Taking the plunge with the Big Fish

It probably shouldn't have been a surprise to the friends and family of Deana Nichols and Dale Scovell when they announced their plans to marry underwater.

After all, Dale had proposed in a similar manner.

Deana recalls: "We were diving on Cozumel Island ... We were 20 metres underwater when he tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and he started using made up sign language to tell me that he loved me. I took my regulator out to kiss him." she realised he was holding an engagement ring. She says, "I started swallowing water and choking, it was just such a shock." While she said/signed yes, she adds, "When we surfaced 20 minutes later, I made him say it again to make sure it was real."

Dale and Deana then mutually came up with the idea of actually "taking the plunge" underwater and booked themselves, and 50 guests, to fly to Rarotonga to marry and dive with the team at the Big Fish.

Sabine Janneck, who co-owns the Big Fish Dive Centre with her partner Sascha Schmitt, says when Dale and Deana called to book she originally thought "they were just planning to have a short dive on the day they get married". She adds that she and Sascha therefore just booked the dives for their group "and I organised a little function for them on Sunday because I knew that they won't have time on the actual wedding day".

Sabine says it was only once the couple arrived on the island that they told them they had bigger plans. "I said to Deana you have to tell us so we can be prepared, and that's when she told us the whole story with the wedding dress and everything."

Deana says her only regret for the day was that they didn't have a way to make the underwater ceremony legal, so had a second ceremony later that day. "Getting married underwater was so liberating, I didn't have to worry about hair or makeup or looking like a princess. It was a really genuine moment and a true celebration of our relationship without any of the superficial or commercial fuss.

"Our wedding dive was the most wonderful, stress-free and meaningful morning of our lives.

"It was actually about Dale and I and no one else, which was what we'd wanted."

The couple are now back on dry land at home in Brisbane, but with amazing memories of a very special day, complete with a few extra guests.

"We had a special guest at the wedding, a giant blue triggerfish."