Jessie and Pavel know firsthand a wedding doesn’t have to be pricey for the marriage to be priceless. Not only was their marriage small, her mother had to sign for her and she wasn't old enough for even a champagne toast. (She was 17, he was 26.)
That was 19 years ago, and they've turned the small wedding into an art form.
They bonded over regulators and SCUBA certifications — Pavel was training to be a dive master and Jessie was learning to dive. He took an extended vacation from the Czech Republic and found himself diving Crystal River. He spoke limited English but, as he and Jessie found themselves on dives together, they realized they had a connection.
"He was still learning English," Jessie says, but "we understood each other pretty easily."
They didn't know each other's age; neither asked because they didn't think they were interested in each other. Mostly.
"I thought he was hot, but we were friends," she says. They weren't dating, but Jessie's family folded him into their routines, even taking him with them on vacation.
When his tourist visa expired a few months after they became friends, he knew he'd have to go home. He'd had no plans to stay in America; he had a house, friends and a life in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, he realized he wanted to stay.
"I wanted to extend the visa, but they denied it," Pavel says.
He had three months to get out of the country.
That's when the twosome realized they might be more than friends after all.
"That's when all the emotions came in," she says "I realized, 'I friggin' love you and I want you to stay."
As for Pavel? He realized his friend had wiggled her way into his heart, and he didn't want an ocean between them.
"I didn't want to lose her, because I didn't trust the immigration system. I knew if I went out of the country, I might not be able to get back," he says. "I didn't want to take that chance,"
This article appears in Feb 9-16, 2017.