DECATUR - At age 3, Pariss Jackson had a dream wedding.

The inside of Shiloh Baptist Church was decorated with pink and burgundy-colored balloons, and the arch near the pulpit was covered in white taffeta and burgundy flowers.

The bride sat in a small room, where she was being pampered and primped to look even cuter than she already was for her big day.

On Sunday, the Friendship Celebration was a "Tom Thumb" wedding at the church that also served as a fundraiser.

The money raised will mostly go for a trip for the youth, said Sylvia Jackson, whose husband is senior pastor at Shiloh, the Rev. Lloyd Jackson.

"We want to visit the Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield," she said. "The president and people have come from all over the country to see something that we haven't, and it's right in our own backyard."

"The children are our future teachers, deacons and ministers. This is posterity: So when I am gone, they will carry on," added Lloyd Jackson.

They said Tom Thumb weddings are popular in the South.

Tom Thumb was one of the world's most famous midgets. He was born Charles Sherwood Stratton and was discovered by circus pioneer P.T. Barnum in the mid-1840s.

By 1863, he made headlines by marrying another little person, Lavinia Warren, at a church in New York City.

On Sunday, the 4-year-old groom, Jaurice Shaw, was a bit antsy in his burgundy tuxedo as the wedding march played.

The bride wore a white "Barbie doll" dress, along with a veil and tiara.

She was escorted by her father, Oliver Jackson.

Another child, Christopher Butler, who played the minister, asked the bride and groom to place candy rings on each other's fingers.

The groom had to restrain himself after having eaten several of the rings during rehearsal on Saturday.

Finally, the young minister said, "I now pronounce you friends for life. You may shake hands," and the audience clapped and cheered.

"This was practice for me, so I can see how it will really go later on," said Oliver Jackson, laughing. He is campaigning against violence in Decatur by giving away his latest gospel-rap CD.

But nothing could top the wedding reception - a three-tiered wedding cake and balloons with pictures from the movies "Cars" and "Dora, the Explorer."

And seeing the children who pledged to be friends for life cut their cake.

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@herald-review.com or 421-7963.