put your tray table up and kiss the bride

They met the officiant an hour earlier, all of their guests were strangers, and the entire ceremony could have been derailed by a “fasten seatbelts” announcement, but Jeremy Salda and Pam Patterson wouldn’t have changed a thing about their wedding on board a Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas.

The plan was for Salda and Patterson to fly from Oklahoma to Vegas on April 24, so they could get married. They first bought tickets for a flight that was canceled, and had to rebook. Salda and Patterson made it to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, dressed in their wedding attire because they were on a tight schedule once they made it to Vegas, but their connection was delayed and then canceled.

Not all hope was lost, however. An ordained minister also on his way to Vegas started talking to the couple, and soon, a plan was hatched: Salda, Patterson, and their new friend would book a Southwest flight out of Dallas Love Field Airport, and if they didn’t make it in time to their pre-planned ceremony, the minister would marry them.

They got an Uber and made it to Love Field, and once the Southwest crew heard what was happening, plans went into motion to hold the wedding on the plane. As soon as it reached cruising altitude, the lights were dimmed and the ceremony started, somewhere in the sky over Arizona. Patterson told People she let Salda know she wanted “to be his co-pilot for life,” and if “there’s ever any turbulence, I want to weather it with you.”