Former Navy SEAL surprises wedding guests by skydiving into cocktail hour
Steve Sanders jumped from a helicopter on Sunday to greet his guests.
— -- One couple took the jump into marriage literally when the groom surprised their wedding guests by skydiving into the reception.
Jeanne Parsch first met Steve Sanders in 2015 when both went skydiving at a corporate event in Florida.
"We literally met skydiving," Parsch, 40, told ABC News. "I ended up having to tandem dive with him, and that was literally two years ago when we first met."
Touching ground that day as her adrenaline was pumping, Parsch said she turned to Sanders and said, "Oh my God, I think I love you," to which her now-husband jokingly said, "I'm single."
The couple has been together ever since, and when it came time to plan their wedding at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, the pair thought that a grand entrance during the cocktail hour after their nuptials would be a fitting tribute to how they met.
Sanders, 47, a former Navy SEAL turned professional skydiver, suited up following their wedding ceremony and jumped from a helicopter as it floated down toward the reception below.
The bride admitted she would have loved to skydive with him, but said there was "no way" she could get through the emotional ceremony at which her father -- who recently overcame lung cancer -- officiated, and pull off a dive immediately after.
"It was such a crazy and awesome day," she said. "We'll never forget it."