Birmingham-born woman and partner tie knot in minus 9oC
ABIRMINGHAM expedition leader and her partner have made history by becoming the first couple to get married in the British Antarctic territory.
Julie Baum, 34, tied the knot with colleague Tom Sylvester, 35, in subzero temperatures surrounded by penguins and snow-capped mountains last Saturday.
The couple, who have been together for 11 years, shared their special occasion with 20 colleagues as they tucked into a champagne breakfast amid 30mph freezing winds at Rothera Research station, 2,000 miles south of the Falkland Islands.
Mrs Sylvester said: “Getting married in Antarctica feels like it was meant to be.
“There is no better place really – I love snowy mountains and spending time in amazing places with awesome people.”
The ceremony took place in a specially designed and decorated chapel and the wedding will be registered with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to ensure it is valid in the UK.
Birmingham-born Mrs Sylvester, who now lives in Yoxall, Stafford- shire, is a mountain instructor and expedition leader who joined the British Antarctic Survey station in 2016.
Mrs Sylvester along with friends even made her own wedding dress fashioning ‘something old’ from a part of old orange pyramid tent for the skirt.
Following the ceremony, which was held around noon, the couple posed for photos outside in tempera- tures of minus nine degrees centigrade before setting off in their wedding vehicle, a sno-cat.
As the couple decided to get married after arriving in Antarctica, Mr Sylvester, from Sheffield, made the wedding rings out of brass by learning to use the lathe in the metal workshop.
The couple first met at an outdoor instructor apprenticeship scheme at the Plas Y Brenin Outdoor Centre in North Wales where they shared a love of outdoor pursuits. Both have worked as expedition leaders around the world including Northern India, Nepal, Peru, Ecuador, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Borneo, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Mrs Sylvester, whose family still live in Birmingham, studied Watersports and Adventure Activities Management at University before working as a Mountaineering instructor.
Her marriage was the first since the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) marriage law was reformed in 2016 to make it easier for marriages to be arranged in the Territory.
Rothera Research Station Leader and a BAT Magistrate Paul Samways performed the ceremony.
He said: “Having spent time with Julie and Tom over the Austral summer and half of the Antarctic winter I feel amazingly privileged to be able to be part of their story.
“They are amazing people, and being responsible for joining them in marriage is an incredible honour.”
Rothera Research Station is a centre for biological research and a hub for supporting deep-field and air operations sited on Adelaide Island to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula.