History is being made in Northern Ireland today (11 February) as the country’s first ever same-sex wedding takes place.
Sharni Edwards, 27, and Robyn Peoples, 26, will tie the knot today in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, in the first same-sex ceremony to take place in Northern Ireland since moves were made to legalise marriage equality last year.
The couple, who have been together for six years, had initially booked today’s ceremony as a civil partnership last year, before later changing it to a wedding following the law change.
Robyn Peoples and Sharni Edwards are set to become the first same-sex couple married in Northern Ireland pic.twitter.com/7oXWfZRr84
— BBC News NI (@BBCNewsNI) February 5, 2020
It means their wedding will take place days before the first same-sex weddings were initially due to take place next week – cementing their place in the history books in the process.
Ahead of the wedding, Sharni and Robyn – who met in a gay bar in Belfast – posed for pictures in front of a mural in the city of Lyra McKee, the journalist and LGBTQ activist who was killed while observing rioting in Derry last year.
Lyra was right.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Robyn Peoples and Sharni Edwards, the Belfast couple poised to become the first same-sex couple to marry in Northern Ireland. pic.twitter.com/wGlFY1mv0p— Patrick Corrigan (@PatrickCorrigan) February 5, 2020
In a poignant coincidence, police today announced they had arrested four men in connection with former Attitude Pride Award winner Lyra’s killing.