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California couple stand out as world's tallest

Their height made Wayne and Laurie Hallquist seem an ideal match when they met, and on Thursday they received the title of world's tallest living married couple. The Hallquists measure a combined 13 feet, 4 inches, the Guinness organization said.
/ Source: Reuters

Their height made Wayne and Laurie Hallquist seem an ideal match when they met seven years ago, and on Thursday they received the title of world's tallest living married couple.

Guinness World Records bestowed the towering distinction on the Hallquists in a ceremony under the marquee at its Hollywood museum. The couple arrived in a white limousine, with Wayne sporting a tuxedo and Laurie in a white wedding dress.

The Hallquists, who live in Stockton, California, measure a combined 13 feet, 4 inches, or 407.4 centimeters, to be exact. He stands 6 feet 10.4 inches, she 6 feet 5.95 inches, the Guinness organization said.

"It's a whole different perspective up here, and we can find each other quite easily in a crowd," Laurie told Reuters.

"We can see several people going bald that might not know it at the moment," joked Wayne, 57, who works as a telephone company wire splicer.

The Hallquists said that when they met at a church singles club in 2003, they could tell that others around them were sizing up a possible love affair because of their height.

"She walked in, everyone looked at her, then they looked at me," Wayne said.

They have been married for seven years, but it took the Hallquists until this year to contact Guinness World Records.

The couple said they were discouraged at first from making a play for world's tallest couple, because they read online that a man and a woman each standing over 7 feet (213 centimeters) had married in the 19th century.

Only this year did they realize they could compete in another category: world's tallest living married couple.

"There may be people who are taller than the Hallquists, but unless we go out and can measure them, the Hallquists have the record all to themselves," said Guinness World Records adjudicator Stuart Claxton.