Eating giant turkey legs and drinking fermented honey while a kindly king recites poetry sounds like a page out of a fairy tale.
But this was reality for a Marana couple who got married last month at the Arizona Renaissance Festival.
"It was an experience to show everyone this is how I'd like it to be all the time," says the groom, Matthew Knickerbocker, 43, who wore a kilt to the wedding. "We wanted to show our friends this is something we like to do."
He and his bride, Deborah, have gone to the festival every year since 2001 when she won 10 pairs of tickets from a radio station.
"We don't go unless we are dressed," Deborah says. "It has gotten to the point where I have to make new outfits at every opening."
Last year, more than 25 couples got married at the Renaissance Festival, and this year is on track to surpass that number, says Sanja Malinovic, a spokeswoman for the event.
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Deborah, an insurance agent, met Matthew in 2000 when she was working part time at Chevron. He was wearing his motorcycle leathers, she remembers, so he was hard to miss.
Matthew's sister, who was the store manager, pushed Deborah to give her brother a call.
"He asked me out on a date, and we went to Old Tucson," Deborah says.
The couple started going to the Renaissance Festival together the next year. They got engaged last May after Deborah told Matthew he would be going to the festival by himself if he didn't ask pretty quick.
Matthew proposed in a model home, and Deborah says she felt like the luckiest woman in the world.
"Her face was beet red, and she couldn't stop crying," says Matthew, an auto mechanic.
When they go to the Renaissance Festival, Deborah makes the costumes but Matthew usually picks out the fabric. He says he's not ashamed to admit he can spend hours looking at material for a new kilt.
"You get me in a fabric store and it takes forever for me to get out," he jokes. "I get inspired. You think 'Oh, I saw that hanging on a drape, you could actually use that as an outfit.' "
Deborah, 40, belongs to a sewing guild and often makes items for friends.
"My one girlfriend Melissa is like 'Well, just don't dress me as wench," Deborah says, laughing. "I always dress her as a wench."
Many of the 75 guests dressed in costume, although most had never been to the Renaissance Festival, which started in 1989. There were three monks, several ladies-in-waiting, a Scot and — yes, sir — a wench.
After the Feb. 16 ceremony, the wedding party enjoyed an elaborate six-course meal while being entertained by jugglers, singing feastmasters and belly dancers. The couple was warned ahead of time that the show would be racy.
Says Matthew: "They told us, 'If your kids get this, this is not our fault, it's your fault.' "
The Knickerbockers spent about $6,300, opting for extras like a joust ($350) and a harpist ($50). The biggest expense was the feast ($84 per person).
It was "a little extravagant," Deborah says.
Less expensive packages are available, and some couples have gotten hitched for around $500, says Linda Dutil, the festival's wedding planner.
The Knickerbockers, who honeymooned at Sequoia National Park in California, say they'd like to get jobs working at the Renaissance Festival next year. But they won't take themselves as seriously as some folks do, Deborah says.
"I've met a few of those people and they are scary," she says. "I don't need an escape from myself. I don't need to be in a different dimension."
But it sure was fun on her wedding day, she says.
Get thee to the faire
• What: Arizona Renaissance Festival and Artisan Marketplace.
• Where: 12601 E. Highway 60 in Apache Junction. Take Arizona 79 through Florence to Florence Junction. Then go west seven miles on U.S. 60.
• When: Continues 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through March 30.
• Admission: $20 adults, $17 seniors, $8 ages 5 to 12, free for ages 4 and younger. Tickets available at Fry's Food and Drug stores and online at royalfaires.com.
• More info: 1-520-463-2700.
