On cloud nine

A match made in heaven has reached cloud nine.

Dubai-based Indian couple Vidhi Popley and Hridesh Sainani took their relationship literally to new heights when they married on 24 November. The bride's father, Dilip Popley, reprised his father's memorable hosting of his own wedding in 1994 by sponsoring his daughter's nuptials in a similar fashion.

The Popley family flew 350 guests, including reporters, from the private hangar of their company at the Jetex terminal near Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai to Oman. The wedding ceremony and reception, however, were held during the three-hour flight aboard a modified Boeing 747 owned by businessman Popley, who was married aboard an Air India Airbus A310 30 years ago, the first marriage ceremony on a flight.

Each section of the plane was fixed with a small projector so that everyone could watch the wedding procession, Voodshaadis reported.

Guests were treated to a seven-star meal, which included vegetable jhalfrazi, mushroom pulao, palak paneer and dal masala.

Such a lavish "wedding in the sky" would be hard to match, but couples from the Batangan tribe in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro had their own version in equally dramatic fashion.

The mass civil wedding in Sitio Tulaleng had local officials as godfathers and godmothers.

It was an endearingly suspenseful spectacle as the brides and grooms, in their native attire, began the ceremonial procession on opposite ends of a hanging bridge. They walked on the so-called "Bridge of Love," meeting at a spot to say their "I dos" and kiss, GMA Regional TV Balitang Southern Tagalog reported.

A total of 21 pairs of indigenous couples were married in groups on the bridge by a priest standing in the middle. Their weight was borne by the bridge made of vines, wooden sticks, and uway or rattan as the Aglubang River raged a few meters below.

The hanging bridge wedding certainly had its own air of novelty with the breathtaking natural ambiance and surroundings.

WJG @tribunephl_wjg