Couple Marries Mid-Flight in Surprise Airplane Wedding for Mom Battling Cancer

Jim and Kristy surprised her sick mother by getting married 35,000 feet in the air on flight 461 from Los Angeles to Seattle. Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography 

 

By: Kaitlin Jones 02/25/2016 at 4:46 PM 

 

Love was in the air somewhere over Oregon when flight attendant Kristy Larsen and her husband Jim married in a one-of-a-kind airplane wedding on Alaska Airlines Flight 461 Friday, February 19.
Bride Kristy, who first met Jim in a Seattle coffee shop while she was on a layover, had been working for the airline for 11 years before taking to the skies to wed her fiance. Sharing with The Knot that they not only took a leap by getting engaged on Leap Day, February 29, 2012, the pair went to even greater heights for their airplane wedding last weekend!
But Frees it in Time photographer and friend of the bride Christina Frees told The Knot that planning a speedy airplane wedding isn’t an easy task. “Getting permission for this type of wedding is rare and hard. Last time our airline approved someone to get married in flight was another one of our flight attendants over 20 years ago!” She added, “We work for the best airline, with the best crews and it really took everyone’s help to pull it off.”

Kristy held a bridal bouquet of pink, purple and white flowers on her wedding day. Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

Kristy called the planning process “tricky,” adding that Alaska Airline inflight supervisor and friend Rita Daniels was an asset in procuring permissions. She helped make sure the ceremony ran smoothly so Kristy could celebrate at 35,000 feet with her close friends and unsuspecting passengers on the sold out flight!

“I had 11 days to plan which included coming up with the idea, getting permission from Alaska Airlines, designing and making my shoes and accessories, coordinating tickets and getting medical approval for my mom to travel,” Kristy told The Knot.

With the blessing of the Captain, the bride and groom were married by pastor Scott Wetzel. 

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

The bride’s mother Billie Jo had been receiving treatments for lung cancer while living in Los Angeles. She was able to not only witness her daughter’s wedding, but also travel to Seattle to see where her daughter lives with Jim and how she works in airplanes. Christina shared that the wedding was a secret for Billie Jo saying, “I think she reacted the way everyone on the plane did. With shock and joy! I believe her words were ‘pretty spectacular!’ There were tears, laughs and lots of hugs.”
“She was VERY excited and said, ‘That’s my Kissy!’ My family’s nickname for me,” Kristy told The Knot. “She says, ‘I am super pleased to see my girl so happy.'” Contrary to other reports, the bride shared that her mother was doing well adding, “She is strong and improving. She’s had positive results from the new alternative immunotherapy treatments for her lung cancer.”

Kristy and Jim shared a toast with flight 461 passengers after their wedding ceremony. 

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

Calling on not only her chosen wedding guests of flight attendants and Alaska Airlines supervisors, the bride cleverly devised ways to transform the airplane into a wedding venue with the help of its 165 passengers. “The passengers were amazing! People love a love story and a surprise. This obviously had both,” the wedding photographer said. “They were asked to hold tulle down the aisle, chocolate roses, and were given bubbles for the walk back down.”

Passenger helped create a wedding aisle for the bride and groom and blew bubbles after the ceremony.

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

“I have never photographed a wedding where the people attending the wedding didn’t know they were going to be part of such an emotional and intimate moment,” Christina told The Knot. “None of the 165 passengers knew the couple and everyone was so excited to share in their love. It was so amazing to see people come together to celebrate a beautiful love story and touching moment with Jim, Kristy and her mom Billie Jo.”

Thankful for the receptive rows of spontaneous wedding guests, the bride also exclusively shared with The Knot that her favorite memory of the day was, “Seeing the passengers so engaged and enjoying themselves. You could feel the happiness, love and joy spreading throughout the cabin.”

Passengers aboard flight 461 from Los Angeles to Seattle helped Kristy and Jim celebrate their wedding

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

“Well….and the shoes!” the bride added. “I really enjoyed designing and most of all wearing them.” The shoes in question are custom white pumps dreamt up and painted by the bride to resemble the Alaska Airlines airplane, complete with blue heels with a green stripe, and rows of tiny windows. Kristy said, “I loved people’s reactions to the shoes!” The Knot certainly can’t get enough of this unique airplane wedding detail, too!

Kristy told The Knot that she “loved” peoples reactions to the airplane wedding heels she designed 

herself. Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

Despite the “short notice plan,” photographer and flight attendant Christina leapt at the opportunity to capture her friends Kristy and Jim’s location-less wedding. “I didn’t find out the location was a plane until the week before!” she said. “I love planes as much as I love photography and feel really comfortable in that environment so I knew it would be a challenge, but one I was happy to take.”
Much like planning an airplane wedding, navigating the cabin of a sold out Alaska Airlines flight that’s been transformed into a wedding venue proved to be quite the experience. The photographer grabbed an open jumpseat on the sold out flight and prepared to shoot the airplane wedding in its less-than-ideal photographic conditions.

Photographer Christina Frees said the passengers were “amazing” and supportive of the mid-flight 

ceremony. Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

“If you’ve ever been on an airplane you know the lighting is bad! Like ’70s school bathroom bad,” she joked. “I prefer to shoot in natural light and there was none to be had in that environment. It’s also not the prettiest location.” With a 22-inch aisle, a full cabin and low lighting, Christina explained, “It was a challenge but so fun!”

“My goal was to use my 85mm fixed lens to get beautiful close-in shots focusing on the emotion of the bride and groom,” Christina added. She managed to capture beautiful shots of the bride and groom walking down the airplane’s aisle, getting married by friend and pastor Scott Wetzel, and sharing priceless moments with Billie Jo and the rest of the cabin.

The bride and groom were greeted at their gate with signs and balloons in Seattle. 

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

When the plane touched down in Seattle, the bride shared with The Knot that the airline had created a special welcome at the gate complete with congratulatory signs, balloons and flowers. “The following day we had a wedding reception in Snohomish, Washington for friends and family,” she shared.

The bride and groom shared a piece of cake at the airport. 

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

Though the couple are waiting for things to settle down a bit before venturing off to Iceland for their honeymoon, Kristy did reveal one regret about a project she hopes to start working on soon. “I am designing custom fabrics to add comments, wishes and names of the ones who witnessed our ceremony into a memory quilt,” she said. “My only regret was not giving [the flight passengers] a way to stay in touch and share their pictures, videos and thoughts with us.”

After the wedding, Kristy and Jim held a reception for friends and family. 

Credit: Christina Frees/Frees it in Time Photography

So, if you happened to be on the momentous flight and witnessed Kristy and Jim Larsen’s airplane wedding, share your experience with the couple by using their unique hashtag #weddingflight461. We can’t wait to see what others caught on camera from throughout the cabin!

Man Proposes To Girlfriend 148 Times Before She Even Notices

A hopeless romantic in Grimsby, England, asked his girlfriend to marry him 148 times over the course of six months, but she didn't even notice.

Ray Smith discreetly placed a card reading "Will you marry me?" in 148 photographs he took of and with his partner, Claire Bramley, from July to December last year. But she remained blissfully unaware.

Smith ended up playing Bramley a montage of all the images, which included family and friends also popping the question on his behalf, on Christmas Day. 

YouTube/Ray Smith

Claire Bramley, left, had no idea that Ray Smith, right, was popping the question in the pictures they took together.

The clip ended with Smith directly asking Bramley for her hand in marriage more than six months after his first "proposal." She said yes. 

The couple are now planning their wedding for 2017, and Smith's video is going viral, according to the Grimsby Telegraph.

"I had no clue, I was totally oblivious to it all," Bramley, 33, who is eight months pregnant with the couple's first child, told Metro. "He told me he was taking the pictures to create memories for the baby, so I just let him get on with it."

Smith, 38, said it was "hard work not getting caught."

YouTube/Ray Smith 

 

Bramley didn't notice her boyfriend was asking her to marry him because he took different versions of each photo, sometimes without the message.

According to a YouTube post, Smith took numerous photographs of each situation, sometimes without the card in the shot. That way, he could show Bramley those photos if she asked to see them.

Dean Smith, no relation, pulled a similar stunt before popping the question to his girlfriend, Jennifer Kessel, in Aruba last January.

6 Tips to Make 2016 the Best Year of Your Life

It’s almost a New Year. That’s means a new YOU! What’s your New Year’s resolution going to be? I love the idea of the New Year because you get to bring it in with the ones that mean the most and January 1st just feels like a new, clean slate! You get to start over and set goals for yourself to make a better you.

It seems that a lot of people never accomplish their New Year’s resolution and their resolution happens to be the same every year. Let’s make 2016 different. Be a new kind of you this year with these easy tips! Let’s begin shall we:

1.Create habit. Set your goals for this year and create habit. Focus on your goals everyday, big or small. At the beginning, it’s kind of hard to have your goals in the back of your head everyday. Write your goal(s) on a sticky note and put on your bathroom mirror so that you are reminded everyday. Another idea, is to write it in your planner.

2. Keep a positive mind. Keep an “I can and I will” attitude. If you keep negative thoughts in your mind, negativity will follow. I’ve gone through one heck of a 2015 and there are times when I felt like I wanted to quit. You have to keep trying hard to move forward. Take your battles and use them at motivation to do better and keep going, even stronger than before. When you’re faced with a new battle, sit back and breathe for a minute and see how big of a deal it really is. As my mom says, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” Moms are always right..


3. Get Organized. Create lists, planners, binders and get rid of your mess and clutter. Starting with your home is best. A rule in my house is if you haven’t used it in 6 months, toss it. Organize your closet, bedroom, and office/desk. Organizing your bills and important paperwork is a great way to take a load off. Grabbing a planner (if you don’t have one, Target and Hobby Lobby planners seem to be my favorite!) is a way to make me feel like I have my stuff together and makes me feel less stressed. Put your energy into something fun!



4. Find a new hobby. This will get your mind off of things and let you enjoy you-time. Hobbies give you time where you can decompress, forget your struggles, or unwind after a long week. A few hobbies that I recently have found that I enjoy are painting and kayaking!

5. Make your own path. Whatever your goal is for the New Year, make it your own. Don’t follow the crowd. Ignore the negativity of “you can’t do that” and “that’s dumb” and do what makes YOU happy. Follow the road less travelled and enjoy your own experiences to share with others. Life is a journey, enjoy it the way you want to.

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

6. Plan a trip. There is nothing more exciting than experiencing something that you never have before. Your trip doesn’t have to be super elaborate, it could simply just be a place you’ve never gone before. Take the time of your busy year and plan a weekend or weeklong trip where you see the world. Go ride a train or subway for the first time. Go sit in a free talk show like Live! With Kelly and Michael. Planning a trip will have you looking forward to something and keep you motivated.

This Luxe Wedding Had 42 People In the Bridal Party (And 800 Guests)!

By: Lauren Levy

 

With a guest list of over 800, it’s no surprise that Claire and Clint had a hard time narrowing down their friends and family when it came time to pick their bridal party attendants. For their traditional ceremony at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, the couple was joined by 13 bridesmaids, 13 groomsmen, nine house party members, four flower girls and three ring bearers.

The lavish couple also didn’t hold back when it came to their grand reception. Verve Austin transformed the Austin City Limits at The Moody Theatre into an over-the-top soiree with a springy lavender and pale pink color palette. Fete De Fleurs filled the expansive space with lush hydrangea and rose arrangements—including a fresh flower wall and an installation over the cake. Sylvia Winestock Cakes perfected the majestic six-tiered confection with a mix of fresh and sugar blooms. The incredible Baylor Stadium groom’s cake featured a six-foot bear mascot and a functioning Jumbotron that flashed pictures of the bride during her cheerleading days. Jennifer Lindberg Weddings captured all of the seriously stunning details from the BIG day, check it out here and below!





 
 





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