Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
Anna-Kate’s parents live on the Mediterranean coast in Turkey. We were visiting them for the summer holidays in a magical little beach town called Kas (pronounced Kash). We had visited Kas the year before and had fallen in love with it, talking about how amazing it would be to get married there. Kas also happens to be the best diving spot in Turkey, and my (Anna-Kate’s) dad is really into free diving. For the past few summers, he’s been training us how to hold our breath and dive 70+ feet down to the sea floor to collect interesting artifacts or “pet” the sea turtles that are abundant in that area.
During one of our early morning dives in Kas, I was about 30 feet underwater, in the middle of a dive down to say hi to a friendly looking sea turtle, when I felt a tug on my flipper. Feeling rather annoyed at being interrupted, I turned around to see John floating there holding out something in his hand. It was an open ring box with a beautiful engagement ring inside. My first thought was, “Did you just find that floating here?” It took me almost a full minute before I realized what was going on. I was stunned, taken completely by surprise! I shot up to the surface, John appeared up a second later and he asked me to marry him. I proceeded to nearly drown him with hugs and kisses. My mom, who “just so happened” to be nearby on a paddleboard with her camera ready, captured the whole thing. My dad was watching us underwater the whole time, and he said he could not stop laughing. It was amazing. It was especially fun because I had always expected to know when it was coming, seeing as we’ve been talking about it for years, but John planned it perfectly and I had not suspected a thing. We got out of the water to the applause of some friendly Turks and tourists who happened to be on the beach. We popped some champagne shortly thereafter! We are getting married on June 1st, in Kas.
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
We’ve organized a “wedding week” seeing as many of our friends and family who are coming have never been to Turkey and are traveling from the U.S., Australia, and Germany. To make it more of a holiday for everyone, we’ve put together a bunch of activities, outings, dinners, etc. Planning all of this with my family has been the best part so far!
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
By ignoring most of the “wedding must-haves” marketed by businesses. We talked it out with each other and our families and decided on the things we really wanted, the things that would be nice to have if our budget allowed it, and what we could skip. We are having as small a wedding as possible, but packing it with fun experiences that will create lasting memories with the people who are most important to us in the world.
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
How simple and practical it is! I love not being bombarded with a bunch of nonsense and ads. Everything I need for our website is here, and the customer service is quick and human. I’m a big fan!
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Take advantage of the chat function! I had my questions answered quickly and it saved me a lot of time. Also, the template questions for the FAQ and other pages were really useful, even though I didn’t need some of them, it was good to think through them all.
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
Our wedding is a celebration of our commitment to one another. The opportunity to celebrate with our closest friends and family around brings joy. Our relationship has always been a joyful one. But, like any relationship, we’ve dealt with many ups and downs. We don’t look at the wedding as a magical day, after which our relationship will be perfect. The things that keep us together, like joy, love, and humility, have been cultivated over the years we’ve spent together and will require continual work over the years to come.
