Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Kugluktuk (Aug 06/01) - When airline employees fall in love, the only logical place to enter the zone of wedded bliss is aboard an aircraft.

A Hawker Siddeley 748, to be more precise.

"My husband came up with the idea and it just kind of stuck," said Wendy Klengenberg, shortly after returning home to Kugluktuk last week.

Wendy and new life-partner Sheldon -- both station agents for First Air in Kugluktuk -- celebrated their nuptials over three love-filled days in Edmonton after pledging their undying devotion on July 28.

The pair took the plunge aboard a First Air plane, en route to Yellowknife, at roughly 17,000 feet. A local justice of the peace came along to perform the ceremony.

Wendy, dressed in the traditional floor-length white wedding dress, said their vows were rushed because they needed to be completed while still in Nunavut airspace.

"As soon as we were allowed to stand up, it started. We had to do it very quickly because it had to be in the Nunavut Territory," she said.

She said the ceremony was short, but sweet, and "kind of loud."

Sheldon, known around the Kitikmeot for being unique and a bit of a daredevil, said that, because they were both airline employees, it only made sense to say "I do" on a plane.

"It was quite thrilling and no one had ever done it before," said Sheldon.

"Lots of people are still talking about it around town. Mostly they're offering congratulations and saying, 'Leave it to Mr. Klengenberg to be different.'"