In pictures: UK's first gay weddings

Same-sex couples in England and Wales are celebrating after gay marriage became legal. They include Peter McGraith and David Cabreza, who have been a couple for 17 years.

Supporters gathered outside Islington Town Hall in London to congratulate the pair on being among the first gay couples to marry in the UK.

Some gay couples, including John Coffey and Bernardo Marti in London, started their ceremonies late on Friday in order to marry just after the law changed at midnight.

Anthony Keiler, wedding photographer for Aarron Adem Erbas and Louis Monaco, said: "They both broke down because it was such a special moment for them. It was lovely to capture that moment."

Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted his congratulations to couples and a rainbow flag was seen flying over the Cabinet Office in central London.

Andrew Wale and Neil Allard were married in the music room at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. The first gay weddings are expected in Scotland in October; Northern Ireland has no plans to allow gay marriage.

Teresa Millward, pictured with her new wife Helen Brearley after their wedding in Halifax on Saturday morning, said getting a wedding certificate would mean there was "true equality".

As the law change took effect, allowing couples such as Phil Robathan and James Preston to marry, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said "getting into coalition government will have been worth it" if it helped just one young gay person feel "safer, stronger, taller".

The couple opted to both throw the bouquet after their wedding in Brighton, at which they wore buttonholes with rainbow ribbons.

Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway married in Camden, London. Some religious groups, including the Catholic Church, remain opposed to gay marriage, but Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "The law's changed; we accept the situation."