Welcome to episode four of You.Two. – a podcast series capturing inspiring love stories from real-life couples.
In this episode, we meet Jeremy and Pam Salda.
The stars aligned when their Vegas wedding hung in the balance after flight delays and cancellation. Instead, they found themselves in an impromptu in-flight wedding on Southwest that went viral.
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Episode Transcript
Jeremy:
I mean, if you would’ve told me two months ago that the first three weeks of our marriage would be this whirlwind that we’ve had, I wouldn’t have believed it. If you would’ve told me a year ago that we would be sitting in this position, married, and going through these things-
Pam:
This was not the wedding we had planned.
Jeremy:
No, it was not.
Pam:
I tell him all the time, don’t doubt me. I lead a charmed life.
Jeremy:
You do. You do.
Pam:
I say that all the time, “Charmed life, it’s going to work out. We’re going to do this.” Which is kind of back to the airport. When we were sitting there at the airport and all this, the delays and everything, I’m like, “It’s going to work out. Charmed life, remember?” In walks Chris with, “Hey, I’m an ordained minister and I’m also going to Vegas.”
Pam:
My name’s Pam Patterson, my friends call me Pamtastic. I grew up in a really small town in Northeastern, Oklahoma, Webers Falls. I graduated with about 25 people. Went to OSU nursing school. Was a nurse for a long, long time. Now I’m in medical sales, have a couple of kids, 28 and almost 21. And it’s really kind of been a nutshell that.
Jeremy:
Jeremy Salda. I was born and raised in Oklahoma City, graduated high school from Putnam City High School. I am a graphic designer and have my own company, and we do a lot of vehicle wraps. So lot of our stuff is running around town on the roads. And I’ve got a couple of kids. My son is 15 and my daughter is going to be 12 in about a month, a little over a month. And that’s about it.
Pam:
I mean, I think our story started out in’s kind of a fun way too. It’s 2022 and then you’re just kind of getting out of a pandemic. So, we met online. How else are you going to meet someone? You’re going to meet them online. So I decided in August of 2020, I was like, I’ll try this online thing. I’ll see how it’s going to go. I open up Bumble and fill out the information. I chose that because that’s the one where the lady gets to do the choosing. So, I fill it out and I don’t know what I’m doing. And I put these pictures on there and I’m like, okay, that sounds good. I don’t know. And then you start getting these messages and these photos and you’re swiping. And I remember when his photo came by, I remember exactly the photo it was. I remember when it came by, I was like, “Oh, he’s cute, swiping. And we matched pretty quickly.
Jeremy:
Yeah, it was that day, probably, summer, Sunday afternoon. And one of my friends who likes to live vicariously through me was like, “Have you been on?” I’m like, “No, I’m not doing that anymore.” And he was like, “Well, let’s see what’s on there. Let’s swipe.” “All right. Yeah. I’ll see what’s on there. I’ll swipe.” I swiped on three people and one of them was you and it popped up match.
Pam:
I didn’t know what a match was. I just thought if you swiped it meant, okay yeah. And then match, oh, okay. So this is different. Okay. Now what do I do? Because I have to go first. I have to say something first. And they have these standard questions in the profile. One of the questions was, what is a movie or a TV…
Jeremy:
People say I quote too much from.
Pam:
… too much from? And he wrote Seinfeld. It’s like, oh, I love Seinfeld. So, that was my intros. I made a joke about Seinfeld. And off to the races it went. And we were texting like immediately. And Jeremy was my first ever online date, ever. And so we texted all week and we’re going to meet at Fassler Hall. And we get there and I mean, we arrive right at the same time. And as soon as we see each other, I said, I don’t remember, something funny. And we started laughing and that was at seven o’clock, and we started talking and the next thing we know it’s last call.
Jeremy:
Yeah. It was so amazing how quickly we fell into conversation. And I mean, it was like it is now. We’ve known each other for-
Pam:
I don’t even think, did we talk on the phone before we met? I don’t think we did.
Jeremy:
I don’t think we did either. I don’t think we had a phone call. It was just texts.
Pam:
I don’t either.
Jeremy:
Yeah. You were taking a big risk. You could have really hated my voice. I could have had this scratchy, oh.
Pam:
I know. I didn’t know what I was doing. Yeah. I didn’t know what I was doing. But we have this great date. We just bounce around three or four places downtown. We have this great date. And like I said, it’s last call. And I remember, we talked about everything from kids and where we grew up and life and jobs and the pandemic and all of these things, but he was so cute. And I remember telling him he was so cute and confident and witty. We’re sitting at R and J’s and I mean, literally they came up to us with last call and I’m like, “I just got here.” And it was crazy. And I remember going home, had my sassy pants on. I’m thinking, this online dating thing is great. Why are people complaining? This is awesome. I’m shooting fish in a barrel over here. This is amazing. This is so great. These other dates are going to continue to be great. They were less than great, for sure. And we went out a few times, and again, it was great and it was easy and we laughed all the time. And we didn’t really do anything super crazy. Well, second date, tell them about the second date is-
Jeremy:
Oh yeah. Yeah. Second date. Oh-
Pam:
He’s such a great listener. He listens to these little details and things I said.
Jeremy:
We’re talking about personalities and our outlooks on life, that’s first date we’re talking about these things. And she says, “I like to just spread kindness like confetti,” and that stuck with me for some reason. I don’t know why, but that one thing from that first date stuck. And so before our second date, I show up, obviously I’m a sap, so I-
Pam:
He is a sap.
Jeremy:
I’m a sap, I’m a romantic, so I had the flowers and then I had a little special thing for it. And I went to Hobby Lobby and bought two bags of metallic star confetti. And I gave her the flowers when I picked her up. And then we go over to Picasso Cafe for dinner. And as we’re getting out, I said, “Well, I got one more thing for you.” And I reach in the back and I grab it. And I said, “We have to spread this confetti around wherever we go tonight.”
Pam:
And my eyes light up. I’m like, “This is the best day of my life. I get to go on a date with this handsome guy and throw confetti? Yes.”
Jeremy:
The $1.50 bag of confetti made her night.
Pam:
And I still have some in a little box.
Jeremy:
Yeah. And so we’re sitting there in Picasso and we had ordered, and she says, “I need to go to the restroom.” And she tears open the confetti and she sprinkles some into her hand and she gets up and she’s walking into the bathroom. And right there in the middle of the restaurant, she stops, looks over her shoulder, gives me this little smirk, and just tosses it in the air. And just this cloud of confetti. And I knew then I was like, “I am sunk.” When we first met the way we fell into conversation, I knew within 30 minutes that I wanted to be with you. But when you did that with the confetti, I was like, “I’m hooked, and she’s just got to reel me in.”
Pam:
It was the greatest day. And then we end up going down to…
Jeremy:
Sidecar, downtown.
Pam:
Sidecar, downtown, and we’re sitting outside and just having a drink and just laughing about all the adventures of the day. I mean, we’re kind of oblivious and we’re just talking and laughing. And this group of girls comment on us and they go, “Well, how long have you all been together?” And we kind of look at each other and I go, “Well, how long do you think?” And a girl looks at us and she goes, “Four years.” And we said, “Nope, second date.”
Jeremy:
Our first date, I didn’t even kiss her. I knew something was different about her, and I did not want to overstep any bounds or anything. I wanted to make sure everything was just up and up and very gentleman-like. And when I walked her to the door on the first date, I remember, I’ll never forget. She had this little gleam in her eyes and she just kind of stood up on her tippy toes and gave me a little kiss on the lips. And I was like, okay, that’s cool. And my friend told me, she goes on that second date, she goes, “If you don’t lay one on her, I’m going to be mad at you.” And so, as we were walking to the car from Sidecar, I just pulled her into my arms right there on the sidewalk and kissed her. I was like, I better take my chance.
Pam:
And we had previously, it was raining a little bit. We had liberated an umbrella as well.
Jeremy:
Somebody had left an umbrella there.
Pam:
So we, “Oh, this is ours.” We still have it.
Jeremy:
We still got our umbrella.
Pam:
So yeah, that was the second date. So dates are going great. And it’s like I always say, he checked all the boxes, and I remember telling all my friends. The only concern was his kids are a little bit younger obviously than mine. And I’m just a new empty nester. I’d kind of done that. And I was like, I don’t know if I want to do the kid thing again. And I was honest and told him about it. And he’s like, “Yeah, I get it. You raised your family, you did that. Can we at least still be friends?” And every time I would talk about him, my friends would go, You like him.” But, I can’t like him. I can’t. He’s so great about everything, but it’s like, it’s not fair to him. It’s just not fair. And over those many, many, many months, I know this sounds so cheesy, but it’s like, I equate it to back in the day when a couple would meet and the man would have to go off to war and you’re writing these letters back and forth to each other. It was just instead of letters, it’s midnight texting. I mean, that’s what we’re doing. We’re up on our computers…
Jeremy:
The late texts.
Pam:
… we would just text and talk and laugh. And then we wouldn’t for a few days or it just kind of come and go. And that went on for many, many months. And, well, there was still something there. We both knew it. It was just, I just, I don’t know. I don’t know. And then May 15th of last year was we called, it was the day of fun. He made the mistake of asking me one day, “Well, how’s your day going?” “Let me tell you how my day’s going.” And I just had a crappy week and I just start telling him all the stuff that had gone down. And he’s like, “You know what you need? You need a day fun.” “Yes, I do. I need a day of fun.” And he’s like, “All right, I’m picking you up on Saturday. You’re not making any decisions. I’m picking you up. So he shows up that Monday afternoon and the weather was perfect. The sun was shining. It was not hot or humid. It was so great. And I go in his car and he has my favorite snack seat-belted in the front seat. Flaming Hot Cheetos, if anyone’s listening. And we go off and again, we go to the Jones and kind of just bounce around town, because we hadn’t seen each other in several months. And it’s just like we had never left off.
Pam:
But, I remember when he came to pick me up and he walks around the corner, I see him. I’m like, “Man, why are you being so stupid? You’re being really silly here. You are in trouble.” And again, another fantastic day that started at two in the afternoon and ended at three in the morning just talking and laughing. And we’ve pretty much been inseparable ever since.
Jeremy:
Yeah, it was interesting the ebb and flow of that first six, nine months. I remember the times when we would date a couple of times and I still remember that first. I can remember it like it was yesterday, when you sent me the text and just said, “This isn’t fair to you. I don’t think we should continue seeing each other.” And I just remember it and it was like gut punch.
Pam:
But I had to, it was like [crosstalk 00:13:18]-
Jeremy:
And I understand it, yeah. I totally understand that. And I totally respect it.
Pam:
That was the only, I mean, and it was hard typing it. Oh gosh.
Jeremy:
And that’s why I said, “Well, can we still be friends?” I was like, can I just hang on to just a little bit of you? Can we still just every once in a while have a conversation? I didn’t want to lose any, I didn’t want to cut it off completely and-
Pam:
Well, clearly I said, yes.
Jeremy:
I didn’t want you out of my life.
Pam:
I didn’t unfriend you.
Jeremy:
No, you did not. You didn’t.
Pam:
And then the day of fun, like I said, it all changed and we’ve kind of been inseparable ever since. And it was a great summer last year. And again, the world’s opening up and we’re doing things and going on trips and it was just fun. But, one of the things, back to families and all that, one thing I didn’t anticipate, and I always want to give them credit is Jeremy and his ex-wife are wonderful co-parents. They don’t need me to be the parent. I get to be Pamtastic. I get to be fun. And he has great kids and they talk all the time and they have parents. I get to do the fun things and it’s amazing. And it’s so good. And once he told me that I was like, click. Everything that was the last piece, it just fell into place. And then cut to January this year. Yes. January.
Jeremy:
Yeah. Oh man.
Pam:
We’re going to go to Cancun again. We’re taking a couple of friends. We’re going to go to Cancun. We’re going to hang out. We’ve done some other little Vegas trips and stuff like that. We’re going to big trip. We’re going to go to Cancun. We were so excited. And I remember when we got there, even the day we were traveling, he’s being so weird. I’m like, is he just worried about going out of the country? Is it because it’s our first time with everything going on? What is up with him? He’s just not himself.
Jeremy:
Yeah. So November of would’ve been 21 was when we started talking about this trip and going to Cancun. Her boss is one of her best friends, Chase, wonderful, wonderful guy. And I remember we were out on a Friday or Saturday night, a bunch of us and we were at friends of friends up on Memorial. And I was like, “Hey, Chase, come here. Let’s go play shuffle board for a minute.” I’m like, okay. I was like, “Okay, are you going to go to Mexico with us?” And he’s like, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to.” And I was like, Okay, okay.” I was like, “Well, I was hoping you’d be there.” I was like, “Because it’s going to be kind of important.” And he looks at me and goes, “Are you going to ask her to marry you?” I said, “Yeah, I think I am. I think that’s where I’m going to do it. January in Mexico.” That’s all Chase needed to hear.
Jeremy:
Then it’s on. It’s, we got to find a ring. She’s a big Yurman fan. Got head to toe in Yurman. So, next thing I know Chase is stopping in at the North Park store and I’m stopping in and we’re texting Kathy up there. And we’re sending pictures back and forth of rings. And Chase is like, “We have to stay away from traditional. It has to be something different.” Kathy was so wonderful helping us out. And we finally found that ring with the Topaz in it. And I saw it and I was like, “That’s the ring.” And Chase goes and looks at it. And he’s like, “That’s the ring. Get it.” And so then I’m holding onto this ring for, I don’t know, six weeks or so. I’ve got it. And we tell each other everything. I mean, there are no secrets, and I’m not a good liar.
Pam:
He’s a terrible liar.
Jeremy:
I am a horrible liar. I mean, you could walk through a door from 20 yards away and ask me a question and tell if I’m lying or not. And so I’m holding this in all this time. I know I’m going to do this. Chase knows. Our other friend that’s going with us, she knows. And so it’s weighing on me. I’m trying to keep this in. I can’t tell you how many times I almost proposed to you before that trip. I was like, “Nope, I have to stick to the plan. I have to stick to the plan.” And so by the time we’re going to Mexico, I am a hot mess.
Pam:
He was a basket case. I mean the plane, everything. I’m thinking, what is up with you? And we get to Mexico and I’m thinking we’ll have a couple of drinks. We’ll sit by the beach. It’ll be fine. Nope. It is just even every day, it’s just getting more and more. And I’m like, I have no clue what’s going on. I’m thinking he’s just, all right, whatever.
Jeremy:
And I tried to have a plan. I was like, “Okay, we’re we’re landing on this day. We’ll get settled. I’ll do it this day.” And it was like that right moment never presented itself, until it did.
Pam:
One night on, we had the dinner by ourselves. Like, let’s go walk on the beach. It’s the evening, we’re going to go walk on the beach. We walked a little bit and sat in one of the Bali beds and just listened to the ocean and sat there. And we’re like, “Well, let’s go back up.” So we’re walking back from the sand and getting ready to walk back onto the resort. We’d left our shoes in the room. I’m literally one step away from getting back on the resort. And he grabs me, my hand, and pulls me around and he starts talking and I realize what’s happening. And it’s like, I could see it happening, and my brain saw it happening, but my mouth was not working. I’m like, this is happening, and-
Jeremy:
And that is very rare for your mouth to not work.
Pam:
I always say I’ve been speechless one other time in my life. It’s when I met Tim McGraw, and when he proposed. Because he’s saying all this and he’s down on one knee and I see him and my mouth is not working. And then he is getting a little nervous for a second. Because he’d asked and “Yes, yes, of course. Yes.” I realize I hadn’t even responded. And it was so funny, after I said, yes, he goes, “Oh, I have so much to tell you.” And he tells about all the story and immediately he’s back to himself again. So yeah, it was a great trip to Mexico. We get back and then we’re kind of enjoying the engagement part for a while. And people are like, “Well, when do you want to get married?” And it just kind of came to me one day. I was like, “Well, we should get married on August 7th. That’s the date of our first date back in 2020.” So August 7th, 2022, that’s the date we’re going to get married. Another destination wedding, all of our best friends are going to come and it’s going to be amazing.
Pam:
So we’re planning this destination wedding in Mexico. Everything’s just going to be perfect. And then about three or four weeks ago, the mask mandate lifts for airline travel. And I just make this comment, like, “Just makes you want to hop a plane and go to Vegas, doesn’t it? You want to still get married? Let’s go get married in Vegas. Let’s just do it. We won’t tell anybody. It’s going to be our secret. No one’s going to know.” And he thinks about it, again, classic overthinker. And he thinks about it and he sees, he is like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” And after he said that, within two hours we got a hotel, we got a flight, I’d order a dress online, and we have someone to watch the dog. We’re going to Vegas on Sunday and no one’s going to know.
Jeremy:
Until the entire world knew.
Pam:
So the plan is we’re going to fly there, go to the courthouse, go do the wedding, bada bing, bada boom. Everything’s good. And again, I’m the girl that throws the confetti, right? So I’m like, “Let’s just wear our stuff on the plane. Wouldn’t it be fun? Let’s go to the airport wearing a wedding dress. Won’t that be funny going through security? Ha ha, it’d be a fun picture.” I mean, I got flowers in the whole deal. “We’re going to go through the airport and I’m going to wear this dress.” And that was the whole plan. It was just to be silly. I mean, honestly I would wear it to the grocery store, so this is not out of character for me. And so our flight’s supposed to be from Oklahoma City to Dallas, straight to Vegas and we make it to Dallas, just fine. We’re in the airport. We go to Chili’s and eat, because that’s what you do in the airport. And we stand out, our waiter says, “You in a picture?” So we’re standing in the hallway there and takes a picture. That’s about five o’clock and everything’s going great. And then it’s so funny. You look back through your pictures the time it was about 15 minutes later that’s when we start getting the delays on the flight.
Jeremy:
Yeah. And I had been watching the TV too. And I’d seen thunderstorm warnings, but they were all north of Dallas and I’m like, “Yeah, okay. Yeah. It’s not going to be a problem.” And then-
Pam:
And so we’re kind of pacing, and I mean obviously we’re dressed up in wedding attire. And this amazing guy, Chris [Cligora 00:22:12], walks over and approaches us and he goes, “So are you two trying to get to Vegas for a wedding at a specific time?” And I said, “Yes it’s at nine o’clock. I don’t think we’re going to make it.” He goes, “Well, I don’t think you are either. But, I’m an ordained minister and I think I can help you out.” And I’m like, great, this is brilliant. So we quickly became the three amigos as these flights are being delayed and then there’s a gate change. And then finally the flight’s canceled and we’re like, “Now what do we do?” So we all jump on our phones and we start looking, and there’s one Southwest flight left and it has four seats. We grab three of them, we get our bags and we sprint out to the Uber and again in a wedding dress. And I get in the front seat and the driver looks at me, I say, “Floor it.” Because, we got to get to another, we got to go to Love Field. So we have 50 minutes to get from DFW to Love Field to get on this plane.
Pam:
And this Uber driver was amazing. He’s like a race car driver driving through town, getting us through the rain and gets us to the airport, right? So we get there and he lets us off. And I wish we could see the footage of this because we are literally running through the airport. I’ve got the train and the flowers, he’s pulling the bags right behind us. Chris is right behind the both of us. And we are just running to the airport, like chariots of fire. And everyone’s yelling, “Congratulations.” And I’m like, “Thank you.” We’re just trying to get to the gate. And we finally get to the gate. I mean, literally as the plane’s about to board, and the gate attendant sees us and I walk up and kind of briefly explain the situation and ask, can we just pre-board because like our Southwest, our assignment’s like seat 1000 is what our seat number was, you know? And so she’s like, “Yes.” And so we get on the plane and then tell him what happened after that.
Jeremy:
I was so relaxed when we’re walking onto that plane. And then when you came up to Captain Gill and he was like, “Were you guys trying to get to Vegas for a wedding?” You say these things and they work out, you got the confidence. “Okay, well this is the way I got to go. I said it. So I got to go with it.” And you tell him, “Yeah but if…”
Pam:
I don’t think we’re going to make it.
Jeremy:
… “if we don’t make it, I think we’re going to just get married on this plane.” And he’s like, “Okay. “And they just spring into action. And I will never forget the guy that’s mopping. I just will never forget his, because it was raining and there was water blowing in and he’s trying to keep it clean. And he hears wedding, and I promise you that mop just made that sound of a handle hitting and he’s off. “I’ll get a bottle of champagne.” And I’m like, “Oh this is going to happen. This is going to happen.”
Pam:
And he brings the big bottle of champagne, not the little-
Jeremy:
But yeah, they tried giving us those little ones later and we were like, nah.
Pam:
He brings us the big one. It was so great. Even though we’re at a different airport, different flight, their plane had been delayed a little bit too. So everybody was very anxious to get on the plane and all of that.
Jeremy:
And you know, I forget, we were sitting right there on front. So everybody’s walking in-
Pam:
Because we’re in the second row.
Jeremy:
Yeah. We’re in that second row and everybody’s walking in and sees us sitting there. And so when we take off and the captain welcomes everybody to flight 2690, and the wedding of Pam and Jeremy, I don’t think anybody was really that surprised.
Pam:
And the whole plane just starts clapping.
Jeremy:
Yeah.
Pam:
And we’re like, okay. So as we’re taking off, Jeremy’s on the left of me. You’re writing your vows, you got your phone turned so I can’t see it. And you’re writing your vows. And Chris is on the right of me, mumbling, he’s re rehearsing his ceremony.
Jeremy:
And you’re just sitting there just like-
Pam:
I’m just sitting there in the middle, like, all right, let’s get this show on the road.
Jeremy:
(laughs).
Pam:
And you hear the captain, “All right, you’re at the cruising altitude,” or whatever. And the flight attendants jump up. And that’s what I remember. I mean, you hear the ding and they are up. And I’m like, what are they doing? And they’re taking toilet paper and they’re making streamers and taping it at the front of the cabin, trying to make this look like an altar of some sort. We found out that, remember she downloads Here Comes To Bride, and they’re just doing all these fun things that I kind of see happening, but I’m like, “Oh, this is going to be cute. This is going to be cute. Yeah. It’s going to be good.”
Jeremy:
And then Mary Poppins, Chris, starts pulling out hammering audio gear left and right from his backpack. He’s-
Pam:
Yeah, Chris is going to Vegas for a broadcasting convention. Of course he is, charmed life. And he starts pulling out microphones and cameras and lights and tripods. And he is, he’s like Mary Poppins. And it’s like, “Oh my gosh, this is going to be good.” And then not long after that, someone from the back of the plane comes up and she says, “I’m a wedding photographer. Can I take pictures?” “Well, of course you can. Yes.” I mean, this is turning into a wedding. I mean, it’s a wedding. The flight attendant, she kind of gave us the look and I’m like, okay. And I got my flowers and I walked to the back of the plane. The flight attendants had adjusted all the lights and had everybody turn their call lights on. And it was the-
Jeremy:
Did you see that when all those lights came on? Did you see? Yeah, it just the whole aisle…
Pam:
It was so cool.
Jeremy:
… light up.
Pam:
And I’m standing at the back and and people are taking pictures and all of that. And I remember standing back there and Chris is up front and Jeremy’s up front, and the flight attendant Julie’s up there. And she starts playing the music over the little telephone, intercom thing, and it’s Here Comes The Bride. And the moment the music started, and it took me a couple days to really remember this, but now it’s like one of my favorite memories is, I’m at the back of the plane, literally going to walk down the aisle. And you usually when you’re in weddings or in a wedding party, when the wedding party proceeds down the aisle, all the guests are sitting and their hands are crossed and their legs are crossed. And they’re just kind of looking over their shoulder and grinning and being very respectful. The ceremony and everything is happening.
Pam:
But, the minute that music starts, all I see light up are cell phones and lights and smiling faces. It was the coolest thing to walk down this aisle and see 175 people that I do not know with their cameras and their lights and their smiles and everything. And every row I just got a little bit happier and a little bit smiler, because it was the coolest thing. That’s how weddings should be. Everybody should really be just, I don’t know. It was just, again, people I don’t know, giving us all this love and happiness and all these things. And I get to walk down the aisle at the end. [crosstalk 00:29:02]-
Jeremy:
When all those phones come up and all those lights on those phones come on, the lighting immediately, the whole cabin-
Pam:
Changed. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jeremy:
Yeah. Brightens. And-
Pam:
It was nine o’clock at night. It’s dark.
Jeremy:
Yeah. You start walking down the aisle and you’re in that white dress with all that bead work, you were glowing. I mean, you literally were glowing from all that light, in that dress, and your happiness, your smile. I don’t even know if your feet were touching. I mean, we may have been descending so that we were all weightless and you were just floating down the aisle.
Pam:
I mean, but it is. It is. It’s amazing how it’s that people were genuinely happy, I feel.
Jeremy:
Oh yeah.
Pam:
I mean, there was a few I’m sure that really probably wanted to take a nap. But I mean, again, these people, again, they’d had flight delays and things and their day hadn’t gone as planned either. Now they’re watching a wedding on a plane. I mean, it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool to see. I’m getting married on a plane. What am I going to say? And it was like, yeah, I’m going to-
Jeremy:
Let’s come up with some witty puns.
Pam:
I’m going to be your co-pilot for life. And any turbulence, I want to weather it together. It was so fun too. I don’t know how long that flight was. Hour and a half maybe?
Jeremy:
Yeah. I think I sat down…
Pam:
About two hours.
Jeremy:
… I think I sat down for 12 minutes, taking off and landing. During the whole flight. I mean, I felt like we literally had the run of the plane because after the wedding and everyone cheers again, everybody’s wanting to take pictures and I’m walking back up and down the aisle and everybody’s taking pictures and selfies and asking for the story and like, why did this happen? And I’m telling them. And so yeah, as I’m walking down the aisle, I don’t remember his name, but I thought it was Brendan or something like that. But he says, “Hey, my girlfriend’s a news anchor and I’ve been telling her all about this. She wants to text you.”
Jeremy:
Yeah. He was texting with her, wasn’t he?
Pam:
And I was like, “Yeah, give her the number.” And so that happens. And then we sit down to have our champagne and all of that. And then I love that, again, more special things about it is the people in front of us, she’d had the little pack of the little six mini donuts you get a convenience store, and she hands us the one. One little smashed left donut. She says, “Here, do you want this to be your wedding cake?” So we feed each other a piece of donut with our champagne and then she has this little six-inch spiral notebook. And it was funny. I remember her getting it out and I kind of see it passed by. And now I realize what she was doing is she’d ripped out the pages she’d written in and writes wedding guest book. And it gets passed to the plane.
Pam:
And so many people wrote in that, again, strangers write these sweet, heartfelt messages that are several sentences long about how special it was and how great it was. “And thanks for making it a happy day.” And was, what did they say? “I feel like I’m watching a Romcom.”
Jeremy:
A Romcom. Yeah.
Pam:
I remember when we finally got to sit down and read those aloud, I choked up then. It was like, these people don’t even know us and are writing the sweetest messages about how it made their day happy.
Jeremy:
And I just remember when we landed, how tired we were when we landed in Phoenix, and we still had another leg to go to Las Vegas and sitting there and we were like, “We need a quiet place…
Pam:
To just sit and-
Jeremy:
… to just sit. And we found that shoe shine chair that was abandoned for….
Pam:
For the evening.
Jeremy:
… for the evening. And we had what, 15, 20 minutes to just sit there and look through that book and just relax for a minute. And Chris was there, but he kind of stayed off in the distance to let us have that time. And yeah, it was just so exhausting.
Pam:
Because all that dancing we did.
Jeremy:
All that-
Pam:
It’s all that dancing.
Jeremy:
Dancing on a plane down the aisle is not easy.
Pam:
No, it’s-
Jeremy:
It’s hard enough to walk to the bathroom down the aisle of a plane. But when you’re trying to dance, it’s even harder.
Pam:
And let’s be real, we are a lot of good things, but we are not dancers.
Jeremy:
We’re not good dancers.
Pam:
We are not dancers. We are not. No. So when they say, “Hey, let’s do a first dance.” You don’t tell them no, because I’d already done so many nice things. We’re like, “Okay, I guess we’re going to do this first dance.”
Jeremy:
That’s why I started high fiving. I couldn’t dance, so I was like, well I know how to high five.
Pam:
We did our semblance of a dance. And then we go down the aisle. But how great was that? As we’re going down the aisle, I mean, people are high fiving us and cheering and taking more pictures. And it was-
Jeremy:
Chris is walking backwards, filming us with his steady cam.
Pam:
You dipped me in the aisle. You remember that?
Jeremy:
I did dip you. Yeah, I did.
Pam:
It was great.
Jeremy:
Almost had a wardrobe malfunction.
Pam:
Yeah, it was good.
Jeremy:
Southwest doesn’t have first class, but that day…
Pam:
It felt like first…
Jeremy:
… it felt like we were the first class.
Pam:
… it felt like first class. It sure did. And we got to Vegas and after all this happens, again, remember we’d not told, I mean, we told your kids and my friend Kelly, did my hair and makeup. And no one else knew. And I remember waking up the next morning thinking, we got some calls to make.
Jeremy:
Yes. Oh my goodness.
Pam:
Because we know people are going to hear about this. And I remember calling Chase and my kids and saying, “Okay, I’ve got a lot of things to tell you. I’m going to say a lot of words. I’m going to need you to just listen. And then you can ask questions.” And then we’re on the news that night.
Jeremy:
That night. Yeah. It’s spreading.
Pam:
And then Southwest hears about it and we talked to them and it has just been again, the first three weeks of our marriage has been like none other.
Jeremy:
It’s been a rollercoaster ride. It’s been a lot of excitement.
Pam:
I know. But here it’s-
Jeremy:
And now here we are.
Pam:
Charmed life.
Jeremy:
(laughs).
Pam:
So, we’re remodeling a house.
Jeremy:
Remodeling a house.
Pam:
We still have our wedding plan-
Jeremy:
We still have our wedding in Mexico. Yeah. I mean, I think that’s going to be a good time.
Pam:
It’s going to be a great party.
Jeremy:
I think it’s going to be a good time, I think.
Pam:
And Chris, our new friend, our new best friend for life is coming.
Jeremy:
Chris and his wife, Chris and Angie are going to meet us there.
Pam:
It’s going to be a party. Takes the pressure off, doesn’t it?
Jeremy:
Yeah, it does. It does.
Pam:
That’s what it’s going to be. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a party. It’s going to be every night, something fun and exciting. And we’re going to get married again.
Jeremy:
With people we know.
Pam:
With people we know this time.
Jeremy:
Yes. Yes. That’s important. I am looking forward to that with having our friends and family there with us.
Pam:
For sure.
Jeremy:
And sharing it with them.
Pam:
I love you enough to marry you twice.
Jeremy:
Or three times.
Pam:
Or three times.
Jeremy:
Or four. Who knows? There may be a fourth somewhere down the road. Who knows? Yeah. Because we did have to do a, we still had to sign the marriage certificate in Vegas.
Pam:
Yeah. The next day we still had to go get it and all that. So technically it’ll be our third wedding.
Jeremy:
It’ll be our third wedding. Yeah.
Pam:
Third time’s the charm.
Jeremy:
Yep. And we don’t need a charm.
Pam:
Eh, charmed life.
Jeremy:
Charmed life. I don’t know if I could ever really express how much I have changed since I’ve met you. And you have brought out a side of me that has been there, but it’s been so far down. And I’ve held things back before just because I’m such an overthinker. So this spontaneity, this more, I’m naturally introverted, but you’ve brought out some extrovert qualities in me. And when I’m with you, I don’t worry about everything else around. It’s just us. And-
Pam:
You know, I’m a firm believer, there’s good in every person and there’s good in every day. You just got to look for it. It’s in there. You just got to find it. And when you find it, that’s what you do. And I’m a lot. I can be a lot. We know this. My friends don’t call me Pamtastic because I’m quiet and demure. And I know that’s a lot for sometimes people around me to handle all the time. And sometimes I do have to kind of temper myself, but I love with you I don’t have to do that. You’ve definitely brought out even things that were there, you’ve made it, it’s okay. I’m comfortable to do it. It’s fun. You bring out, I mean, I’m obviously an extrovert and a happy person and every day’s fun. And I always want to make every experience fun. But you allow that to happen and you join in on the fun and you never make me feel worried about it. I mean, some people might have said, If I wanted to wear a wedding dress at an airport, “Oh, I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.” And you’re like, “All right, just a regular Tuesday.”
Jeremy:
(laughs).
Pam:
And I do. It’s kind of weird to think that having all these extroverted qualities, sometimes your strengths can also be your weakness. But you allow me to be that and be fun all the time and you share in it. And it makes me happy when I get to see you happy.
Jeremy:
We do have a lot of fun.
Pam:
We do.
Jeremy:
We do have a lot of fun.