Instagram meeting turns into marriage

Few love stories are more millennial than one that began on Instagram.

The photo-sharing account that brought two women together — resulting in their being granted a marriage license Friday — was managed by a woman in Memphis who shared stories and photos of LGBT couples. Holly Smith, originally from Memphis, and Atlanta native Megan Gragg met using a hashtag, #LGBTshoutouts, when commenting on the account’s photos.

Smith, 29, said she doesn’t know whether the account still exists and said she doesn’t follow it anymore.

She ventured to Atlanta on business shortly after the two began talking, and she met her future wife in person. About a month after that, Gragg, 23, said she “up and moved” to Memphis to be with Smith, and the two have been dating for three years.

“The fact that we actually worked out is kind of crazy,” Smith said. “It doesn’t always work out like that.”

Smith and Gragg walked out of the Shelby County Clerk’s office with marriage license documents Friday afternoon.

Instead of tying the knot right away, they decided to wait to hold a ceremony until their families and a friend who would officiate it could attend.

They both said that their families are accepting and supportive of the relationship, including Smith’s engaged brother, whom she now gets to “beat to the punch” by getting married first.

They had been searching for somewhere they both wanted to go to get married, and now they get to make it official at home in Memphis.

“It still feels surreal,” Gragg said of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that declared state bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional.

“It doesn’t even feel like we just got our marriage license, but it’s a great thing.”

It is unclear how many same-sex couples received marriage licenses Friday in Shelby County because the clerk’s marriage license records will not differentiate genders of the recipients.

“That’s our little story,” Smith said. “(Now) we gotta figure out the rest of it.”