It's a marriage made in heaven for Sandra and Jeroen, a Belgian couple who
brought their chapel a little closer to God on their wedding day by raising it
50 metres up in the air.

SINT-TRUIDEN, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 16, 2008) REUTERS -
It took ten years for Sandra Eens (pronounce: enss) and Jeroen
(pronounce: Jeroon) Kippers to tie the knot but when they did, it was a cut
above the rest.
The Belgian couple's meeting was ordinary enough: they were both
students in Ghent, in the region of Flanders. Sandra studied economics and
Jeroen management and both worked in the same bar at the weekend.
But they wanted to raise the stakes on their wedding day on Thursday
(October 16) by having the chapel ceremony on a platform 50 metres above the
ground in a military airfield near Brussels.
Their 22 relatives and friends had to be secured on aeroplane chairs
and tied with security belts whilst the couple had safety harnesses embedded
in their wedding costumes.
Since the chapel is not welded to a local community a Dutch priest had
to be hired for the occasion through the Belgian organisation
"Rent-a-Priest". But Wilco Van Wakeren usually weds couples in
yachts or restaurants -- not in the clouds.
The platform was gradually lifted as the ceremony proceeded. By the time
they exchanged rings they had reached the zenith and Sandra and Jeroen kissed
with the angels.
As a man of the cloth he was reluctant to admit that marrying in the
heavens brought you just a little closer to God but in the euphoria of the
moment he eventually yielded.
"No, no, no, no, a little bit, a little bit, a little bit closer
but only a few meters. No, no, no. I think you are closer to God with an
aeroplane but God is in your heart, not in the heights and lows," Van
Wakeren said.
After exchanging vows, the couple joined in for a duo bungee jump.
The experience was exhilarating, they said, and injected them with a
good feeling for the years to come.
"Yes, great feeling. It feels like you fly a little bit,"
Sandra said.
"Marriage in the sky" has been conceived by the Belgium duo
behind "Dinner in the sky", launched three years ago. Using cranes
to elevate large platforms closer to the sky, David Ghysels and Stefan
Kerkhofs say they organise events to make people's dreams true. Since
"Dinner in the sky" was launched, the team has organised about 500
events in 25 countries as far as South Africa, Australia and India. Events
range from an opera or a poker party in London to an internet cafe in Los
Angeles. Ghysels and Kerhofs were looking for new ideas to expand the concept
and "Marriage in the sky" was born.
Not lacking in ambition what they would really like to do is raise the
platform over more glamourous locations like rivers and oceans.
"It's about offering people the possibility to make their dreams
come true. We got the idea for 'Marriage in the sky' because people are always
looking to have an original, an extraordinary wedding. And so we conceived
this platform to offer them the possibility to have an extraordinary wedding.
But the extraordinary wedding is not to be on this platform, it's to have this
platform above the river Meuse, above the sea, above extraordinary places with
an extraordinary background, with your friends, and so to share an
unforgettable experience," Ghysels said.
And after sharing a glass of champagne with their close ones, Sandra
and Jeroen will get ready for their next deadline: a church and town hall
wedding on Saturday (October 18) and a honeymoon in Malaysia.