I first met Bob Albee 15 years ago, when I visited my brother, Frank Lennon, in West Palm Beach, Fla., and he invited friends to a barbecue to meet his sister. Frank later came back to Rhode Island and founded the Russian Submarine Museum, and Bob, a lifelong bachelor now is his fifties, moved here several years ago to become project manager of the sub. "I love it here," Bob said that first year. "Snow! No bugs."

This is a story about taking a giddy chance because in your gut you know it's right and it will never come again and you don't want to spend the rest of your life wondering how it might have turned out...

After a whirlwind courtship, Bob Albee of East Greenwich and Irina Zhikina of St. Petersburg, Russia, married today alongside the submarine that brought them together.

In May 2004 the Russian Sub Museum, in conjunction with Brown University and the Naval War College in Newport, hosted a Cold War at Sea conference, and some Russian sailors who had served aboard the Juliett 484 attended. Bob worked with them, they became friends and the Russians invited him for an exchange visit to St. Petersburg. In August 2005, Bob went to Russia.

On his second night, his hosts took Bob to a New Orleans-style jazz club they thought he'd enjoy. Irina was seated at the next table with friends. They met, dated -- Irina speaks fluent English -- and after 8 days together they discussed marriage.

Back home in Rhode Island, Bob told friends he had met the woman he was going to marry.

When Bob left Russia, Irina applied for a tourist visa to the United States, and she arrived in Providence September 27. Bob and Irina shopped for rings, discussed legalities with attorney and project volunteer Joe White, inquired about immigration and applied for a marriage license. They went to Florida for a few days so Bob could introduce his fiancee to his mother, who'd broken her hip in a fall recently.

Meanwhile, midweek in Rhode Island, word went out that Bob and Irina would wed Sunday at the sub, in Collier Point Park off Allens Avenue in Providence. Friends were tapped to prepare food for a reception to be held outdoors before the ceremony.

Alongside the trailer that serves as an office and ticket booth for the sub, canapes of tomato slices, fresh basil and mozzarella, a bowl of iced shrimp, asparagus spears baked in thin slices of prosciutto, cubes of fruit and cheese, wine in plastic cups and Russian chocolates, some filled with flavored vodkas, held down a white paper tablecloth lifted by gusty winds. Most guests were meeting Irina for the first time, and the mingling broke what little ice there was.

Irina's family and friends in Russia were with her via cellphone, and she alternated speaking English to the guests and Russian into the phone.

Just before 2 p.m., the wind whipped up and threatening clouds rolled in. The group of about 40 -- swelled by random visitors come to tour the sub, which remained open -- quickly moved the adventure to the pier next to the hulking "sail" of the black-rubber-coated Juliett. A trayful of plastic cups with a smidgen of vodka for toasts threatened to blow away, and were quickly distributed. Nearby, the Providence-to-Newport ferry cut through the swells of the upper bay.

Irina and Bob walked up the gangplank and across the pier to the strains of guests humming the wedding march.

In his official capacity and robe, probate judge Joseph B. White of North Kingstown performed the marriage. Two cell phones broadcast the ceremony to Irina's family in Russia and to Bob's mother in Fort Lauderdale. The couple exchanged rings and long-stemmed red roses. Toasts were raised to the couple's happiness, to the bride, to their parents, and to what Irina dubbed "godmother Juliett," the submarine that brought them together. The newlyweds spoke by phone to their families, then exchanged phones. They beamed. So did we.

Rose petals appeared, to be tossed at the departing couple. The sun came out. ("A good sign," ran the buzz among onlookers.) The wedding party left for a private dinner, and the guests were invited to explore the sub. (Joe and I did, then headed for a wake.)

When Irina's 30-day visa expires, she will return to Russia and begin making arrangements, close her business of importing products from Moscow to St. Petersburg, dismantle the life she has known.

Bob will visit at Christmas, and they'll wed again, in a Russian ceremony, in January.

The happy ending will have to wait a while. The immigration process for Irina and her young daughter will take six to nine months.

But life is all lit up again for both of them, and they already have one fantastic wedding to remember.