Austin’s Town Lake was the site of a particularly beautiful event in October when two local residents made it the backdrop for their wedding. Corey Isaacks, 34, and Kirby Jay, 31, did not just get married by the lake on Oct. 26, they stood in the lake on paddle boards for the entire ceremony.
"We always wanted to do something different for our wedding,” Kirby told Austin Journal. "When we started dating, Corey lived right on the lake path and we spent most of our free time running around the lake training for marathons, so the lake itself means a lot to us,” she said.
According to the couple, the paddle board idea came up on a date a few years ago. "We were at a restaurant overlooking the Colorado River and started fantasizing about how cool it would be to get married on paddle boards,” Kirby said.
The morning event included over 150 guests, more than 100 of whom witnessed the ceremony up close from paddle boards, kayaks, and canoes that formed a huddle around the couple. The bride’s parents even made sure the couple's 10-year-old dog “PJ," a friendly pitbull-mix, joined the ceremony on a paddle board.
The event was made possible by boat rentals and other support from the Rowing Dock, a water sports rental business off Stratford Drive on the West side of Mopac.
Rowing Dock told Austin Journal its team was "absolutely thrilled" to host the wedding. "It was incredible to help provide such a memorable experience that reflected the unique beauty of our city,” a spokesperson said.
The couple chose Brian Fons, a kayak guide on the lake who became a friend, to officiate the wedding. He stood on a float in the lake to witness the couple’s vows. For Kirby, this included a few notes from a journal she kept during their more than seven years of dating. Among her entries, "Corey spends a lot of time doing things I don't do, but man does he create magic.”
The couple met in 2016 about the time Kirby, a Connecticut native, moved to Austin after graduating from college in Florida. "I had just moved into a new house with two guys and Corey was in a band with one of them and I started going to all their shows. He was the best bass player I’d ever seen,” she said.
Corey is an Austin native and a software engineer at Apptronik, a startup that builds humanoid robots. Kirby is an executive with an Austin-based private equity firm, and is the editorial director for its media properties, which includes the Austin Journal.
Corey and Kirby told the Journal they wanted to be sure the Rowing Dock got recognition for making the ceremony possible, and also expressed appreciation for Maci King of Bianca Nichole and Company for helping to coordinate the event. "She ended up doing way more final walkthroughs than we signed up for,” Kirby said.
When asked if the unique experience turned out the way she hoped, Kirby was emphatic.
“Yes!” she said. "I’m still giddy over it. Other than the obvious things like falling in and dropping rings, we were really nervous about the wind and everyone staying in one place on kayaks. There was hardly any wind and the weather was amazing,” she said.
Neither the bride nor groom fell off their boards, and not a single guest got wet.
According to the couple, “we really lucked out!"
Photo courtesy of Caitlin Rose Photography
Photo courtesy of Caitlin Rose Photography