Historic wedding day for Natalie and Tracey

HAPPY couple: Tracey and Natalie

Partners Natalie Brophy and Tracey Wild became Oldham’s - and Greater Manchester’s - first female married couple.

The pair - Natalie is 24, Tracey 35 - first communicated through Facebook after meeting through friends, and married at Chadderton Town Hall yesterday, the fourth anniversary of their first date.

Last month the pair expected to be the county’s first married same-sex couple, but were pipped at the post on Monday when Oldham-dwelling Richard Byram and Cliff Leech married, moving their wedding at Dr Kershaw’s Hospice forward because of Richard’s ill-health.

Natalie, a manager with IAS — which supports people with learning disabilities — wore a dress, while Tracey, a warehouse worker at Walkers, Chadderton, wore a suit.