Pilot’s Bride Pulls Off Sweet Surprise With a Wedding Ring Made From a Retired Plane

Some wedding gifts are sentimental, but one bride found a way to make hers truly soar. What looked like a simple band was hiding a story only she and one other person knew.

Malaika Green, 27, knew exactly how special she wanted her husband's wedding band to be while the couple was planning their nuptials. Once she began searching, she was certain she wanted something that reflected his lifelong love of flying.

Djimon Green, 28, was drawn to aviation long before he earned his place as a first officer at Southwest Airlines. His love of flying took root on his very first trip at age 6, when he decided he wanted to one day fly for the same airline that employed his aunt as a flight attendant.

She often brought him along on her trips, offering him an early look at the career he hoped to pursue. Djimon was already training to fly by the time he was in high school, and he secured his pilot's license at only 17.

All those years of dedication paid off when Southwest hired him in June 2022, at age 24. His commitment to aviation went beyond the cockpit, too, as he volunteers with groups such as OBAP and serves as a mentor to future pilots.

It's why, for Malaika, an off-the-shelf band simply wouldn't do for their wedding. "I really wanted his ring to have a personal touch to it and I saw that there were crafters that make various items from airplane metal scraps," she explained. "So I did some searching to see if a ring could be made from or include the metal."

Her research brought her to FlaSunshineDesigns, an Etsy shop that makes rings from the parts of decommissioned aircraft. One of the available designs featured a titanium fan blade taken from a Southwest plane, the same airline Djimon had hoped to work for since he was a boy.

That plane was taken out of service in June 2022, which made the find even more meaningful. It was the same month Djimon joined Southwest, so the ring tied together two important moments in a keepsake he would wear for the rest of their marriage.

With the ring in hand, Malaika's next challenge was keeping its backstory hidden until the wedding. She let only her best friend in on the plan and led Djimon to believe his band was nothing out of the ordinary.

"It was really hard keeping the secret from him!" she admitted. "I was able to get it hidden from him and pretended like it was just an ordinary wedding band."

The big reveal came during the couple's ceremony, as they traded rings surrounded by family and friends. Djimon had no clue that his band was made with metal from a retired Southwest aircraft, much less one linked to the moment his career began.

Malaika shared the secret during the ring exchange, and after months of keeping quiet, she finally got to see how her husband would react. His face brightened as he realized the band was far more special than he had imagined.

Malaika documented the wedding-day surprise in a TikTok video earlier this year. "Still in awe I was able to keep this surprise from him until wedding day," she wrote in the caption.

"I felt so excited and ecstatic to see how his face lit up when I shared the special detail about his ring," she recalled. "It warmed my heart knowing how special he thought the ring was and that it had a deeper meaning."