Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, January 1, 2019, two women became the first same-sex couple to get legally married in Austria. Nicole Kopaunik and Daniela Paier, both 37, wed in a ceremony in Velden, southern Austria after being engaged for four years, according to the Washington Post. Wedding planners, Velden locals and even the mayor were all involved in planning Nicole and Daniela’s wedding.
In 2017, Austria’s constitutional court ruled that same-sex marriage would become legal on January 1, 2019. Since 2010, same-sex couples in Austria have only been able to enter into a registered civil partnership that granted fewer legal rights. Daniela and Nicole will take the family name of Kopaunik.
“Now everyone has the chance to decide for themselves, if I want a ‘marriage for all’ or if I want a legal partnership, that was not the case before,” Nicole tells ORF. “We decided to marry and are happy about it.”
