Billy Tedeski and Patty Kulwicki at their wedding at the 2013 Clownfest in Lancaster.

"I have a question for you: was it funny?"

That isn't the first question you expect to hear from a groom on his wedding day. But Billy Tedeski of Pittsburgh was not the normal groom.

Wearing a fake nose, black lipstick and eyeliner, Tedeski was in full clown regalia - one only trumped by guests in full white face and colored threads. His bride, Patty Kulwicki, had a flaming red wig and a red dot on her nose, a lace headband the lone accessory to her heavily embroidered gown.

It was a clown wedding and it couldn't have been held at a more perfect place: the 2013 Clownfest, a clown conference held at the Lancaster Host Resort and Conference Center in Lancaster.

Clownfest veterans would have recognized the beginning of the ceremony, when Kulwicki reeled Tedeski in using a fishing pole. It was a bit the two had first used during a skit at the 2011 Clownfest. They might have recognized the dress as well, which was the original from the skit. Its sentimental value definitely trumped its $15 thrift store price tag.

When the original skit won first place at 2011 Clownfest, Tedeski remembers jokingly suggesting they get married in a similar way. What started out as a joke, though, soon became reality.

"Clowning just means so much to him," Kulwicki said of Tedeski, who has been clowning for 41 years. "So when he asked me [to do a clown wedding], I couldn't think of anything that would make him happier."

It was not the first wedding for Kulwicki and Tedeski, but it was the first clown wedding for the two - "and the last!" Kulwicki said laughing.

For Tedeski, having a clown themed wedding was more than just a way to express his passion though, it also was fitting for his relationship with Kulwicki.

"I've had two wives, but she's my first partner," he said of Kulwicki. She is the first wife who has taken part in the clowning with him and together they are a team. "We mesh so wonderfully," he said.

Having the ceremony at Clownfest also made sense. "To us, these people are family," Tedeski said. It was a family he and Kulwicki incorporated into every aspect of the ceremony - not only were Clownfest goers the guests, but a clown was the reverend as well.

JoAnn Ihnat of Woodbridge Twp., NJ, had been going to Clownfest with Tedeski and Kulwicki for years, so when they asked her to be the officiant at the ceremony she didn't even have to think twice. " It was a lot of joy to do this for a couple so in love," she said. "This couple has all it takes to make it work."

Despite the visual gags heavy and joke laden ceremony, as the two gazed into each others eyes while posing for pictures, one got that the sense that for the new Mr. and Mrs. Tedeski romance was one thing they weren't clowning around about.

Clownfest 2013 13 Gallery: Clownfest 2013

Clownfest continues until 9 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Lancaster Host Resort and Conference Center, 2300 Lincoln Highway E., Lancaster. Cost: $75. www.clownfest.com.