Lib Dem campaigners Ed Fordham and Russell Eagling celebrate gay church wedding

They were one of the first gay couples to become engaged and are now one of the first to have enjoyed a church wedding.

On Saturday, Liberal Democrat campaigners Ed Fordham and Russell Eagling tied the knot at Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel.

Mr Fordham, 46, a Lib Dem candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn in the 2010 general election, married former Fortune Green councillor Russell Eagling, 37, in front of 160 friends and family at the church, in Pilgrim’s Place, Hampstead.

The couple, who have been together for 16 years, had been engaged since last year when Mr Fordham got down one knee outside the House of Lords after discovering peers had approved the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

Saturday’s service and reception were attended by a variety of well-known Lib Dem figures, including Alistair Carmichael, secretary of state for Scotland, and Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone.

Mr Fordham said: “I think we maybe the second of third gay couple in the country to have got married in church, certainly the first in the Unitarian church.

“It was magical, it was absolutely amazing. Everyone enjoyed the day, it was just incredible from start to finish.”