"Bridge jumpers dive into wedlock" -- Press clip
http://www.magicvalley.com/...S&theQry=parsons From The Times-News
Twin Falls, Idaho
Sunday, July 6, 2003
Bridge jumpers dive into wedlock
By Brandon Fiala
Times-News writer
TWIN FALLS -- They took the big plunge -- and then plunged again.
Sandy Parsons and Spencer Bisley got married Saturday afternoon at the Buzz Langdon Visitor Center beside the Perrine Bridge. Then they took another big step, BASE jumping into the canyon.
"We met at the Perrine Bridge about a year ago, and we've been together since," Parsons said Friday.
The couple wore parachutes and jump gear to say their marriage vows in front of friends and family, then walked together onto the bridge, jumped into the canyon and landed in the Snake River nearly 500 feet below.
A film crew working for the television series, "Weird Weddings," videotaped the ceremony. The show airs on the Women's Entertainment Network.
BASE-jumping friends of the happy couple also took the plunge. A waiting boat took jumpers to a wedding barbecue.
BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, span and earth. The Perrine Bridge is a popular spot because of its 486-foot height, and because it's one of the few legal places to jump in North America.
Parsons, a 35-year-old marketer from Albany, Ore., said she had come to Twin Falls a year ago interested in BASE jumping. Though an experienced skydiver, Parsons had never BASE jumped.
Bisley, a 38-year-old respiratory therapist from Calgary, Alberta, had been jumping from the Perrine Bridge for two years already.
"Sandy wanted help," Bisley said. "It's a big responsibility to teach someone, but she had the necessary skydiving experience and the right mind-set. She did really well -- she's a natural."
Just three months later, Bisley asked Parsons to marry him.
"It made so much sense to get married at the Perrine Bride," Bisley said.
The newlyweds will reside in Portland, Ore.
The wedding attracted other members of the far-flung BASE subculture.
"The BASE jumping community is pretty small," said Raistlin Majere of Portland. "Everyone knows about the wedding."
"This wedding is different -- a fun twist," said friend Bryan Stokes, an Air Force Academy parachute instructor. "These two are very unique and it's a great way for them to start living their lives together."
Bisley said the Perrine Bridge is the most jumped object in the world.
"People from Europe have come here to jump," he said.
"The town welcomes us," said L.J. Keogh of Portland. "We get motel discounts, free beer. Everybody here makes us feel good."
Like most newlyweds, the Bisleys expect some ups and downs in their marriage -- many of them at the Perrine Bridge.
"We'll probably come back a couple times a year," Parsons said.
