“How Deep Is Your Love?” is the opening verse of the Bee Gee’s 1977 pop ballad of the same title. In the case of one California couple, their love was five to seven meters deep on their wedding day.

Janet Shekhtmeyster and Evan Hazlett’s original plan was to get married on a liveaboard boat—a week-long cruise for divers, have the captain marry them and jump in the water afterward. But to Hazlett, a former professional cave diver, this felt a bit dry. 

“Why don’t we do the ceremony underwater?” Hazlett asked his fiancé, who works as a school psychologist. “Let’s do it!” Shekhtmeyster said, and she was serious.

Hazlett talked to his mom to make sure she was comfortable with the idea. “You just do you and I’ll be here,” she told Hazlett.

Shekhtmeyster’s mother was less understanding. “She was confused, but she accepted it.”

When talking about his proposal, Hazlett said it was “quite lovely, but not as remarkable as their wedding.” Shekhtmeyster added, “it was on a hike.” 

“I prefer to describe it as a mountain top,” Hazlett said, and the newlywed couple laughed. 

Photo by Petra Oberucova 

In her research, Shekhtmeyster read about the Guinness World Record for the largest underwater wedding, achieved by 303 divers who attended a marriage ceremony in a flooded quarry in the Polish city of Jaworzno. The wedding was officiated by a local priest and licensed frogman, who communicated with the couple using waterproof texts and sign language. Otherwise, there were few articles online about underwater weddings. 

After contacting a number of dive shops, the couple chose Dive Gurus in La Paz, Mexico. The business’ owner, Luke Inman, was enthusiastic and he was already a licensed officiant having performed a wedding underwater in the past.

As a destination, La Paz met their requirements: warm water, no current, a shallow sandy bottom and clear water so they could see each other. 

The couple entrusted Inman to choose their wedding venue. He chose a sheltered bay in the protected marine sanctuary of Isla Espiritu Santo, the island of the holy ghost, a location an hour and a half by boat from Marina Palmira.

The couple opted to write their own vows and not spend a fortune on wedding attire. They also discussed getting cheaper rings for the ceremony, but decided to be married with their actual wedding rings. 

Photo by Petra Oberucova 

“Make sure you test the rings!” Inman stressed. 

To Inman’s relief, the rings were negatively buoyant. They would not float away, but a solution was still needed to transport them. It wasn’t until the morning of the wedding that Inman thought of using the diver’s equivalent of a climber’s karabiner—a metal clip called a “double ender.” Its gated clip was perfect for holding two wedding rings.

For photographer Petra Oberucova, this was her first underwater wedding. “I usually specialize in shooting animals, big animals,” Petra told Kinute. 

“In the beginning they were a little nervous,” the photographer said. “Then on the boat, everything calmed down.”

At the dive site, Inman and Oberucova helped the couple prepare. “Putting on our gear was a whole challenge—in a full-length gown with a veil, I needed some help,” said Shekhtmeyster.  

Janet Shekhtmeyster and Evan Hazlett geared up for the underwater ceremony. Photo by Petra Oberucova 

Once the bride and groom had jumped in, the party of four descended. 

Inman, as officiant, was wearing a commercial diver’s full face mask, which had a microphone inbuilt. He did not have a regulator in his mouth, so he was able to speak to the couple. The mask had a relay to a speaker at the surface, so his words could be heard on the boat as well.

“When you get married, you have a level of anxiety and stress.” Shekhtmeyster explained. “Eventually I was able to calm myself down and appreciate what was happening and in that moment we were very aware of each other’s breathing.”

They all knelt on the sandy bottom and Inman began, “Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today, underwater, to celebrate …”

Photo by Petra Oberucova 

“We knew what he was saying, as we wrote a script for him,” Shekhtmeyster said. “But it was hard to hear.” 

They exchanged slates with text written on them, instead of speaking their vows. 

For the “I do’s” the couple used American sign language. “I looked it up,” the groom said. I (point to your chest), do (point to your heart), he demonstrated with a smile. 

“There were a lot of things to control and do underwater. I don’t even know if I did the ‘I do’ at the right time,” the bride said.

“She didn’t,” Hazlett said with a smile as he put his arm around his wife. 

“By the time I got towards the end of the ceremony, with the way they were looking at each other, I was choking up,” the officiant confessed.

Janet Shekhtmeyster and Evan Hazlett were officially married on Sept. 3, 2023. 

The bride and groom exchange rings. Photo by Petra Oberucova 

Photo by Petra Oberucova 

When they surfaced holding hands, they were met by an unexpected audience of kayakers and snorkelers and people on boats clapping. 

“My boat captain had flicked the ‘share’ switch on the receiver by mistake,” Inman said. The ceremony had been accidentally broadcast across the bay. 

The ceremony was, according to the newlyweds, “perfect … really special and beautiful.” 

After the “just married” couple surfaced, they went back down again with the photographer. In lieu of a first dance, they had a first dive.

Janet Shekhtmeyster and Evan Hazlett’s “first dive” as a married couple. Photo by Petra Oberucova 

“One of the things we keep bringing up about our wedding is how low stress it was,” the bride said. “We didn’t have to worry about meeting anybody’s expectations.”

The groom agreed. “It was completely stress free,” he said. “We just had to show up.” 

For Janet Shekhtmeyster and Evan Hazlett, diving is part of their love story. They got married on their own terms, underwater, as two divers celebrating their love of diving, and each other.