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The REAL Love Boat

Tribne photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

Jennifer Donswell and Derek Turner pose for photos after their wedding on The Weddings on Water Floating Chapel.

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By SUSAN HEMMINGWAY, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - When Derek Turner proposed to Jen Dowswell on a starry night last May, the two stood atop a cruise ship bound for the Caribbean.

And when they married this month, they once again surrounded themselves with the romance of the sea.

On Feb. 2, the couple from Canada joined hands and hearts aboard the Floating Chapel on the Bay. The love-boat-with-a-steeple, which docks at the St. Petersburg Pier, glides wedding parties at 5 mph on the small basin of Tampa Bay near the Pier and Vinoy Park.

It first set sail in 2004. Inspired by a smaller floating chapel they had seen in Australia, owners Phil and Janet Henderson hired St. Petersburg naval architect Daniel Avoures to come up with an American version. Their 50-ton vessel cost $1 million. It's decked out with bric-a-brac trim, stained-glass windows, a beamed cathedral ceiling and oak pews. From the air, this blue-roofed wedding venue must look like a church being hauled on a barge. But it has its own twin catamaran hulls, two diesel engines and a crew of three.

Phil Henderson also owns Dolphin Encounter, a dolphin-watching boat, on Clearwater Beach, and the Caladesi Island Ferry, which connects Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island State Park in Dunedin. He helped start Starlight Cruises, a dinner cruise company in Clearwater now being run by his son.

On Starlight cruises, Henderson discovered how much couples love to tie the knot aboard boats; a notary public, he performed more than 1,000 weddings on dinner cruises.

"I've met a lot of brides and grooms and heard a lot of stories," he said. Couples told him they wanted privacy for their weddings but couldn't get that on a cruise ship.

Henderson figured a boat that looked like a quaint church would fill a niche and created a new company, Weddings on Water. So far, close to 250 weddings, renewals of vows and commitment ceremonies have been performed aboard the Floating Chapel.

Brides have worn traditional white gowns or Tommy Bahama sundresses. Flowers have been strewn on the red-carpeted aisle. So have brightly colored feathers in a Hawaiian-themed affair. The traditional wedding march by Wagner - known as "Here Comes the Bride" - has resonated up into the cathedral ceiling. So has "(She's) Some Kind of Wonderful" by Huey Lewis and the News, as wedding guests did the Shrug.

Renting the floating chapel costs from $800 to $2,300, depending on the day of the week and number of guests. Couples can be married by the boat captain. Three video cameras record the event.

Jen and Derek, who hail from London, Ontario, opted for a traditional ceremony with a small beach twist. She is a 25-year-old preschool teacher. He is 34 and a network administrator at a call center.

She wore a flowing white wedding gown and small rhinestone tiara; he, a sharp-looking tan suit - and flip-flops. The groomsmen donned matching blue Hawaiian shirts decorated with sailboats and flowers.

At the back of the Floating Chapel, Jen nearly cried when she emerged from the bridal room, the private chamber where brides prepare for their big moment. The bridal processional was playing "It Is You (I Have Loved)" by Dana Glover.

By that time, Jen's 11-year-old sister, Ashley McGowan, had strewn her basket of purple petals. Pelicans could be seen diving for dinner just outside the chapel windows, and the late-afternoon sun turned the clouds pink. Who noticed? Not the guests. Everyone was looking at Jen.

Jen walked down the aisle on the arm of her father, Don, two years and four months to the day since she first saw Derek. She is precise about this kind of heart-imprinted date. Her friend had been dating his friend. That's how they met.

Their wedding ceremony took 15 minutes, including the sand ceremony. That's where the bride and groom pour two vases of sand into one "unity" vase - the beach version of the candle ceremony.

An hour after the Floating Chapel left the dock, the wedding party was standing in a reception line on the bow. Fifty guests drank pink champagne and ate slices of wedding cake topped with butter-cream seashells. Everyone was from Canada, except the mother of the bride, Bonnie McGowan, and Jen's two younger siblings, all of whom live in North Redington Beach.

By 5:45 p.m., Derek and Jen were newlyweds heading back to shore on the Floating Chapel. The evening was growing dark enough to see the surprise awaiting them in the parking lot: an illuminated Cinderella carriage pulled by a Clydesdale horse to whisk the couple around Vinoy Park.

It was just as Phil Henderson predicted. Build a quaint wedding chapel that floats and they will come.

Reporter Susan Hemmingway can be reached at (813) 259-7951 or shemmingway@tampatrib.com.

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