Forrest Galante and Wife Jessica Summerfield Tied the Knot in a 5-Day Bahamian Bash
Published Feb. 19 2022, 2:13 p.m. ET
If you’ve watched the docuseries Mysterious Creatures With Forrest Galante on Animal Planetor Discovery+, you likely know that biologist Forrest Galante is married to zoologist Jessica Summerfield.
In fact, Jessica appears in the show’s second episode — “What’s Lurking in the Water?” — as the husband-and-wife team “investigate the waterways in the Pacific Northwest following local lore of dragon-like monsters residing in the area,” per Discovery’s synopsis.
And wildlife played a big role in the couple’s wedding, too…
The duo married in 2015, with stingrays and pigs in attendance.
According to the Daily Mail, Forrest and Jessica got married in the Bahamas in 2015, celebrating their nuptials with a five-day party on Stocking Island.
“Stocking Island was the first place that Jessica and I ever travelled to together,” Forrest told the newspaper. “It has perfect beaches, vibrant reefs, and incredible oceanic wildlife in every direction and is only accessible by sea plane or boat, which is just how we like it. It’s a place we both have some of our fondest memories from and somewhere we wanted to share with our friends.”
After the ceremony, Forrest and Jessica and the wedding party played with stingrays and iguanas, fed swimming pigs, snorkeled in a sea cave, and spear-fished for their dinner. “Our wedding was a magical day of fun in the sun,” Forrest added. “We both see a wedding as a great chance to have a big party with friends while doing the things we love most. So we combined adventure, wildlife, friends, and of course booze to have the most fun party of all time, with a little romance mixed in.”
Added Jessica: “Our wedding day was a magical day filled with joy, laughter, tears and an overwhelming sense of love. It was an incredibly special occasion surrounded by our closest friends and family in a beautiful, unique, tropical destination. It was a truly memorable experiences that all of our guests and ourselves will remember for a lifetime.”
Jessica inspired him to try out for ‘Naked and Afraid.’
A 2019 Ozy profile of the couple revealed that Forrest and Jessica met as 15-year-olds and both studied at University of California, Santa Barbara, with Forrest enrolling at the school at age 16. After his graduation, Forrest and Jessica set off on a trip around the world, traveling to 28 countries in 14 months.
And Jessica had to rely on her EMT training at one point of the trip. “He did jump off a waterfall and land on his back, and he had temporary paralysis,” she told the site. “I had to go in and essentially rescue him, build a stretcher out of bamboo and haul him out of the jungle.”
And it was Jessica who urged Forrest to audition for Naked and Afraid, an appearance that would kickstart his TV career. And even though that reality show requires competitors to survive the wilderness for three weeks — sans clothing — Forrest said the experience was “easy” and “so much fun.” (Better him than us!)
