The newly-wed couple joked that they will only be husband and husband until they cross back over the border

Tony from Lisbon and Belfast man Darren Day held their wedding day in County Monaghan on Saturday. Their Irish marriage became legally recognised on Tuesday following a short ceremony.

Darren, whose birth surname is Baird, took his husband’s surname after the wedding.

Speaking after their marriage, he said: “It’s been lovely to exchange our vows and to make it official, to finally be able to call each other husband and husband.

“But Tony was joking that we would only be able to do that for 10 minutes until we went back over the border.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re married – we got married on this island.”

The couple began planning for a civil partnership ceremony in January, and booked a hotel in Monaghan hotel for 14 November.

But Darren said: “We knew the law was coming and we hoped it would be in place by that date.

“There was talk it would be in place in September, then by late autumn, and as it got closer we were getting excited, thinking: ‘This could be more than a civil partnership, it could be a wedding.'”

 The same-sex marriage legislation came into effect on Monday, two days after the couple’s big day.

They decided to have still have their planned “wedding day” on Saturday but to remain in the Republic until Tuesday, when they could make their marriage official.

Tony’s son eight-year-old son Parker walked the couple up the aisle in front of 220 guests.

Darren said he believed their marriage would be legally recognised in Northern Ireland “sooner rather than later”.

“In some ways our wee country is amazing; in other ways it’s backward. It will happen sometime,” he said.