Kevin De Koninck married Demy Van de Cappelle on Saturday 20 July 2024. The scion of a bargee family, Kevin wanted to celebrate this special day as tradition dictates. Friends and family descended on the Antwerp city port by barge the week before the wedding.
Anyone driving past the Antwerp Asiadok on Saturday 20 July could see an impressive group of a dozen barges lying together, decorated with as many as hundreds of flags. That day, Kevin De Koninck, barge skipper of the ‘Ancolia’, married Demy Van de Cappelle. The couple already have three young sons.
De Koninck himself comes from a bargee family. “I am already the sixth generation and therefore wanted a wedding day in time-honoured bargee tradition. My wife comes from the shore, so for her this was definitely special, although we had attended some weddings of bargees together before,” Kevin De Koninck says.
I saw a lot of ships lying together at the Asia Dock?
“According to tradition, friends and family gather their ships at the same spot. To announce that a wedding is coming up, all the ships are decorated with multicoloured flags,” he says. “I had applied to the Antwerp city port for about 15 ships. We ended up getting permission for ten ships. Some ships were longer than 135 metres and, because of passage planning at the Oosterweel works in the Straatsburgdok, could no longer enter the Stadshaven. We were allowed to berth six ships side by side, but had to guarantee passage for Flandria’s tour boat.”
The night before the wedding you are not welcome on your own ship?
“I went to sleep on my parents’ ship ‘Serena’ on Friday night. On Saturday morning, I picked up my wife on board our own ship. We then went ashore where there was a beautiful flower arch decorated with white flowers. The moment the bride disembarked, there was a loud honking from all the ships. There, the first photos are then immediately taken and a small reception for friends and family follows. Partly because of the loud honking, we had a lot of spectators,” he laughs. “Then we went to the town hall in Brasschaat.”
” In the evening during the wedding party, we provided another bouquet of flowers for all the ladies. The men were given a bottle of wine to take home, wrapped in a box with a picture of our ship on it. After the party, we spent the night at a nearby hotel.”
“Our ship was given a playful touch on Saturday by the flagmen who had stayed on board. So on Sunday morning, among other things, we found 40 kilos of confetti and a heap of rubber ducks scattered across our living quarters,” he laughs.
You are of the sixth generation of inland skippers. Will your sons take over soon?
“Our oldest five-year-old son has already been bitten by the inland navigation bug. He sometimes comes into the wheelhouse in the evening and asks me if he can take the helm when he sees that I look a bit tired (laughs). So it’s fair to say that the seventh generation is eager to take the helm.”
