BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - As Tlicho members called for political unity at their annual assembly earlier this month, five couples from Behchoko stood united and pledged their love to each other.

On the warm, sunny Friday afternoon of Aug. 7 at St. Michael's Parish, Rev. Jean Pochat performed a mass wedding ceremony for William Beaverho and Betty Lafferty, Walter Naedzo and Beatrice Quitte, Jason Rabesca and Alice Michel, Richard Rabesca and Ernestine Martin, and Richard Richardson and Lilyann Drybones.

Hundreds of friends and relatives poured into the church, some forced to peek in from outside, as each couple - in alphabetical order - said their vows.

"I wasn't expecting that many people, that's the thing," said Alice Michel. "When I walked in, there was just flashes here and there, left and right."

Michel said she and her fiance had planned to get married on Aug. 8, but because so many couples wanted to tie the knot during the assembly, while families from other communities were in town, they decided to have one big ceremony.

"First I was scared," Michel said, "but after I found out everybody was on the same date I was kind of relieved because it's not only us that are going through this."

"For anniversaries, for example, maybe we'll all get together," she added.

After the ceremony, the whole group had a community cookout and enjoyed drum dancing at the cultural centre into the wee hours of the morning.

As a groom, Walter Naedzo said he felt less pressure when the spotlight was divided among 10 newlyweds. Still, he said the whole church was filled with excitement.

"It is a good thing because so many couples shared that special day with one another," he said, adding that he hoped the mass wedding would inspire other young common-law couples to get married. "It's sort of rare. Not that many people get married nowadays."

Pochat, who has performed marriage ceremonies in Behchoko since 1956, said getting married during the summer assembly is becoming more common since the gatherings began five years ago.

He often marries more than one couple at a time around Christmas or Easter, but the largest wedding he performed in Behchoko was for seven couples in June 1982.