Authored By david.morton

Rhiannan Pierce and Phyllis Wood were the first same-sex couple to marry in Chattanooga.

The brief ceremony was held on the lawn of the Hamilton County Courthouse Friday afternoon. Celebrant Shaun Cox officiated. A handful of family members attended.

Wood and Pierce were among the first couples to apply for a marriage license in Hamilton County. They came into the clerk’s office a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Tennessee’s ban on same-sex marriage.

“It’s hard to find words,” Pierce told reporters after the ceremony. “Now it’s legal. We can take care of one another.”

“No one can tell us we’re not a family,” Wood said.

The couple said they are planning a more formal ceremony in the future but wanted to go ahead and make it official. They’ve been waiting to marry for two years.