Two male witches tie the knot in UK's first pagan same-sex marriage

Two male witches, Tom Lanting and Iain Robertson, have become the couple to tie the knot in the UK's first pagan same-sex marriage.

The couple who has been together for 12 years married in a ceremony in the 16th-century vaulted cellars of Marlin's Wynd in Edinburgh. The ceremony involved a number of pagan traditions, including handfasting, where their hands were bound together, the sharing of mead and jumping the broom.

34-year-old Tom Lanting and Iain Robertson, 39 who live in the Edinburgh, are both described as hedge witches, who use herbal remedies to deal with medical and spiritual ailments.

Scotland is the only part of the UK that allows pagans, and other minority and religious belief bodies, to solemnise legal weddings.

The Pagan Federation (Scotland) has been permitted to conduct weddings north of the border since 2005 and has carried out hundreds of ceremonies for mixed sex couples.

After their wedding during an interview with , the couple said: "Getting married in a legal pagan ceremony means so much to both of us. The new equal marriage law means that we finally have equal recognition and acceptance of our relationship, and it opens the door for all LGBTI couples to take the same step. As hedge witches we always wanted to have a pagan marriage ceremony in line with our beliefs and it was really important to us to be able to share this ceremony with our friends and family."