Fort Resolution (May 16/05) - Dollie Lafferty and Ray Simon of Fort Resolution have decided on a special place for their wedding.

But it's not some exotic land far away, it's the uninhabited Simpson Islands in Great Slave Lake.

Dollie Lafferty points to the Simpson Islands on a map of Great Slave Lake. She and Ray Simon will be married there in July.

"It's nice out there. It's beautiful," Lafferty says, noting she and her husband-to-be go camping and fishing on the islands every summer.

"Why not get married out there, too?" she says.

The Simpson Islands are about 60 km northeast of Fort Resolution, about 90 minutes by boat.

One of the reasons Lafferty and Simon decided on the Simpson Islands is they want to ensure their July 16 wedding will be alcohol-free.

Lafferty, the co-ordinator of the alcohol and drug program with Deninu Ku'e First Nation, says, even if a wedding is declared alcohol-free in Fort Resolution, some people find a way to drink.

"Whenever they have a wedding here, there's a little too much alcohol," says Simon, a corrections officer at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre in Hay River.

Neither Lafferty, 44, nor Simon, 55, drink.

The couple believe their wedding will be the first on the Simpson Islands.

"I've never heard of anyone getting married over there," Simon says. "It will be a regular wedding, except it will be out of doors," Lafferty said.

In case of inclement weather, it may move inside an abandoned fish station building.

Along with the wedding, guests will enjoy a fishing derby, a crib tournament, board games and games for children.

Everyone will stay in tents.

Lafferty says she is not sure how many people will attend the wedding, but she expects there will be at least 75-100.

No invitations are being sent out. Instead, everyone in Fort Resolution is being invited, as well as all family and friends from other communities.

The wedding will be officiated by Hay River Justice of the Peace Melvin Larocque, who is Lafferty's cousin.

As for the honeymoon, Lafferty says it will also be on the Simpson Islands. "We'll just send everybody home and stay there."