SOME couples search the world over for the perfect wedding spot. A. John Dalton found it 120 meters below the earth’s surface.

　　Dalton and his new wife, Sarah A. Yurkunas, were married Saturday in the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine of Ashland in the U.S., an anthracite mine that closed in 1931 and is now a tourist destination.

　　A brief power outage nearly derailed the nuptials. But once power was restored, the wedding party and guests boarded the Pioneer Tunnel Coal Mine & Steam Train for the trip inside Broad Mountain.

　　“I am the daughter and granddaughter of coal miners,” said Yurkunas, who grew up in Summit Hill, amid the region’s anthracite mines. But it was Dalton who suggested the venue, 540 meters into and 120 meters below the mountain’s peak.

　　Ashland Mayor Rosemarie P. Noon, who officiated, said the site had at least one advantage. “For the rest of your lives,” she told the couple, “there is no place to go but up.”  (SD-Agencies)