Image Of The Week: One Decked Out Wedding In PBC Cove

Unless they rose before dawn last Friday and happened to wake up with a view of the Lake of the Ozarks at Mile Marker 21, early-arrival participants for Performance Boat Center’s Spring Fun on Saturday missed one of the highlights of the weekend. And that means very few people got a glimpse of Justin Snook and Melissa Frizen—now Melissa Snook—getting married at 6 a.m. on the deck of their 2009 model-year Fountain 42 Lightning sportboat.

Snook’s brother, Jon, and his wife, Jamie, and his longtime friend J.J. Malkasian, who presided over the sunrise ceremony in Central Missouri, joined the Northern Michigan couple.

Married six days ago, Melissa and Jon Snook (right) exchanged vows on the deck of their 42-Fountain.

“We said, ‘Hey, let’s elope, invite a few people and save a bunch of money,” Snook, who owns an automotive body shop in Marcelona, Mich., said then laughed.

Snook bought the 42-footer, which is powered by twin Mercury Racing 700 SCi engines, as a “project boat” a couple of months ago from Day’s Boat Sales in Frankfort, Ky. Since then, he’s had the crew at Performance Boat Center bringing it back to life. At 5 a.m. last Friday, they ran the boat from the multi-brand dealership to nearby condominium to pick up the bride, her maid of honor and the wedding officiant.

By the time the sun came up, the ceremony was finished.

“The ceremony was about 10 minutes long,” said Snook. “We set up a few cameras and started the ceremony, exchanged vows and the popped a bottle of champagne.”

The following day, the newlyweds and their friends joined the Performance Boat Center Spring Fun Run fleet.

“We had a great time,” said Snook. “And we met a lot of great people.”

For the 2022 boating season at least, the Performance Boat Center-produced event will have to qualify as their honeymoon. The Snooks, who are big fans of the local-to-them Boyne Thunder Poker Run and consider Lake Charlevoix their home-water, have a shared passion for go-fast boating. And the season is just getting started.

“Melissa says there’s no time for that nonsense,” Snook said, then laughed again. “We have more boating events to attend.”