What better way to celebrate a warm spring day than by celebrating the union of two souls in holy matrimony? How about if those two souls actually wore four hooves instead of dress shoes, and two pairs of giant ears instead of a top hat or veil? On May 15, a pair of donkeys named Duman and Linda were “married.” They have become the first beasts of burden to be married in Turkey, if not the world, reports the Fethiye Times.

Duman’s owner Enver Yal&#231õn sent out 3,000 invitations in hopes of more than 10,000 attendees, but only a few hundred celebrated the union. Most notable was the group of journalists prepared to capture the moment.

The party started as a parade of trucks headed down the highway towards the bride’s hometown of G&#252nl&#252kbasõ, where the bride and “parents,” Elaine and Michael Adkin waited. (Linda, of course, was dressed in traditional bridal regalia.) The wedding party caravan contained, in order: a truck full of friends proudly waving Great Britain and Turkey’s respective flags (to celebrate the multicutural aspect of the union); the “matrimonial pickup truck” decorated with ribbons and containing the groom and his family (all dressed in traditional nomadic garb) and musicians; and bringing up the rear was a pickup jam-packed with journalists and photographers. These three trucks then had a long line of wedding attendees following in their cars, flags waving and horns honking.

The groom and wedding party arrived fashionably late, but the bride didn’t worry. The music began to play as the couple was formally introduced for the first time and the party kicked it up a notch. After the ceremony, the two newlywed donkeys were escorted back to Kargõ. The happy couple were settled in to their new stable and the celebrations throughout the day