A 79-Year-Old Norwegian Man Swam Across Fjord to His Own Wedding

Trygve Bernhardsen, 79, was very excited to marry Ellen Hertzberg, 69. And he wanted to prove it. So he decided to swim slightly over 2,600 feet of fjord – clad in a bow tie – to marry his bride.

Hertzberg, who said Bernhardsen is an avid swimmer, told the local paper that she didn’t have much of a say as to whether or not Bernhardsen would make his swim. “He didn’t want to marry me unless he was allowed to swim to his bride,”she said. “And I thought that was great.”

Bernhardsen was accompanied by his two grandchildren on the swim, which was fortunate, because he said the 57-degree water started to get to him by the end. “It was terribly cold, I could feel the cold towards the end of the swim. My legs were completely stiff.”

But Hertzberg, who met Bernhardsen 15 years ago when he tied his yacht near her home (hashtag Norwegian courtship), never had any doubts about her man’s abilities.

“I was never afraid. He’s like a seal,” she said. “This swim was nothing for him. I have found the best man in the world.”

This article originally appeared on People.com