Grainne Close and Shannon Sickles stepped out of a black taxi and into history.
The two women had become "engaged" in New York three years earlier but it was the city of Belfast which was to offer them the first opportunity to "tie the knot".
Holding hands and in the full glare of the waiting media, Ms Close, wearing a black trouser suit, declared: "This is for all the people who went before us ... "
Ms Sickles, wearing a white trouser suit, finished her partner's sentence like any true "married" couple: "... and all the people who would like to come after us."
