Aquarium Wedding: A Breathtaking Way to Start a New Life Together
It started with a home aquarium, how did it end up like this? Spoiler alert: It ended with me saying “I do,” to the love of my life at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
It was a wedding that was every bit as gorgeous and breathtaking as you can imagine.
NOTE: This is a post inspired by #FlashbackFriday, where I reminisce about my past experiences for nostalgia, and also to practice my (rusty) writing skills. The events, prices, and other details mentioned are not necessarily accurate when reading. It’s best to assume the events, prices, and other details are from my previous personal experience unless I state otherwise that it is accurate at the time of writing.
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It did not start with a kiss but with a home aquarium…
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a hard person to engage in conversation. Partially because as an introvert, I’m not a big fan of small talk, and partially because as someone who grew up in the Philippines, I was taught about the dangers of talking to strangers.
But honestly, the biggest part of it is that because of who I am as a person, I just straight up dislike talking to most people in general.
So I’ll also be the first to admit that my now-husband had an uphill battle to conquer when it came to getting me to be engaged (ha!) in conversation with him, much less a relationship. Kudos to him for his hard work & efforts though, I’d like to think it paid off.
He tried asking me about myself (cagey), my hobbies (art, which was not something he could relate to then), and my taste in music (so distant from his own, that a Venn diagram was a joke).
It wasn’t until he just randomly started complaining about his problem with his aggressive fish (red terror), that I gave a lengthier response. I described my relatives’ aquarium at home, where I was currently staying.
He had grasped it like it was a lifeline. It was pretty much the only thing so far that spawned a long conversation that didn’t end with a “don’t know who/what/where that is lol” or something along those lines.
If this was a movie, I would end that scene of us back-and-forth texting with a slow fadeout. Immediately followed by a montage of moving from text messages to phone and video calls, and coffee dates, then our first kiss. Accompanied by an appropriately epic and cinematic soundtrack to denote a foreshadowing.
Alas, since my life wasn’t a movie, I didn’t hear any such soundtrack that gave me a heads-up on what was to come.
Foreshadowing Ahead
Given the beginnings of our relationship and our natural interest in most nautical-related things, quite a few of our dates took place at beaches and of course, aquariums.
Enter my mom, who flew to visit me in 2016 as I was unable to (at the time) travel back to the Philippines for (stupid) reasons. Understandably, my mom wasn’t interested in Disneyland or other theme parks. But luckily, my then-boyfriend was all too willing to play tour guide for my mom.
He drove my mom and me around the Palos Verdes coast to take in the views. We walked up and down the beaches of Malaga Cove and Redondo Beach (sensing a pattern here?), and in keeping with the theme, took her to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.
Yeah, we’ve unwittingly brought my mom to the same aquarium where my then-boyfriend and I would end up getting married.
All three of us admired the giant aquarium wall which would later serve as my wedding ceremony background. It would be the end of the aisle that both my parents would walk with me a few years later.
But back then, I didn’t think too much of it at the time. After all, almost everyone (including our wedding vendors) told us, “We didn’t even know you could get married at the aquarium!” Which, honestly? Same.
Arriving at the Aquarium (as a venue)
Choosing to have our wedding at the Aquarium of the Pacific wasn’t a decision we made lightly, nor did it come out of a vacuum.
While we hadn’t exactly had a dedicated sit-down discussion of when and where we would get married, it was something that we took seriously. At first, we mostly talked about it if it came up – usually if someone else we knew was getting married.
But later we talked about it because it was something we both realized was a real possibility. Especially after 3-4 years of dating.
In what was the most memorable (and defining) conversation we had about our potential wedding, my then-boyfriend mentioned that he might enjoy getting married somewhere we were “surrounded by dinosaurs.”
Obviously, I figured he was alluding to getting married at the La Brea Tar Pits since he also likes dinosaurs. But I jokingly replied, “Oh so at a gas station then?” to which he burst out laughing.
What can I say, I’m the funny one.
Once he was done laughing, I mentioned my reservations about outdoor weddings in general. I have always thought that the weather sometimes can (and does) function eerily similarly to a printer: it can sense deadlines & fear. If you know, you know.
But in all seriousness, I knew it hardly rained in California, but I knew in my heart it would rain. Especially if we counted on a rain-free wedding, it would most certainly rain on whichever day we pick.
So I turned to my then-boyfriend and suggested, “What about getting married at an aquarium?”
To which his response was a surprised and thoughtful, “Huh. Never thought of that.”
How it ended with a wedding at the Aquarium of the Pacific
So after we got engaged (and years after that conversation), my first call was to the Aquarium of the Pacific. I inquired about their reservation process and of course, prices.
I had never been so profoundly thankful for my paranoia-spurred planning as I was during my wedding. Guess who got a surprise spring shower on their wedding day?
We had opted out of choosing (and paying extra) for the combination of an outdoor ceremony with an indoor reception. In true wedding luck fashion, it started raining lightly an hour before the ceremony, while we were taking photos inside the aquarium.
Thankfully it was only a drizzle, and guests who were waiting outdoors by the jellyfish touch tanks (how awesome is that?!) had some cover. They didn’t have to wait too long before they were allowed to enter the aquarium.
Take that, La Brea Tar Pits! Although in fairness to my then-fiancee’s childhood dreams, I did call them twice, on two separate days, but did not receive a response.
Getting married with a massive aquarium as our backdrop truly felt like a full circle. Given my origins & love for (tropical) beaches, my husband’s countless weekends spent kayaking or spearfishing, and finally the first spark of connection & start of our long conversations.
It seemed especially appropriate that we also stumbled on the idea of the Aquarium of the Pacific as unexpectedly as we stumbled upon one of the few things we had in common.
It wasn’t necessarily what either of us envisioned for ourselves: eloping (me) or church plus golf course reception (him). Yet now looking back on it, I honestly wouldn’t change it for anything else and I can’t imagine a more appropriate wedding venue for us.
It was a wedding that both my husband and I (and a lot of our guests, according to them!) would always remember fondly and proudly.
In the end, it was the most gorgeous and unique wedding we could’ve dreamt of. But most importantly, it was so uniquely representative of not just us as individuals, but also as a couple.
