高空的浪漫 美国夫妇的热气球婚礼

 　　Suspended 2000ft above the ground, a Georgia bride and groom¹ were literally² floating on air on their big day as they tied the knot on a hot air balloon.

　　在距离地面2000英尺（约609米）的热气球上，佐治亚州的一对夫妇在空中举办了一场别出心裁的浪漫婚礼。

　　Sara and Joseph Stewart, from Canton, exchanged their vows³ during the unusual ceremony, watched by a single friend.

　　只有一位好友同在热气球上见证了这对夫妇--萨莎·斯图尔特和约瑟夫·斯图尔特相互交换誓言的那一神圣时刻。

　　But it wasn't all plain sailing, as the loved-up pair had had to keep their unique choice of venue⁴ a secret until the last moment in case the flight was cancelled due to bad weather.

　　这一切并不是一帆风顺的，因为热气球的起飞会受天气状况的影响，所以两人将热气球婚礼的计划一直保密到最后。

　　The unusual choice of venue also meant that Mrs Stewart's father was unable to be with them as they exchanged vows, although he did give his daughter away beforehand⁵.

　　由于婚礼举办场所比较特殊，新娘的父亲无法当面见证新人交换誓言，但在两人登上热气球之前，萨莎的爸爸牵着女儿的手将她交到了约瑟夫的手中。

　　In the event, the only close friend to share the couple's magical moment was Leslie, a military chaplain who performed the ceremony.

　　热气球上除了萨莎和约瑟夫，只有作为牧师的两人的好友莱斯利在场分享了他们的喜悦瞬间。

　　Rather than sending their friends invitations to a wedding, the couple invited them to their house the following day to watch the footage of the quirky ceremony and celebrate their marriage.

　　与其他人直接邀请朋友去婚礼现场不同，斯图尔特夫妇在婚礼第二天邀请朋友们去家里观看他们在热气球上的浪漫婚礼视频，以此来为他们庆祝。

　　Mrs Stewart, a wedding photographer, came up with the idea after her new husband revealed he had planned to pop the question on a hot air balloon, but decided⁶ it was too expensive.

　　萨莎是一名婚礼摄影师，约瑟夫之前本想在热气球上向她求婚，但因为花销不菲只能作罢。两人在热气球上举行婚礼的想法就来源于此。

　　'In my line of work I had seen so many different weddings and I didn't want to copy anyone else's,' she says. 'I wanted to do something different.'

　　“我在工作中看到过各式各样的婚礼，我不想重复他人的。”萨莎说，“我想做点与众不同的事。”

　　'I wanted to do something I had never seen before. Joey told me that he had thought about proposing to me on a hot air balloon, so then I came up with the idea of getting married in one. He thought it was an awesome⁷ idea.'

　　“我想做一些之前从未经历过的。当约瑟夫告诉我他本想在热气球上向我求婚的时候，我就想出了举办热气球婚礼的主意。他也同意并觉得很棒。”

　　The couple married in August 2012 after dating for two years - but the soulmates had been friends since meeting during an American Football game at university in 2007.

　　萨莎和约瑟夫交往两年后于2012年结婚，但是两人从2007年在大学的一场足球赛上相识后就一直是朋友。

　　'We got a lot of great reactions from our friends and family,' added the happy bride. 'I'm sure a lot of them thought we were weird⁸ for doing it, but I think after everyone watched the video they agreed that it was a pretty cool idea.

　　“我们的朋友和家人对此反应不一。”萨莎说，“我确定大部人肯定觉得我们这么做有点怪，但是我相信只要他们看到我们婚礼视频，一定也会赞成这是个很酷的想法的。”

　　'We actually didn't tell them about the balloon because we weren't 100 per cent sure that we would be able to fly so we kept it a secret in case we needed to change plans.

　　“实际上之前我们并没有跟大家说要在热气球上举行婚礼，因为我们不能百分百确定热气球一定能在那天顺利起飞，所以为了防止计划有变我们一直保密到最后。”

　　'It really was the best day of my life. I loved when Joey was saying his vows to me because we were completely surrounded in a cloud of white. It was perfect, so still and beautiful.

　　“那天真的是我生命中最重要的一天。约瑟夫对着我讲誓言的那个时候，我真是陶醉了，因为那时我们正被洁白的云朵包围着。宁静而美丽，简直太完美了。”

　　'We started the ceremony on the ground so that my father could still give me away, and only immediate⁹ family came to see us fly. It was perfect.'

　　“婚礼是在地面上就开始举行的，这样爸爸仍可以牵着我的手将我交给约瑟夫，当时在场观看我们热气球婚礼的只有我们最亲近的家人。这感觉很棒。”

1 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

4 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

5 beforehand   

adj.事先，预先，提前地，超前地

参考例句：

• If I'd known this beforehand,I would not have gone back.早知如此，我就不回去了。
• They proposed to make arrangement beforehand.他们提议事先做好安排。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。