Home » Blog » Destinations » Setting Sail

Kathryn Basso was working in the Kelowna restaurant she co-owned when she first met Steve Johnson, and the chemistry between the two was immediate. “I mentioned to a co-worker at the restaurant that I thought he was attractive, and that he seemed interesting to me,” she recalls of that moment in 2005. She didn’t know it at the time, but Steve, 51, was thinking the same thing about her. “She was really beautiful, interesting and funny, with a quick, sharp wit,” he says of the Kelowna realtor. “It didn’t take me long to realize she was really special.”
.

Steve, a dentist who moved from Shevington, England to Kelowna more than 20 years ago, called Kathryn to ask her out. He planned to take her out on his boat to a restaurant for a nice dinner, but the plan almost backfired. “My boat engine literally blew up while we were in the boat, in the water,” he says with a laugh. “We had to put it back on the trailer, park it at my house and take the car to the restaurant instead.”
.

On that first date, the couple learned they had lots in common. Both had been previously married, each of them had two sons, and the boys were all similar ages. “I found him charming, and I loved his accent,” says Kathryn.

.

After that, Steve and Kathryn saw each other frequently. They introduced their sons to each other and were thrilled when the boys bonded and became good friends. Within months of their first meeting, Steve says he knew Kathryn was the one. “She’s well grounded, smart, worldly and a great organizer,” he says. “And we’re both very active people who love to travel, exercise, go camping and scuba diving.”
.

Kathryn recalls Steve mentioning marriage three months after they started dating. “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness!’” she says. “But it always felt like we fit as a couple, and even if we had disagreements, I knew we had to work through them because I knew that he was supposed to be with me.”
.

It would be two years before Steve’s official proposal to Kathryn. He waited until they were at a resort in Thailand and hired a boat to take them across to a private, secluded island.  “They prepared a picnic for us on the beach with sangria and Thai food, and Steve brought along a bouquet of orchids,” Kathryn recalls fondly. “When he went down on one knee and proposed, I was in shock. I kept saying, ‘Are you serious?’”
.

The couple purchased an engagement ring in Thailand and returned to Kelowna to plan a destination wedding in Mexico for April 2010. “Cabo San Lucas is such a convenient  destination to reach from Kelowna,” reflects Steve. “We went there in September 2009 to scout various sites, and that’s when we saw the boat we’d be married on.”
.

The 100-year-old tall ship Talofa had been crafted to retrieve treasure in the coral reefs of the South Pacific, and was in impeccable condition. When Kathryn and Steve walked passed it in the Cabo San Lucas harbour, they were taken with it immediately. The captain happened to walk by as hey wondered out loud who it belonged to. “Right there and then we decided we would let him sail us away on our wedding with his crew,” says Kathryn.
.

Over the next few months, with the help of Mexico-based wedding planner Sarai Flores of Signature Weddings Mexico, the wedding plans came together. Kathryn traveled to Toronto with her mother to shop for a bridal gown, saw one in a window and loved it. “When the store owner heard my wedding day was six weeks away he told me he’d never be able to do the alterations in that time,” Kathryn recalls. “I tried it on anyway and it fit perfectly. All he had to do was hem it. Two days later, I walked out of the store with my wedding dress over my arm.”
.

The day of the wedding, 30 guests joined Kathryn and Steve in Cabo San Lucas for Champagne and orange juice. “I walked down the dock towards the Talofa with my boys, to the sounds of a string quartet playing,” Kathryn says.
.

Steve was waiting for her on board, and in the bay of Cabo San Lucas, the minister performed a ceremony in two parts. “The first part married our family,” says Kathryn. “He expressed so beautifully to the kids that this was a blending of two families, and that no matter where we were in life, we would always be together. It brought tears to our eyes, yet still made us laugh and smile,” she says.
.

In the second part of the ceremony the minister married Steve and Kathryn. Then the wedding party spent the day sailing over Cabo San Lucas’ turquoise waters beneath brilliantly sunny skies. Whales breached across the bow of the boat, eagle rays swam by and guests drank Champagne and ate wedding cake.

“It was such a special day,” Steve reflects. “I loved the movement of the boat on the water, the wind in the sails and the magic feeling that our wedding was really, truly happening.”

.

Wedding Planner:
Sarai Flores – Signature Weddings Mexico
www.signatureweddingsmexico.com

Photographer:
Glen Durrell Photography
www.glendurrell.com

Venue – Ceremony:
Talofa Tall Ship
www.talofatallship.com

Venue – Reception:
Sheraton Hacienda del Mar
www.sheratonhaciendadelmar.com

Bridal Gown:
Reva Mivasagar, The RM Salon – Toronto
www.revadesigns.com

.