Bride & groom OK after hot air balloon mishap

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A newly wedded couple says their big day was almost spoiled by hot air balloon trouble.

The wedding was held on Sunday at Jacobson Park and their reception was all ready to go in Masterson Station.

For their transportation to the reception, Derrick and Emily Morton planned a hot air balloon ride above picturesque Fayette County.

“The colors, the fall colors. It was one of the most beautiful things that I’ve experienced,” said the couple.

But when it was time to land, Derrick and Emily say the winds kept blowing, as the pilot tried to avoid a crash.

“He took us into a tree we literally flew into a tree, the basket jars, we all fall to the bottom of the basket… the basket lands on the ground and comes up,” said Derrick and Emily.

They say the balloon touched down in the back yard of a neighborhood, but the pilot took them up again.

“I’m thinking that he’s not going to take the balloon back up. But he hits the fire, makes the balloon go back up in the air, and before you know it we’re back up in the air and flying across I-75,” said the couple.

They eventually settled on a farm off Todds Road. followed by a long walk just to get to the road.

“We wasn’t dressed for it, we needed boots and jeans – we didn’t have that. It was thistles and all kinds of rough patches… water that you had to cross. And it was just bad,” said Derrick and Emily.

Derrick and Emily caught a ride with a LEX 18 photographer and celebrated their big day a little later than first planned.

No one on the hot air balloon was injured in the mishap.