Summer was something that brought about a fair number of weddings, usually because the weather was warm and in many cases there were more time for them. In this, both Jeremy and Heather as well as Jill and Beauregard weren't the only ones getting married. There was also Mario and Courtney. The two Pachycephalosaurus Dinotopians had been waiting for their own summer date to marry. There were a few other delays, but most of that had been because the wedding between Jeremy and Heather was seen as so important with some of the publicity that Animalia wanted to get out of the first Dinotopian wedding. However, there was also some of the difficulties in getting Mario's parents to come to Lyre.
Apparently customs and immigration gave them a hard time, even though Mario's parents had only come as tourists. Thankfully they weren't forbidden entry at all, and Mario was more than happy to introduce Courtney to his parents. Courtney stood by nervously she waited for them with Mario at the Lyre Airport. She'd come to love Mario for a lot of his confidence, athleticism, and the fun that was had in some various competitions they'd had, mostly in running, lifting weights, and showing how athletic how both of them were.
"You're sure they like me?" Courtney asked as she looked to Mario.
"Of course," Mario answered, "Dad was a big part of what lead me into boxing and real football... what you call soccer. He was actually quite pleased that you're interested in sports too."
"Though I'm more into American football," Courtney reminded him, making Mario chuckle.
"They also liked that we're working together to train Animalians that are interested in sports as well," Mario added.
Both of them enjoyed sports, though they were often different sports. It was actually something that made for good fun between them and even opened interests in the sports the other liked. Mario learned about American football and Courtney learned a bit more about soccer. It made for good conversation as the two went about their day to day work, which for the moment was limited to athletic training and helping those in the UFC-A train and prepare for their respective bouts. Both had their own private wishes to even participate, but because there were too few Dinotopians that had volunteered for the Mesozoic Fight Club and even fewer people that had become Animalians based off of Cenozoic Era animals, let alone those that might have been interested the combat sports that Animalia supported.
And Courtney did nod at that as he finished. She was about to answer when she heard a male voice call out in Italian.
"Mario, my boy!" the voice called out them, "here you are! And healthy!"
Courtney didn't fully understand, but she did turn to see a pair of older humans approaching them. Both had rather confident smiles as they approached. The man reached them first and reached for Mario and the two shook hands with Mario smiling back.
"Yes, dad," Mario answered in Italian, "they'll have me busy with the training those participating in the UFC-A tournament..." He then paused to usher Courtney forward before he continued, "but I've also had this lovely lady to help and for moments of great personal joy."
"Hello," Courtney said to Mario's parents.
Mario's parents looked to her for a few moments, having some degree of awe on their faces. Mario's father approached with a smile and offered Courtney a handshake, which she nervously accepted. Mario's mother, meanwhile, walked along to look to Courtney's arm and watched as her arm muscles slowly flexed as she shook Mario's father's hand.
"She looks quite strong, Mario," Mario's mother commented in Italian, "that will be good for many strong children."
"Though we don't like that you're wanting to legally change your family name," Mario's father said calmly, still in Italian, "it's a proud name with a proud history."
"People... particularly those outside Italy... have mocked my name," Mario answered, "thinking it meant squid. Even a few in Italy jokingly did so, just to rattle me during my boxing days. And I'll likely remain here in America with my wife. It'll be easier to have a name people won't confuse with food. And Domini is strong."
"What are they saying?" Courtney asked. She'd been rather used to the fact that Mario could speak English well and wasn't ready for his parents to speak in Italian. Mario had been teaching her how to speak some Italian, but progress there was fairly slow. She recognized a few words that Mario's parents had said, but didn't quite catch all of them.
"We were just complementing you dear," Mario's mother spoke in English with a small smile, "and look forward to showing you Italy for your honeymoon."
"We're actually pretty busy with regard to the first UFC-A tournament," Courtney commented, "I'm not sure we'd get the time for it until after the tournament."
"You're in this tournament?" Mario's father asked.
"No... there aren't enough Dinotopians that have expressed interest for there to be an actual league and contest," Mario answered, "especially with regard to the rules that would be needed to make sure we aren't matching a Sauropod Dinotopian against a Compsognathus Dinotopian. For the moment, we've only been trainers."
"We'll do well when there are enough though," Courtney answered, "but that will come later. Right now, we have a wedding to get ready for."
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Lyre's Catholic Church wasn't very big before the Animalia outbreak. However, after the outbreak, the church had actually flourished with Animalians. Mostly due to the fact that many uplifted animals were attracted to the stories of the Catholic saints and most notably being Saint Frances of Assisi. In this, many joined the Catholic Church to follow the patron saint of animals. There were some talks of either expanding the church or building a new church that would allow Animalia and Lyre's Catholic population, but that hadn't been decided, yet. However, the church would do for Mario and Courtney's wedding.
The ceremony was fairly typical and Courtney noted various friends that she'd made after joining Animalia were there. Most of them were Animalians, and a few were even Dinotopians. As she walked up the aisle to where she could see Mario waiting for her, she was pleased to see that Brett Horne was among them. He was seated in one of the back pews, so that his horned frill wouldn't block anyone's view. Brett was also heavily involved in organizing the UFC-A tournament and working with Courtney and Mario with regard to helping those who had signed up to train properly.
The only hiccup that came was toward the end when the priest got to announcing Mario and Courtney's married name.
"You really changed your name?" the priest asked softly to Mario as he looked up from a small set of notecards that the older man had been using to keep the ceremony straight.
"Yes," Mario answered, "and what you have written is what I've changed it to."
The priest gave a shrug for a moment and sighed heavily, "Old age is getting me..."
"You're doing fine, sir," Courtney encouraged. She was tempted to say he could join Animalia and have his youth restored, but there were a lot of people that had made it clear they were quite fine with staying human and she knew enough to respect that. The priest smiled at the encouragement and then nodded.
"By the grace of God, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Mr. Mario and Mrs. Courtney Domini," the Priest spoke to rising a rising applause while Courtney and Mario gave a small kiss to each other as they became man and wife.
Courtney was most pleased and happy to see that it was Mario's parents who were clapping the most vigorously.