First Northern Ireland same-sex marriage to take place this afternoon

Robyn Peoples (26) and Sharni Edwards (27) will tie the knot and legally marry in Carrickfergus at 2pm, 11th February. They are the first couple to marry in Northern Ireland after the landmark law change last year.

Today is their sixth anniversary as a couple. They booked their civil partnership ceremony months before the law change, wanting to raise their family in Northern Ireland. "It wouldn’t have made much sense to get married in England, and then not have it be legally recognized here in Northern Ireland," Peoples told Time Magazine.

Same-sex couples were legally allowed to marry from 10th February. "People in Northern Ireland have had to fight longer, harder and overcome more obstacles to win equal marriage than anywhere else in the UK or Ireland," said Northern Ireland Director of Amnesty International Patrick Corrigan. "We are proud of the LGBT community here and the thousands who marched alongside them to ensure this day became a reality."

For the Time piece, Peoples and Edwards posed in front of a mural dedicated to Lyra McKee, a journalist who planned to marry her partner Sara Canning, before her murder at a dissident republican riot in Derry last year. "This really means so much and has brought me some much needed light in what has been a dark year," Ms Canning says. McKee would no doubt have been proud of these two women on this day.