A landmark legal case has opened in Belfast in which a couple are challenging the refusal of the authorities to recognise their humanist wedding.
Laura Lacole, who is due to marry Republic of Ireland and Leeds United footballer Eunan O'Kane, claims she is being discriminated against under European laws protecting freedom of belief.
In Northern Ireland, a couple wishing to have a legally-recognised marriage ceremony must choose a religious wedding or a civil ceremony.
Ms Lacole wants the authorities in Northern Ireland to extend recognition to humanist weddings.
Humanist marriages have been legal in the Republic since 2012. They are also legally recognised in Scotland, but not in England and Wales.
A lawyer for the couple told the Belfast High Court that his clients were being unlawfully denied equal rights with religious groups.
Opening the case in front of Mr Justice Adrian Colton, the couple's lawyer Steven McQuitty said all they wanted was the same protection afforded to those of different belief systems.
Mr McQuitty said as the law stood in Northern Ireland the couple's wedding on 22 June would be "legally meaningless".
He told the court the case was of "huge public interest", highlighting that there were 4,290 humanist weddings in Scotland in 2015, more than those conducted by the Church of Scotland.
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"Religious people from Pagans to Free Presbyterians and everything in between enjoy a substantial legal privilege under law," he said.
"In a sense the State gives its legal blessing to such marriages."
He claimed the law "denies the same privilege to equally valid groups".
Humanism is a non-religious belief system that rejects the concepts of a higher deity or afterlife.
Humanists adhere to a scientific view of the world and believe humans steer their own destiny.
Ms Lacole, from Belfast, and Mr O'Kane, from Co Derry, are taking a case against the General Register Office for Northern Ireland and Stormont's Department of Finance.
Northern Ireland's Attorney General John Larkin is also participating in the hearing.
The case continues.
