After being declared husband and wife, Cam Auge and Caylee Wasilenko walked down the aisle, or in this case the dock, and strapped on a pair of water skis.

The throttle roared on a nearby boat and the couple took off from the dock at the Vancouver Waterski Club, but Wasilenko promptly tumbled into the cool waters of Bedwell Bay in Indian Arm on Wednesday afternoon. The couple mastered a blissful matrimonial lap on their second attempt, despite Wasilenko’s soggy wedding dress.

“My mom’s biggest fear was that I was going to drown in the dress, because once it got wet it would be 50 pounds and it would drag me to the bottom,” Wasilenko said Wednesday night from her reception at their home in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood. “So, I put a life-jacket underneath the dress to make her happy.”

Wasilenko’s $1,600 dress was borrowed from her younger sister, who gave her permission to take it into the salt water, but she still had to convince her mother Sheryl Wasilenko, who flew in for the ceremony from Kelowna on Tuesday.

“All of her friends have said tonight ‘yeah, OK, we’d expect something like that,’” Sheryl said. “It was kind of a cool way to get married actually.”

The couple, who are 33-years-old and are raising two infant daughters, used to swim competitively and met six years ago while doing laps at the University of B.C.’s pool. The water lovers decided a few weeks ago to “elope” and chose the remote ski club to host their ceremony, which was accessible by boat only and included just seven people.

“We didn’t want to make a big deal out of the wedding,” Wasilenko said.

Auge added, “We wanted (to do) something special because we’re both very creative and we just wanted something we could remember and show our kids.

“It’s original and completely us — we love doing crazy funny stuff.”

Both avid water skiers, Auge is an importer of unusual products from around the world and Wasilenko is a hair stylist.

Wasilenko said the wildest thing the couple has done together was buying a 100-year-old house and renovating it with their two daughters, who are 10 months and two years old.