Couple gets married on plane after missing flight connection to Vegas

The minister wore a sash of Southwest snack packets for a sense of occasion

The happy couple kisses under the Exit sign as fellow passengers cheer (Twitter/George Rodriguez)

A couple got married on a Southwest Airlines flight at 37,000 feet on Sunday night, with call-button lighting and toilet paper strung up as an impromptu altar.

Jeremy Salda and his fiancee Pam had reportedly missed their connection to Vegas, where they hoped to get married, after flight delays, prompting the decision to throw caution to the headwinds and get hitched onboard.

The spontaneous nuptials happened on flight WN2690, their Dallas to Phoenix leg, where the couple had boarded dressed to get wed with hopes of going straight to the chapel once they touched down in Vegas.

To set the mood, passengers lit up their crew call-button lights, crew strung up toilet paper to form an altar in the galley at the front of the cabin, and witnesses took out their phones to film the event.

It just so happened that there was an ordained minister on the flight to perform the ceremony, and flight attendants stood in as bridesmaids.

“[Pam] wasn’t waiting any longer after 3/4 missed flights to get to Vegas,” tweeted Southwest customer George Rodriguez, posting video from down the “aisle”.

“Sooo [toilet paper] alter (classic), call button lighting and a minister was on the flight WOW. @SouthwestAir was jumpn LATE at 36Kfeet.”

In a video posted by Mr Rodriguez, crew appear to play some guitar music over the cabin soundsystem as the ceremony begins.

In another, the couple dances down the aisle to Bruno Mars’s “Marry You”.

The couple, who are from Oklahoma City, have a destination wedding planned in Mexico later this summer.

Ms Salda told San Diego’s 10 News that before the trip, “We were joking like, ‘We should just go to Vegas and get married now.’ Because we have to do a legal one anyway.”

Of her white strapless dress, she said: “I ordered it on Tuesday. I got it on Thursday. Had it altered on Friday. And walked on a plane on Sunday.”

But alas, the weather in Texas delayed their mission to make it to the church on time.

“[Southwest] switch terminals on us, then they switch gates and they finally just say it’s cancelled," said Jeremy.

“And we’re dressed up, and visibly stressed trying to figure out how we’re going to get to Vegas in time.”

As if it was meant to be, fellow passenger Chris introduced himself - not only is he an ordained minister but he was travelling with high-spec video equipment that could capture the moment.

“The universe sent Chris over and he says, ‘Hey, I think I can help you out,’ and boy did he,” Pam told 10 News.

“The captain sees us and says, ‘Oh, are you going to Vegas to get married?’ And I said, ‘Well, we’re going to try. If not, I want to do it on this plane.’ And he goes, ‘Really?’”

The crew were up for it, and once at altitude, they set about making the ceremony happen. Minister Chris wore a sash of Southwest snack packets pinned together for a sense of occasion.

“They’re putting toilet paper streamers... They dimmed the lights and had everyone click their ‘call attendant’ button... They downloaded ‘Here comes the bride’ and they welcomed everybody to the flight and to our wedding,” said Pam.

Her vows included the improvised line: "Any turbulence, I want to weather it with you.”

Fellow passengers joined in with the post-vows festivities and passed around an old notebook to sign as a “guestbook”.

“A lot of them said ‘thank you for letting us be a part of it... we need this kind of stuff,’” said Jeremy.

“Somebody said, ‘Man, I feel like I just watched a rom-com movie.’”