Queer Muslim couple Sameera (she/her) and Umairah (they/them) were married in Brixton, South London, on August 11, and their gorgeous wedding photos immediately went viral.

Umairah is Bangladeshi and Sameera is Indian. In addition to their Muslim faith, the queer couple knew they wanted to honour each of their South Asian cultures on their wedding day, so they incorporated traditions from each.

The pair was not surprised when a stunning photo of them standing side-by-side in their wedding dresses on the steps of Lambeth Town Hall gained over 40,000 likes on X (formerly known as Twitter).

getting married in brixton like a tru south londoner pic.twitter.com/bO1dMGShP6

— um… (@5hl0erpaki) August 11, 2023

Seeing photos of visibly queer, South Asian, and Muslim couples is rare, which is probably why their wedding photos which radiate love and happiness were shared with so many people. “It also helps having a beautiful wedding party,” Umairah told Into.

The couple met on Tinder five years ago. After years of dating, they serendipitously decided to get married and planned the whole wedding in seven weeks.

Umairah told Into: “It was a no-brainer that we would do all the cultural traditions that cishet couples do, from draping a curtain of fairy lights over the front of my entire flat to a pre-wedding mehndi (henna) party with the mitai, haldi, and falooda. We even had a henna artist come and put mehndi on all the guests!”

We’ve spent the last 7 weeks, yes, seven weeks planning this wedding surrounded by the love and sustenance of our village, our community, our family. It was all we dreamed of and more. I love you my wife @5hl0erpaki pic.twitter.com/h1hawKo2Iz

— nahla (@kingnahlaa) August 11, 2023

The whole day was full of queer joy and celebration. After the gorgeous wedding ceremony, which included 12 of their closest friends, the couple enjoyed an incredible lunch reception at a Bangladeshi-owned Indian restaurant called Babur which Umairah described as a highlight.

When talking about how they address homophobia in their cultures, Umairah added: “It was important to both of us to keep the parts of our culture that we are entitled to. I am not alienated from what’s mine: homophobes are alienated from me.”

In one of the viral photos, Sameera and Umairah stare lovingly at each other while their friends hold a Progress Pride flag overhead.

Umairah said: “You don’t often see a queer, South Asian, Muslim couple with their visibly Muslim family at their wedding…I don’t think you can understand the gravitas of a visibly Muslim mother at her queer child’s wedding and being happy about it, and how that can impact other people who look like us, who love like us, but who unfortunately can’t be who they are without secrecy and a double life.”