Recently, a Florida-based couple named Kelly and Lauren traveled all the way to Seward, Alaska, to have their wedding on the beach. The day before their ceremony, they went on a boat tour hoping to see orcas but didn’t have any luck.
While the couple was
on the way to their ceremony spot with two photographers and their handful of guests, a local boat guide let them know that orcas had just been spotted near the beach they were heading to. Everyone got really excited but tried not to get their hopes up.
But when Kelly and Lauren were just about to start the ceremony, the orcas appeared right in front of them. The couple paused what they were doing and just sat in awe of the majestic animals as they surfaced over and over.
“We all just turned and watched,” Abbi Hearne, one of the wedding photographers, told The Dodo. “I think it was probably five minutes that we were sitting there watching.”
For another couple, seeing orcas in the water may have been just a cool sighting that they quickly moved on from. But for Kelly and Lauren, who are two orca lovers, it was an incredibly special moment.
“I mean, for all of us, seeing them at all was just so magical,” Hearne said.
Hearne and her husband, the co-owners of The Hearnes Adventure Photography, snapped lots of photos of the incredible orca visit. Once they’d thoroughly documented the whales, they put their cameras away so everyone could quietly soak up the moment.
“I remember we all had actual chills, and we were excited, but we also weren’t screaming because we didn’t want to startle the animal,” Hearne said.
Hearne and her husband have spent a lot of time on that exact beach in Seward overlooking Resurrection Bay, but they’ve never seen orcas that close.
“[T]o see them specifically from that beach, that close to the beach, it’s pretty rare,” Hearne said.
When the orcas went on their way and the ceremony continued, more wildlife kept showing up. Otters and porpoises swam through the water, a bald eagle flew overhead and a moth even landed on the hair of one of the brides.
“It felt like we were hanging out with some Disney princesses out there summoning all of the wildlife,” Hearne said.
When Kelly, Lauren and Hearne reflected on the day, they couldn’t help but feel like the orcas had shown up as a gift specifically for them.
“We actually learned later from a local scientist that saw the video that both of those orcas were female … which just felt extra special with it being two brides,” Hearne said.
