They swore never to get married, but tomorrow Toby Ricketts and Marianna Young will tie the knot in the world's first Pastafarian wedding.
The Doubtless Bay couple will board Akaroa's Fox II, New Zealand's oldest ketch, and state their vows in front of ministeroni Karyn Martyn.
Mr Ricketts and Ms Young are, if it wasn't already clear, members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The spoof 'religion' has been around since 2005, and has a growing number of adherents.
Ms Young says its fundamental tenets are "mindfulness, kindness and scepticism -- and also dressing up like a pirate and drinking rum and having fun".
Earlier this year Dr Martyn became New Zealand's first ministeroni, legally allowed to marry couples. Ms Young and Mr Ricketts weren't going to be the first Pastafarians to tie the knot, but after the other couple's plans were scuttled, they leapt at the chance.
"We'd agreed not to get married -- this is the one circumstance that we actually would get married," says Mr Young.
The happy couple and their family and friends will all be dressed as pirates, which Pastafarians believe are supreme beings and our ancestors.
"We share 99.99999999 percent of our DNA with pirates, so naturally we're descended from them," says Mr Ricketts.
They have no fears of looking a bit daft or being judged by their future children. You could say they won't 'fusilli'.
"I don't worry about that. If they did, I'd think less of my child, if they were so judgmental as that," says Ms Young.
"So many people have come up to us and said, 'I wish my wedding was like that,'" says Mr Ricketts.
"It's kind of nice to do something completely different -- not just do something a little different, but smash the traditions and conventions."
Whereas most brides would walk down the aisle, Ms Young isn't so sure her commitment to piracy extends to walking the plank instead.
"Hopefully not. I guess it depends on how I behave, I suppose."
As for their first dance as a married couple, they're yet to decide on a shanty -- but will decide tonight over a few rums.
Newshub.
