Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau made history Wednesday, when they became the first gay couple to legally marry in France.
The two grooms were married in the city of Montpellier, an area of southern France that is known for a community that welcomes homosexuality. They wore matching slim, black suits and crisp white button down shirts. One donned a tie, the other, a bowtie.
Walking up the aisle in Montpellier's avant-garde town hall, Autin and Boileau held hands, grinning and moving along with Nat King Cole's L.O.V.E. that played over the loudspeakers.
With tears in their eyes, they slipped rings onto each other's fourth fingers.
"Do you consent to take as your spouse...?" mayor of Montpellier Helene Mandroux, who married the two men, started.
"Yes," Autin and Boileau answered, kissing while the crowd of over 500 guests erupted into applause and standing ovation.
During his speech, Autin spoke of equal love, quoting Martin Luther King.
"'The law may not be able to make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me,'" Boileau recited. "After the hatred, it's time to talk of love."
Boileau's call for tolerance echoes sentiments many supporters of gay marriage have stated during France's debate concerning the legalization of marriage for all.
The fight between supporters and opposition groups has divided a nation, shaking France with violent protests between far-right groups and riot police, in addition to a projected 30 percent spike in homophobic demonstrations, The Guardian reported.
At the wedding, a handful of anti-gay marriage protestors attempted to gain entrance from the back of the town hall grounds, firing off firecrackers and gas canisters. Police received threats from an anonymous phone call. Mayor Mandroux also answered a number of menacing phone calls, telling her to make sure bodyguards were present at the ceremony.
Despite the protest, the wedding, which is being hailed as the union "of the century," went smoothly. 200 friends and family were in attendance, as well as 300 guests from activist associations and 130 journalists from over 100 media outlets worldwide.
Boileau and Autin will change their last names to Boileau-Autin and say they intend on adopting a child.
The two men met on a website for pop singer Christophe Willem, which was organizing a fan meet-up in Paris. It was there that the couple met and fell in love, staying together for almost seven years.
At the end of the ceremony, Autin and Boileau signed their marriage contract and posed for pictures with the gaggle of press gathered at the reception hall. Grabbing his husband's hand, Autin looked at Boileau lovingly and sighed, "I only have one fear about this marriage-that our lives won't be long enough."
