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Couple celebrates 10th anniversary on roller coaster

Couple celebrates anniversary on rollercoaster they got married on.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Love was in the air for this high-flying Pittsburgh couple on July 22.

Pam and Brian Kanai celebrated their 10th anniversary by renewing their vows on the Jack Rabbit roller coaster at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania -- the same coaster on which they tied the knot.

"Our first date was at Kennywood, so having it there seemed appropriate," Pam Kanai, 43, told ABC News about their May 12, 2007, wedding. "Our friends and family still say to this day it was the best wedding they ever attended."

The ride is sentimental for the bride: It’s the first coaster she ever rode with her dad, at age 2. She loved the idea he’d get to walk her up the ramp, which doubled as her "aisle," just as he had done when he first introduced her to the world of coasters.

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“We thought it was appropriate my dad walked me up the entrance ramp so many years ago and he walked me up the entrance ramp to get married," she said. "I think it was really special to him."

Her husband is also particularly fond of the Jack Rabbit, the park’s oldest coaster, which opened in 1920.

"When I was in college I actually spent a summer working at Kennywood, working in refreshments," Brian Kanai, 44, recalled. "I was at the stand right across from the Jack Rabbit."

"I would look across and see the coaster every single day," he continued, "and never imagined that 15 years later I’d be getting married on it and remembering our daughter’s first ride on it."

For the couple's vows renewal, Pam Kanai wore the same shirt and veil as on their big day, because it’s "comfortable" for riding.

"Obviously when you’re a bride you should wear white. But I didn’t want to wear a whole white dress, I wanted to wear something that was comfortable," she explained.

"The veil my mom made for me. It’s made out of a headband with the netting attached to it. It’s sentimental of course since my mom made it," Pam Kanai explained. "The shirt I held onto because it’s a nice shirt and it’s been in the back of the closet all these years. I figured it was time to take it out and freshen it up and get it all ready."

The lovebirds renewed their vows alongside another couple, Dave and Terry Hahner, fellow members of the American Coaster Enthusiasts club, who were celebrating their 25th anniversary.

"We had talked for the past year or so about doing some type of a vow renewal. But we wanted to do it with our friends and family, as well as lot of our friends form the roller coaster club," said Pam Kanai. "Knowing we have this annual event every July, we figured it would be a great time to do our vow renewal as well as having our ACE friends there."

The Kanais plan to do another riveting roller coaster vow renewal for their 25th anniversary.

"I think we may try again in 15 years," said Pam Kanai, who is such an enthusiast she keeps an excel spreadsheet documenting each roller coaster she’s ever ridden. She is now up to 365 coasters.

"Oh I’d do it again in a heartbeat," her husband agreed.

As for their 7-year-old daughter, April, one day getting married on the Jack Rabbit?

"I’m not going to force her to do any particular thing," the proud dad said. "But we’ve taken her to parks ever since she was an infant, so I wouldn’t be surprised."

July has been a month of love at Kennywood. First a wedding on the Phantom's Revenge, and this past weekend, vow renewals on Jack Rabbit!

Posted by Kennywood Park on Tuesday, July 25, 2017