Reach deep and dust off your second grade genetics unit, because you’re going to want to follow along, here. Identical twins Briana and Brittany, 35, married identical twins Josh and Jeremy Salyers, 37. Each couple has had a baby, and the cousins are so genetically similar that they’re technically brothers.
Verbiage around different types of twins can get particular. “You’ve heard the term Irish twins and you’ve heard identical twins and fraternal twins,” Briana Salyers told TODAY Parents. “But we have quaternary twins.” Don’t bother looking it up in Wikipedia. It’s not in there.
Jett, who turned 1 in January, and Jax, who will turn 1 in April are cousins, but they’re also genetic brothers. “They were born to identical twin parents less than nine months apart,” Brittany Salyers explained. And since identical twins share the same DNA, the parents of both Jett and Jax—who are different—each have the same DNA as one another.
Not surprisingly, the sisters had hoped for overlapping pregnancies. “We thought it would be really cool,” Briana said. “There’s only 300 quaternary marriages known in the history of the world.” And naturally, you can follow along on this genetic journey via the couples’ joint Instagram page.
The couples married in a joint ceremony at the 2018 Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, after meeting their respective spouses at the Twins Days Festival the year before. TLC recognized a good thing when they saw it and captured their joint weddings on camera. Both families live under one roof in Virginia and run a wedding venue site together.
“It was something we all four wanted and when we got engaged, we all wanted it that way,” Brittany told TODAY. “(Josh and Jeremy) understand the twin bond like we do. We get to have a lot of together time.”
“We try to ignore sociopathic stalker comments and just focus on the positive,” Brittany said of the sometimes critical commentary that pops up on their social media feed. “Some people think we are really strange and others think it’s really amazing.”
And like most young parents, “We are debating if we should go for one more pregnancy each or not,” Briana said. “We will make a decision pretty soon. The babies are still pretty young (and) we are trying to wait a little longer to see what to do.” Which means that they’re still up to their eyeballs in diapers and bottles, so tap the breaks, y’all. These four need a little space.
—Shelley Massey
RELATED STORIES:
Michael Bublé Reveals He & His Wife Are Expecting Fourth Child in New Music Video
Kelly Clarkson Files to Legally Change Her Name amid Divorce
Put the Kids to Bed: The “Bridgerton” Season 2 Trailer Is Here!
The Rock Shares Why His Little Girls’ Valentines Made Him Emotional
