A Christina Lake couple dressed in pirate outfits, tricorn hats and swords became the first in B.C. that ties the knot under the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CFSM). Dani Magnussen and Jaromir Pavlat said their vows on September 19 before Dread Pirate Higgs, aka Gary Smith, a church leader in the province. Smith has been locked in a dispute with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) over being allowed to wear a pirate hat for his driver’s license photo. ICBC has repeatedly rejected his requests. Also a provincially licensed marriage officiant, Smith opened the ceremony with a unique prayer. “Our Lord Noodly Who Art in a Colander,” Smith addressed those gathered for the event. “Al dente be your noodles. I bless your rum. You sauce be yum. With meat as well as with vegetables. Give us today our garlic bread, and forgive us our cursing, as we forgive those who curse us… For thine are the noodles and the sauces and the grog whenever and always. R’Amen. R’Amen. R’Amen.” With that, Pavlat addressed those gathered for the garden event. “I love you, my love, that’s true. And I want to spend my life with no one else.” To which Magnussen replied: “I couldn’t love anyone more.” Smith invited witnesses to object to the marriage and asked the couple to make their formal declarations and a more traditional exchange of vows as legally married pirates. Witnesses – some in pirate outfits, others in spaghetti monster hats and one in a sombrero – placed cooked noodles over the couple’s joined hands. The couple then ate the spaghetti and kissed. Smith produced a hip flask and the pair drank cups of grog. “I present to you Dani and Jaromir, pirates forever,” Smith said. “Aar, aar, aar” came pirate noises of approval from the crowd. Magnussen, who is originally from Thunder Bay, Ont., told Glacier Media that the couple met online while playing video games. Pavlat is from a little further away – Vienna, Austria. “He immigrated here to be with me,” Magnussen said, noting the wedding may be the church’s first in Canada. “I must marry the man of my dreams.” The newlyweds are members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which holds regular services in Grand Forks, about 20 kilometers west of Lake Christina. “We don’t like organized religions,” Pavlat said. “So having a new religion that mocks other religions… we got married.” [email protected] Twitter.com/jhainswo