Historic same-sex wedding at Worthing church was 'special, comfortable and full of love'

SussexWorld

Two women, who have become the first same-sex couple to get married at a church in Worthing, have said they are ‘honoured’ to be history-makers – and they hope it will not be a one off.

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00:00Two women who have become the first same-sex couple to get married at a church in Worthing

00:05have said they are honoured to be history-makers and they hope it will not be a one-off.

00:09Manny Kwan and Steph Idle tied the knot at Worthing Baptist Church on Saturday, September 7th.

00:14Stay tuned for an interview with the couple.

00:17We'd always said that we wanted to get married in a church and we would wait to get married until we could get married in a church.

00:26We just didn't think it would work out so soon that we would be able to get married, not even just in a church, but in our church.

00:33When they announced that they were going to register for same-sex marriage, it sort of became more real for us that that would be an option.

00:41We'd already been together for, what, six years or something like that?

00:45So it was kind of a no-brainer for us that we could get married with our church family in a place where we feel loved and feel comfortable.

00:55That was the only option. When it became an option, that would be the only option for us.

01:00And what was the response from the church and its members and the community and that kind of thing?

01:06It's the first time at Worthing, isn't it? I think that someone's had a same-sex marriage in a church.

01:11What was the response like, I guess?

01:14Yeah, I mean, they were all elated, weren't they?

01:19About five of us were made of one of the most beautiful creations. We could have had a whole tribe of them.

01:26I mean, even when we said we were engaged, they were all so excited.

01:30I think they were all hoping and holding out that we'd choose Worthing Baptist to get married there.

01:36When we turned up on the day, you could just see so many supportive faces and everyone was so excited.

01:43It felt like a really big build-up because everyone was so excited the whole way when we were planning it,

01:48which was just so nice that we had everyone really backing us.

01:51You could really feel it that everyone was rooting for us, which was amazing.

01:56I think it was important for the congregation members as well who had voted for this massive change to actually see it happen.

02:07Everything that they've put effort into, all that change, it has actually happened.

02:12It's changed our lives and it's meant that we could get married in a space that we ordinarily wouldn't be welcomed even.

02:20Yeah, and how does that make you feel personally? You're the first to do that. You must feel delighted with that in itself.

02:27You made a bit of history.

02:29Yeah, we didn't really think about it until we were actually in the ceremony and Mike said it.

02:34We were like, oh gosh, this is actually history-making.

02:37I think a lot of the people who we'd invited who don't go to church had no idea that that was even a thing.

02:46You can't normally get married in a church if you're a same-sex couple.

02:50We feel very special that we are those people, but I guess there obviously is a part of it to be like,

02:58it's a shame that it's taken this long for church to get to where we are, but I'm really honoured that we could be the first people.

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