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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Choosing one's wedding day can be a stressful affair. However, when Lynn Tologanak and Blue Nazon were thinking about when to get married, the idea of getting married on Aboriginal Day was met with a couple lighthearted chuckles.

"We were joking and saying, 'Why don't we get married on Aboriginal Day?' That way, there's already a fish fry, there's already all the people in town, there's entertainment, and there's the drum dance," said Tologanak.

She said her husband-to-be was joking that the whole city was invited, and that Diavik Diamond Mine was sponsoring his fish fry. "We're going to feed 5,000 people," she laughed.

Diavik is the main sponsor of the North Slave Metis Alliance fish fry.

Sure enough, the more the couple joked the more they started to plan. The next thing they knew the joke turned into a reality, as the couple got married at the legislative assembly Friday.

Although they both like to joke around, the reason the couple decided to get married at the legislature was because Tologanak's father, Kane Tologanak was an MLA in the 1980s. Kane played a role in establishing hamlets across the Northwest Territories and was involved in the naming of the Kitikmeot region.

Lynn, who hopes to one day be involved in resolving devolution issues in her home community of Ulukhaktok, said her father is the main reason she got interested in politics.

"I was always into politics, always listening to the (legislative assembly)," she said.

She added that getting married in the seat of government of which her father was a member was even more special to her, because he was the one who delivered her at birth.

"The doctor was late, and so he had to deliver me," said Lynn of her father, who attended the wedding. "He was the first person to hold me in the world."

Lynn and Nazon, who is from Cambridge Bay, first met at Aurora College in Fort Smith and although they have been together for nine years, they just got engaged in February.

While getting married in the legislative assembly on Aboriginal Day is not something very many people get to do, Lynn said she and her husband like to remain as low key as possible.

"We don't care much for extravagant things, we're pretty much just normal people."

Lynn points to their engagement as an example of how laid-back they are when it comes to special occasions.

"We both were talking marriage for a while and then I went on the Peoples Jewellers website and ordered a ring. As soon as the package came I handed it to him. He opened it up and as soon as he saw the ring he put it on my finger," she said.

Now that they are married the couple plans to move to Lethbridge, Alta., with their children, James, 8, and Dallas, 6, where the newlyweds will be studying. They will be using the drive down through Alberta as a chance to take a honeymoon, as they plan to take the scenic route through Banff and Jasper.

When they get there, Nazon will be studying welding, while Lynn will be studying indigenous governance. She said while she will be leaving Yellowknife, where the couple has lived since 2006, she hopes to one day move back up North and work in politics.

When asked whether she will miss the North, Lynn couldn't help but laugh, "The North is always here."

All joking aside, Lynn said she knows no matter where they are in the future, she can rest assured they will get to celebrate their anniversary on Aboriginal Day.

"It's going to be special because every anniversary we get to have a fish fry and a drum dance."

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