The winners in the US Supreme Court case that overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban tied the knot at San Francisco City Hall yesterday, about an hour after a federal appeals court freed same-sex couples to obtain marriage licences for the first time in four years.

The backers of California’s same-sex marriage ban petitioned a US federal appeals court to review a split decision by three of its judges that struck down the voter-approved law known as Proposition Eight.

Gay couples who were set to get married in California this week have had to put their wedding plans on hold once again after a federal appeals court said it first wanted to consider the constitutionality of the state's same-sex marriage ban.