{"id":2192,"date":"2017-08-27T20:33:09","date_gmt":"2017-08-28T03:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2192"},"modified":"2017-08-27T20:33:09","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T03:33:09","slug":"strapping-sailor-steps-on-shore-to-tie-the-knot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/uncategorized\/2192\/strapping-sailor-steps-on-shore-to-tie-the-knot","title":{"rendered":"Strapping Sailor Steps on Shore to Tie the Knot"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Ship

Ship captain Chris Shepler and his fiancee Mikie Tracey were wedded on dry land in Northern Michigan.<\/p><\/div>\n

Legend has it that sea captains are empowered to perform weddings for passengers onboard the vessels they command. But for Captain Chris Shepler, President of Shepler\u2019s Mackinac Island Ferry, performing his own ceremony at sea this August was out of the question. Why didn\u2019t the strapping sailor, though, when it came time to marry his fianc\u00e9e, Mikie Tracey, whom he\u2019d met eight years earlier at a travel conference, simply take the helm? Why not climb aboard the \u201cMiss Margy,\u201d steer her out into the strait, and join hands and hearts in the spot where Lake Huron joins\u00a0Lake Michigan?<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, my brother Billy, our fleet captain, told me, \u2018No way, man. We\u2019re too busy at that time of year. Get your hands off the steering wheel!\u2019\u201d Shepler laughed.<\/p>\n

Shepler\u2019s, the 72-year old business their patriarch father William founded, and his boys operate with their sister Patricia, ferries flocks of families to and fro from Mackinaw City and St. Ignace to\u00a0Mackinac Island\u00a0through virtually four seasons.<\/p>\n

As for the matrimonial powers of ship captains, it seems their onboard authority is somewhat embellished.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can marry people but the nuptials are negated once we hit shore,\u201d Shepler reveals. \u201cThe wedding is legal for the time you\u2019re on the water, but unless the captain is ordained, the marriage is null and void once we hit shore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who knew?!<\/p>\n

So Shepler went the opposite direction and became the ultimate landlubber, staging his wedding on the terra firma of a golf course called \u201cTrue North,\u201d a private, forested enclave on high and dry land above Little Traverse Bay in Harbor Springs. And he even presented his bride with the wedding gift of a horse – not a seahorse but a show horse named \u201cBling\u201d Mikie rode to a jumping championship at the Evergreen Classic in Seattle only days after the wedding.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the most special whirlwind week of my life. I got married to the love of my life and competed on my wedding present,\u201d the new Mrs. Shepler said. \u201cChris is the best thing that ever happened to me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Shepler figured the wedding guests who came in from\u00a0Seattle\u00a0on his bride\u2019s behalf became new fans of\u00a0Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoly cow the wedding could not have gone any better,\u201d he exclaimed.<\/p>\n

True North\u2019s general manager Michael Kernicki, who climbed aboard a Shepler Ferry a week later, helped facilitate the \u201csilent disco,\u201d at the wedding. Guests grooved on the dance floor to synchronized music only they could hear by wearing headphones.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of the coolest things about the wedding,\u201d Kernicki said. \u201cThis is one of the most fun couples going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at\u00a0<\/em>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or via TravelTattler.com\u00a0His talk show can be heard weekday mornings in\u00a0Lansing\u00a0on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legend has it that sea captains are empowered to perform weddings for passengers onboard the vessels they command. But for… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2017\/08\/SheplerWeddingToast.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2194,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions\/2194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}