Originally published 2018-10-10.
Kimberly Weglin and Ryan Jenks got married standing on a giant net of rope suspended about 400 feet (roughly 120 metres) above a desert canyon in Utah. Both are highliners, people who walk narrow webbing strung between cliffs, and they built their wedding around the sport and the friends they share it with. The ceremony took place in late 2017, near Moab, during the gathering of highliners and BASE jumpers where the couple's community meets every year.
The photographs, by the adventure wedding photography team The Hearnes, travelled around the world a few months later after CBS and other outlets picked up the story. They show a bride in a long gown walking across a web of colourful cord, friends hanging from aerial silks beneath the net, and guests on the rim of the canyon watching it all.
It looks reckless at first glance. In fact it was the work of a close-knit group of experienced athletes who spend much of their lives rigging and checking systems exactly like this one. Here is the story behind each picture.
Who Kimberly and Ryan are
Highlining is a variation of slacklining in which the line is set high above the ground, usually between cliffs, with the walker attached by a leash to the line. The couple's passion for it runs deep: together they founded Slackademics, a project offering slackline and highline art, education and resources. The two had even got engaged on a space net above a Moab canyon, so marrying on one felt natural.
"We both love slacklining. We both have made it our lives, so it was pretty easy to decide where to get married," Jenks told CBS.
An aerialist hangs from a line below the net while guests line the canyon rim. Friends from the highline community performed throughout the ceremony.
The space net
A space net is a large web of rope and webbing anchored across a gap in the rock. This one covered about 2,000 square feet and was rigged by the couple's friend Andy Lewis, the well-known slackliner who is reported to have served as best man. Normally the net has an open hole in the middle that BASE jumpers leap through. For the wedding, the couple filled the hole with paracord and added about two miles of extra cord to make the surface more stable for a bride in a full gown.
The net seen from across the canyon, with white silks hanging beneath it and guests gathered on the far side. From this distance, the scale of the drop becomes clear.
A slightly later view of the same scene. The red and pink cords woven into the net give it the colourful look that made the photos so recognisable.
The wedding party stands in the middle of the net, with lines running off in every direction to anchors on the canyon walls. Spreading the load across many anchor points is what lets a net like this carry several people at once.
A guest walks a highline in a suit, silhouetted against the canyon in late afternoon light. For this crowd, walking a line was simply part of getting to the party.
The ceremony
The couple chose to marry during the yearly festival that brings highliners and BASE jumpers to the Moab area, often called GGBY, so that most of their friends would already be there. While they exchanged vows on the net, others performed on aerial silks around and below them.
Kimberly and Ryan exchange vows facing the officiant, with a bridesmaid and groomsman beside them. The canyon stretches out behind the wedding party.
Kimberly steps onto the net in her gown, holding her bouquet, as guests in suits and climbing gear look on. Even the walk down the aisle here meant crossing open rope.
Friends in tutus, helmets and harnesses pose on the rim, one of them doing a handstand. The mix of formal suits and climbing equipment sums up the spirit of the day.
Ryan bends to kiss Kimberly at the close of the ceremony, her long train spread across the colourful cord. The officiant and attendants stand close by.
The newlyweds embrace on the net with the canyon glowing in the evening sun. This portrait became one of the most widely shared images from the wedding.
In Kimberly's own words
Kimberly later wrote on Instagram about what the day stood for. "It is a representation of confidence, self-love, and life; the energy I want to surround myself with and carry with me into our marriage and throughout our lives together," she wrote.
Her words fit the photos. The wedding was less about a stunt than about bringing two lives, and a whole community, into one place they already loved.
(The video originally embedded here is no longer available on YouTube.)
Safety, and why this is not a DIY idea
Highlining has a strong safety culture. Walkers wear harnesses attached to the line by a leash, lines are backed up, and anchors are built and inspected by people with years of experience. A space net adds more complexity, because it must hold several people and moving loads at once. The wedding worked because it was planned and rigged by some of the most experienced people in the sport, and because every guest on the net was used to heights. If the photos inspire you, the place to start is a local climbing gym or a slackline club, not a canyon.
Why the photos still resonate
Unusual weddings often go viral for a day and are forgotten. This one has lasted because the pictures are beautiful in their own right and because the story behind them is sincere: two people who had built their lives around a sport, married by friends from the same world, in a place that meant something to all of them. The Hearnes' framing, wide enough to show the full depth of the canyon, does the rest.
Sources: CBS News, "Couple ties the knot in daring ceremony above Utah canyon" (February 2018). Photos: The Hearnes Adventure Photography.
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