Couple tie the knot on hot-air balloon

Jaipur: "When I looked down from there, I saw happiness writ large on the faces of my family members. Midair, with me, my fiancé too looked excited," gushed Vandana Sharma, a 22-year-old teacher, who got married on a hot-air balloon.

"Nothing else in this world could make me feel more fortunate. It's been the most precious moment of my life," said Vandana who tied the knot 100 metres above ground with Sunil Kumar Sharma, an insurance company executive, on Saturday here.

Sunil also is excited: "I had nothing to fear because my fiancee, who is now my life partner, was with me." And then the two broke into a Bollywood song.

The young couple had all the reasons to feel on cloud nine. They had become the first Indian couple to have a hot-air balloon wedding.

This quirky wedding took place in Jaipur, capital of the western Indian state of Rajasthan.

The groom came riding a horse, his dancing friends and family in tow, as tradition demands; the bride rode a palanquin.

The groom entered the hot-air balloon first, and then helped the bride into it. The balloon rose, and so did the eyes of thousands of onlookers.

A priest also accompanied the couple in the 2X2 square metre basket that suspended from the

balloon.

The priest chanted Vedic mantras as Sunil put vermilion on Vandana's forehead. Then they exchanged garlands. The newlywed couple waved in jubilation at the crowd, a musical band played wedding songs from Hindi films and the media flashbulbs went crazy.

In accordance with the ritual, the couple went round fire seven times to vow eternal love, once they came down to firm ground.

Nidhi, the bride's younger sister, said she was so excited to see this happen, she wished she had been engaged to someone.

Vandana and Sunil got engaged on August 17 last year and the marriage was scheduled for February 19.

When they heard about the hotair balloon, they did not have to think twice about what they wanted, even if that meant advancing the ceremony.

An event management company organised the mid-air wedding, at a price of Rs1 million (Dh83,333).

Anoop Srivastava, the director of the firm, said he wanted to promote innovative marriage and party themes. This wedding idea proved one thing for sure: if you want to become famous, there is no dearth of ideas, and literally, sky is the limit.