  "Amazing Race" contestants Lynn Warren and Alex Ali get married in Ottawa.
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Throughout their five-year relationship, Lynn Warren and Alex Ali have used the phrase "marry me" as a term of endearment for everything from saying good night to ending an argument.
As a gay couple living in California, they never thought it would happen. That all changed yesterday, when the former The Amazing Race 7 contestants and newly minted reality stars tied the knot in the unlikely locale of downtown Ottawa before about 100 onlookers, including several dozen family and friends.
The pair were 20 minutes late for the 20-minute ceremony, scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Before reciting their vows, they released two white doves from the tented terrace of the Ottawa Congress Centre. As the birds flew into the air over the Rideau Canal, applause broke out from those watching inside and gathered on the street below.
Canadian flag pins
"These doves are born to fly, to be free, to be who they are at the deepest level of their being," said Rev. Brian Kopke, the First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa minster who conducted the ceremony, adding "they are symbols of this wedding, of who we long for and have a right to be."
Warren, 30, and Ali, 23, wore custom-made chocolate brown suits with pale pink shirts, tiny Canadian flag pins adorning their left lapels. And though they beamed throughout the ceremony, each fought back tears as they exchanged vows written while laying in bed together the night before.
"I make this commitment without a doubt in my mind," said Warren. "I know we are for each other, and you are my one true love."
Ali called Warren "his cheerleader" and sparked loud laughter in saying he "knows all my darkest secrets."
"We can do the impossible," said Ali. "We can laugh every single day."
When the minister pronounced them married Ali placed both hands on either side of Warren's face. The pair kissed passionately for several seconds to whoops of support from onlookers.
The ceremony started amidst dozens of Warren's favourite flowers, the Calla Lily, with soft, classic violin music in the background and not a protester in sight. Ten attendants -- including two best women and two best men -- flanked the couple clad in varying shades of chocolate brown and pink.
Hot 89.9 Morning Hot Tub Crew Mauler, Rush, Laura and Josie -- who invited the pair to Ottawa and planned their wedding in just under four weeks -- broadcast the event live.
Wedding party members and guests, from Race winners Joyce and Uchenna Agu to Warren's 80-year-old grandma Bobbie Katnic, watched, and many fought back tears as the pair spoke of their love.
"I thought I was going to lose it even more," said Karla Swenson, a high school friend who cried while standing up for Ali. "I was holding it in."
Long day
Not only was it an "amazing" wedding, but a long one.
Guests up as early as 5 a.m. also attended a night reception at Suite 34 expected to last into the wee hours. A mellow first hour of martinis and lounge music was set to morph into fire-breathers and belly-dancers, with an appearance by a Cher impersonator.
Despite the celebratory tone, it was also a bittersweet day. While some family were in attendance, including Warren's brother Stephen and Ali's sister Adria, neither set of parents was present. Warren's father has lymphomic cancer and can't travel while Ali's parents stayed away because his father doesn't support his sexual orientation or marriage, something that brought him to tears post-ceremony.
"I'd love it if my mom and dad could be here and stand next to me," he said. "Some gay people just don't have that storybook ending, you know, with their parents."
