Brittany and Briana — twin sisters, married Josh and Jeremy — twin brothers, and had kids.
Now, their kids are technically siblings and they’re all living as one big happy family.
via People:
Approaching the father-son pairs waiting for them on the porch, Brittany and Briana “held hands for a second,” Briana tells PEOPLE. “We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, our dream has come true. How lucky we are that we get to live it.'”
For the 35-year-old sisters, who had always wanted to marry identical twins and share their lives together, the journey to this heart-warming moment has been better than they could have imagined.
Brittany and Briana first met Josh and Jeremy Salyers, now 38, at the 2017 Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, where they returned a year later to marry in a joint ceremony. They went on to welcome sons Jett (born to Brittany and Josh in January 2021) and Jax (born to Briana and Jeremy three months later), who are cousins but also genetic siblings known as “quaternary twins.”
As the parents prepare to take Jett, now 19 months, and Jax, 16 months, to the festival this year, they’re opening up to PEOPLE about their “quaternary marriage,” sweet rainbow babies, whimsical wedding venue (which doubles as their home!) and more.
Early last year, the couples bought a mansion near picturesque Smith Mountain Lake in central Virginia, named the expansive country estate Smith Mountain Manor and transformed it into a wedding venue. The grounds include a pool, vegetable gardens and acres of lawns. Inside, Josh and Jeremy built a nursery for Josh and Jax, who are being raised as brothers.
“We do everything as a family, we’re really kind of inseparable,” says Briana. “It’s kind of like this magical existence.”
A half-century ago, psychiatrist Robert Ravioli even coined a term for the rare instances of identical twins marrying identical twins: the “quaternary marriage,” which he lauded for its significant emotional and economic advantages.
The family is now setting a modern-day example in the living quarters on the bottom part of the mansion, where they share all the rooms — with one exception.
“Each couple has their own bedroom,” says Briana. “We do like to make that clear because we get a lot of kind of weird creepers.”
The two dads, who primarily run the Smith Mountain Manor weddings, take over parenting duties when Brittany and Briana, both attorneys, head off to work at the same law firm four days a week. Once the four adults are home, they all take part in raising the boys, as well as grocery shopping and cooking their shared, primarily plant-based meals.
Jett and Jax are bonded to all four adults, whom they manage to tell apart despite the striking resemblances. “Sometimes they both want one mom, or they’ll turn around and both want the other mom,” says Briana.
The ever-smiley Jett recently looked back and forth at Josh and Jeremy and called them “two dadas,” and similarly called Brittany and Briana “two mamas” — an adorable moment the family shared with their 210,000 Instagram followers.
“When you realize your parents are ALL identical twins!” the parents, who share the @salyerstwins Instagram page, wrote in the video caption.
“Jett laughs and it’s like he gets it,” Brittany says of their family structure.
Since purchasing the property in February 2021, Josh and Jeremy have been busy working on renovations, while the attorney sisters have a creative side project: jointly writing a historical novel involving, of course, identical twins. The book is due in December.
The couples also prioritize dates on the property, stealing away to the pool, the gardens, the theater and library — “just some different places that you can be alone,” says Brittany.
“We always say the manor has all the rooms from the game Clue,” she adds. “When we’re done having our own little adventures, we get back and all four of us are with the kids.”
Jett and Jax, meanwhile, love to be outdoors, especially for rides in their double stroller and play time. They get along well “most of the time,” says Jeremy, laughing. “They give each other kisses.”
Briana and Brittany, who love dressing the same unless it’s laundry day, had long envisioned their life like this, but they were still looking for partners when they attended the twins festival five years ago at 30 years old. Now they’re set to return to Twinsburg for this year’s event, from Aug. 5 to 7, alongside their husbands and children — a full-circle moment.
The ladies remember spotting the handsome Josh and Jeremy from afar in 2017 and then meeting them by chance on the last day. Sparks immediately flew, with Jeremy and Briana hitting it off while Brittany and Josh chatted away.
“My reaction was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we feel so drawn to them — I hope they feel like that about us too,'” says Brittany. “We found out later that they went home after meeting us and they told their mom that they were going to marry us.”
Something about this feels…wrong.
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