Story: Marriage and partnering

Natasha Vitali (left) and Melissa Ray married in Auckland on 19 August 2013, the first day same-sex marriage was possible in New Zealand. They are shown here during the ceremony, looking down the aisle as their marriage licence is brought into the church. Over the following three months more than 100 same-sex couples would marry, one-third of them overseas couples who were unable to do so in their home country. Well over a third of the New Zealanders were already in civil unions, the number of which fell dramatically after same-sex marriage was legalised.