British Antarctic Survey photo
The first ever wedding taking place in the British Antarctic has seen a couple tie the knot surrounded by a landscape of snow and ice during the weekend.
Polar field guides Julie Baum and Tom Sylvester were married in a ceremony at the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Rothera Research Station.
The bride and her friends made the wedding dress, using material from an old pyramid tent.
The couple, who have been together for 11 years, shared their special day with 20 fellow over-winterers in one of the remotest areas on earth.
Their two-day celebration began on Saturday with a champagne breakfast and brought much excitement and joy to the team that is currently living and working in freezing temperatures with limited daylight and 30 miles per hour wind gusting over the station, said BAS.
The ceremony took place in a specially designed and decorated chapel on Saturday. The wedding will be registered with the BAT Government, based in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, to ensure the marriage will be valid in Britain.
The happy couple, engaged for three years, are both experienced mountaineers with careers as mountain instructors and expedition leaders.
"When both were selected to join BAS in 2016 to manage deep-field science expeditions everyone at Rothera joked that they should get married," said a BAS spokesman.
Julie, assisted by some of her friends on station, made her wedding dress. For the bride, her 'something old' was part of old orange pyramid tent used for the skirt. The groom made two wedding rings out of brass, using a lathe in the metal workshop. The center's resident chef made a traditional wedding cake for the reception.
Sylvester said the wedding couldn't have been better, adding: "Antarctica is an incredibly beautiful place and we have made such great friends here. We have always wanted to have a small personal wedding, but never imagined we'd be able to get married in one of the most remote places on Earth."
Baum added: "Tom and I have been working and travelling around the world. Getting married in Antarctica feels like it was meant to be."
After the ceremony the couple posed for photos outside in temperatures of minus 9 degrees centigrade.
The couple first met at an outdoor adventure instructor scheme in North Wales.
Rothera Research Station, the largest British Antarctic Survey facility, is a center for biological research and a hub for supporting deep-field and air operations.
