AKAROA, New Zealand — The wedding rings were made of pasta, the ceremony took place on a pirate boat, and when it came time for the kiss, the bride and groom slurped up either end of a noodle until their lips met.
On Saturday, New Zealand hosted the world's first Pastafarian wedding, conducted by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The group, which began in the U.S. as a protest against religion encroaching into public schools, has gained legitimacy in New Zealand, where authorities decided it can officiate weddings.
Saturday's ceremony was all about having fun. The guests came dressed as pirates and shouted plenty of hearty "Aaarrrhs." The groom, Toby Ricketts, vowed to always add salt before boiling his pasta, and bride Marianna Fenn donned a colander on her head.
Ricketts, 35, a voiceover artist, and Fenn, 33, a lawyer and photographer, said they've been a couple for four years but decided just three weeks ago to get married after another Pastafarian couple's plans to wed fell through.
"I would never have agreed to a conventional marriage, but the idea of this was too good to pass up," Fenn said. "It's a wonderful opportunity to celebrate my relationship with Toby, but in a way that I felt comfortable with."
The wedding feast was an all-pasta affair, while the wedding cake was topped with an image of his noodliness, the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The church claims that global warming is caused by pirates vanishing from the high seas, and that there is a beer volcano in heaven.
"The Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world. We know that," said marriage celebrant Karen Martyn, who is also known as the Ministeroni. "We weren't around then, and we didn't see it, but no other religion was around to see it either. Our deity is as plausible as any other."
Church founder Bobby Henderson said in an email that he thought it was odd that most weddings still have such an entanglement between religion and government.
"It's sad that so many people feel pressured to do the traditional Christian wedding even when they don't relate to much of the religion," he said. "If people can find some happiness in having Pastafarian weddings, that's great, and I hope no one gives them any flack about it."