What was supposed to be a quick and quiet elopement turned into a nearly 70-person wedding aboard a B.C. Ferries vessel that travels along the northern coast of British Columbia.
B.C. Ferries employees Jordyn Sankey, 23, and Leslie Fox, 41, met two years ago while working on the Northern Expedition, which services Prince Rupert, Port Hardy, Bella Bella and Haida Gwaii.
“We did not like each other one bit when we first met each other, actually,” said Sankey, who plans to change her last name to Fox. “He came off very mean.”
Sankey is a customer service attendant, while Fox is a third-class engineer. Employees on the Northern Expedition work in close quarters during their 12-hour shifts, two weeks on and two weeks off as the vessel travels up to 18 hours at a time between stops.
After that abrupt initial meeting, the pair met again and ended up dining together.
“We had dinner again the next night, and then we had dinner again the next night,” Sankey said.
“And then he started making me coffees in the mornings.”
Last April, the couple was on an impromptu trip to Yellowstone National Park when they came to the mutual decision that they should tie the knot.
They said they went back and forth on wedding plans, but those plans didn’t work out.
Sankey, who is originally from Haida Gwaii and also has Tsimshian and Nisga’a roots, has a large extended family, and the couple said that every time they tried to organize festivities, things quickly got out of hand.
“It would have been a huge potlach, and then my mom and everybody was getting involved and it probably would have cost us over $100,000,” Fox said.
“And then it just turned into, ‘No, we’re not inviting anybody.'”
Finally, last week Sankey suggested they keep the ceremony small, and honour their history as a couple.
“We’re all part of a little ferry family,” Sankey said.
Sankey said B.C. Ferries let the couple use the ship’s Aurora lounge for their nuptials. The crew provided the couple with a cake, flowers, a gift and a card.
In a written statement, a B.C. Ferries spokesperson said weddings are not something it hosts or books as a service, but “there have been a handful of informal, one-off ceremonies over the years, usually connected to crew or community members with a special relationship to a particular ship or route.”
What was supposed to be a small ceremony with just two witnesses unexpectedly turned into something much bigger.
The ceremony took place at 8 a.m. PT, at the end of the vessel’s two-week run, while it was docked in Prince Rupert for a shift change.
Word about the wedding got out, and at the last minute nearly all of the 70-person crew showed up to take part.
“It was way over expectations,” Fox said. “We were looking for something small.”
Sankey said she was overwhelmed with joy to be surrounded by her “B.C. Ferries family.”
The couple said the ceremony was “short and sweet” and not stressful at all.
As for being married?
“It’s nice,” Sankey said. “We’re going to be together, and it feels completed now.”
The couple is expecting their first child together in May.
