Wedding Celebration Contributes to Lost Wedding Band in the Ocean 8 hours after saying “I Do”

On Sunday afternoon, I received my second call of the day for a lost ring.  This one had been lost in the very early hours of Sunday morning on Ocean Isle Beach, NC. The call came from Jim, the groom. He said that he had lost his wedding band in the ocean after an evening of celebrating his and he’s new bride, Marie’s 6 pm wedding. At exactly the same time, I was talking with Jim, I was getting a text from Cindi, Jim’s mother. She had done the research and found me through The Ring Finders web site. She had sent my information to her son, and both of them were trying to contact me. At some point Jim passed the phone to Marie’s dad, Jim, and I learned that Jim had lost his ring in waist deep water at 2 am. A quick check of the tide table showed low tide was about 10:30 pm Saturday night, so I’m thinking this might be a tough search. I advised one of the Jim’s and Cindi that I had another ring search at 6 pm and that I’d be there as soon as I got finished with the other search, which was probably going to be about 8 pm with travel time.

I got to Ocean Isle about 7:45pm and met Jim (father), Marie and Jim (bride and groom), and a few of their friends. To help as much as possible with my search, I needed to get a consensus, from everyone that was there when he lost the ring. I needed to know the time, the location, and how deep Jim was. I started my grid search parallel to the beach, trying to work the outgoing tide. Within a couple of hours, it was pitch black on the beach and both the wind and waves had picked up to the point I wasn’t comfortable out there by myself. So, I called it a night and called Marie telling her I and a buddy would be back out around 9:30am the next day.

At some point I had called Jim Brouwer, a good friend that has helped me in the past, to see if he was interested in giving me a hand on this one. The search area wasn’t huge but with all the circumstances, it’d be great to have 2 of us looking. When Jim Brouwer and I got there around 10 am, I showed him the area and we drew a line in the sand where Jim (groom) suspected he entered the water. Jim B. took the north side and I took the south. After about 2 hours and almost at dead low tide, I see Jim B digging a target in about thigh deep water. Considering the time we were out there, I had dug just one bottle cap and Jim hadn’t dug anything, so this was a good sign. As I watched Jim search through his scoop, he raised his head and gave me the “yes” nod.  Thank you, Jim!!

Marie and husband Jim went to get Jim B and me some water, so when I tried to call Marie she didn’t answer. I called Cindi to see if the kids were with her, she said no and then asked if we found the ring. I told her yes but I wanted to surprise the kids. Cindi said she was coming down. Marie called me and I asked her if she’d come down. The plan was to tell Marie and Jim that we were done with the search while I was pointing out the areas we had searched with my index finger. The whole time I had Jim’s ring on that finger. It took a few minutes and I finally said “Follow my finger down.” Jim saw his ring first, and then Marie. Beautiful reactions from both and a few tears ran down their cheeks.

Jim and Marie, Thank you so much for trusting me, Jim Brouwer, and The Ring Finders to help find one of your most treasured items. In just two days, your rings have started the stories of your lives together, and what stories they are. Best of Luck to you both, I wish you only the best.

Jim