Two lesbian couples celebrate first legal same-sex weddings in Australia

TWO lesbian couples have become the first people to legally marry in this country after they were exempted from waiting a month to wed.

Other couples will have to wait until January 9 to wed, because Births, Deaths and Marriages requires four weeks’ notice. Picture: Caroline McCredie/Getty Images

TWO lesbian couples have become the first people to legally celebrate a same-sex wedding in Australia.

Sydney couple Lauren Price and Amy Laker both wore fairytale white wedding dresses and carried colourful flowers as they married on a sunny Saturday in front of 65 friends and family.

The couple were given special permission to wed without giving a month’s notice to Births, Deaths and Marriages NSW, according to Daily Telegraph.

They received special exemption because Lauren’s family from Wales had already paid to fly to Australia for the couple’s civil ceremony.

They were pronounced wife and wife in a historic moment beneath a floral arch at Macarthur Park in Camden, south of Sydney.

The first two same-sex weddings took place today. Pictured, Sydney couple Amy Laker and Lauren Price. Picture: Caroline McCredie/Getty Images

Amy and Elise McDonald also celebrated a legal marriage at Victoria’s Carlton Gardens. Picture: Jason Edwards

Lauren and Amy said their celebrant Janice Bradley encouraged them to approach Births, Deaths and Marriages to turn their civil union into a legal marriage.

Melbourne couple Amy and Elise McDonald became the first gay pair in Victoria to legally wed under new same-sex marriage laws for similar reasons, the Herald Sun reported.

Their surprise wedding at Carlton Gardens came about because the couple had a commitment ceremony planned for this weekend. The brides applied for exemption from Births, Deaths and Marriages at the last minute, on financial grounds that the arrangements were in place and their families had travelled.

Amy’s parents had flown over from Vietnam, and siblings came from United Arab Emirates to share in the ceremony. By coincidence, both already had the same surname.

A terminally ill Melbourne woman and her long-term partner will not be far behind after they were given the green light to marry on Monday.

Cas Willow, 53, and Heather Richards, 56, have been together for 17 years, but are in a race against time to marry because Ms Willow has breast cancer which has spread to her brain, leaving her with just weeks to live.

The couples were given special dispensation to marry on financial grounds, because they already had family coming from overseas to be at their planned civil unions. Picture: Jason Edwards

The couples celebrated their dream weddings on a historic day for Australia. Picture: Caroline McCredie/Getty Images

A certificate is signed with 'groom' crossed out in Victoria’s first legal same sex wedding. Picture: Jason Edwards

Gay couples who do not have special dispensation will have to wait until January 9 at the earliest to get married, because they have to give four weeks’ notice of their wedding.

“I don’t even know if I’ll make it to Christmas, let alone January 9, so they allowed us to get married early,” Cas told AAP on Thursday.

The couple got engaged when federal parliament legalised same-sex marriage, rather than have a long engagement or commitment ceremony as it “just wasn’t the same”.

“We are committed to each other, we didn’t need to do a commitment ceremony to prove it. We wanted to do a wedding because it’s equal, it’s legal,” said Heather.

The couple says staff from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where Cas is receiving treatment, suggested they arrange a fast-tracked wedding hosted by the hospital.

Catering, goods and services have all been donated by the hospital’s service providers and contractors.

It will allow their last precious few weeks, or even days, together to be “complete”, said Heather.

“It means our relationship won’t just be tolerated, it will be accepted.”

— With AAP