Three years after Nepal's Supreme Court recognised same-sex unions, the Himalayan republic Monday hosted Asia's first public lesbian wedding with the couple flying from the US to exchange vows under the aegis of the country's pioneering gay rights organisation, the Blue Diamond Society.

Courtney Mitchell, 41, a university psychologist and researcher based in Colorado, wed Sarah Welton, 48, a lawyer, in a spectacular traditional Nepali wedding ceremony with a Hindu priest declaring them man and wife at power goddess Dakshinakali's temple on the outskirts of Kathmandu valley, a tantric worship site where earlier Nepal's royal family used to offer animal sacrifices for wish fulfilment.