.

The next time the crew would have done a passenger check was at the end of the day on Friday as folks were returning from Aruba. Alas for best-laid plans, the family were so impressed by the midnight feast that they returned to the cabin to try and convince the couple to come down, and found them missing.

@deirdrebeth

Wow! What a story. Thanks for sharing!

@StacieBee

Happy to entertain

@theartlav

Happy to tell it

@emery

It's definitely one of those that the farther I get from it, the more ridiculous it seems.

It's also why I tell people that the only truly important thing that has to happen on a wedding day is for the "I Do"s to get said. Everything else is set dressing.

@deirdrebeth Exactly. The wedding is just one day... the marriage is for a lot longer :)

@GreenSkyOverMe

Right! So wild.

@LingLass

You're welcome :-) I'm glad it brought you joy!

@cohanf

I always hoped so too.