It was the "best day of their lives" as the first couple to sign up for a same-sex marriage at Medway Register Office got married, but they admit not everyone has accepted their union - even in their own families.

Kim Burgess, 51 and Denise Patterson, 54, from Rochester, who have known each for 14 years, had planned a civil ceremony. But as soon as the new legislation was announced, they made sure they were at the register office to make sure they were the front of the queue.

Denise, who works at a Rochester care home, said: “I proposed to Kim on her 50th birthday. The change in law threw a completely different light on things for us. It came at the perfect time for us. We are delighted to become a married couple, rather than be in a civil partnership. We are now as one.”

“The legislation took a long time coming. There will always be people out there who don’t accept us, including members of my own family. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”

Denise and Kim, who works at the Medway Secure Training Centre, got married at the Tudor Park Marriott Hotel in Maidstone.

Their nuptials took place in front of 50 friends and family, with Kim’s daughters, Abby, 26, and Chloe, 20, acting as bridesmaids. A further 100 guests attended the evening reception at the black and ivory-themed outdoor wedding.

Denise, said: “For anyone else considering a same-sex wedding, I’d say, ‘just go for it’. We are both sun-worshippers, and the sun shone for us on our special day.
“For us it was the best day of our lives.”

The couple, of Wilson Avenue, are going on a two-week honeymoon to the Greek island of Kos next month.

A spokesman for the register office said same-sex marriages had proved popular since becoming legal at the end of March. He said: “I’d say the number is more or less running into double figures.”