Ho-ho-hope was in the air at a very special wedding on Saturday.


Evans City native Gretel Foster and her boyfriend of five years, Sarver native Ryan Burlett, were married by Santa Claus himself in a small, Pittsburgh Penguins-themed wedding at Mac's Cafe.


The couple will still go through with the traditional nuptials they had planned for February in Las Vegas, but the bride said the couple decided to make it legal before the end of 2017 as a matter of financial practicality.


“It's for health insurance reasons,” Gretel said.


So in the interest of having some fun with their unexpected early nuptials, the couple decided to dress in their favorite Penguins shirts and jeans.
 Gretel wore a Marc-Andre Fleury T-shirt and the shoulder-length veil and headpiece worn in 1985 by her mother, Betty, when she married Gretel's father Larry. She also carried a bouquet of off white silk flowers made by her mother.
 Ryan was clad in a Sidney Crosby T-shirt.


“This is the norm for us,” Ryan said. “We like to do things differently.”


Marrying the two was the Jolly Old Elf himself, who some say resembles a longtime family friend of the Fosters', Evans City Mayor Dean Zinkhann.


“It's a beautiful, merry day,” exclaimed Santa before the ceremony. “Ho, ho ho!”