Couple finds Grand Canyon a scenic wedding alternative
Jami Angell and Air Force Maj. Andrew Burke had wanted a formal wedding in Kansas; they settled for one in Arizona.
With Andrew’s military schedule, getting married in Kansas was going to be tough. They continued their quest for the perfect wedding online, and that’s when they came across a possible solution.
Jami and Andrew found a Web site that described a wedding at the Grand Canyon with a helicopter ride. This was just what the couple had wanted to find. It was going to make the wedding easier for everyone.
The wedding was set for July 4.
At 12:30 p.m. July 4, a group of 17 joined Jamie and Andrew for a limo ride to four helicopters that were waiting to take them to the wedding site. The helicopters lifted off around 2 p.m. as they headed toward the Grand Canyon. The group of family and friends flew over many attractions, such as the Las Vegas strip, Hoover Dam, and the newly added Grand Canyon Skywalk, which stretches over the edge of the Grand Canyon.
“Everything was just so beautiful,” said Jami, a Tonganoxie High School graduate.
The helicopters landed on an Indian reservation, near the edge of the Grand Canyon. Much to the delight of Janet Angell, Jami’s mother, the wedding ceremony was under a covered area.
“It was very hot,” Janet said, “It felt like it was 120 degrees.”
The wedding was about an hour long and the group of 19 returned to the landing pad at 5 p.m.
“The wedding was just reverent, Janet said. “It was original but still meaningful.”
Jami is a graduate of Tonganoxie High School and Emporia State University. Andrew is a Bishop Ward High graduate who later received his bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University and his master’s degree from Central Missouri State University.
The couple now resides in Little Rock, Ark.
— Ebbert is a Tonganoxie High School senior who is working for The Mirror as part of an internship program through THS.