A newly married couple who are also step-siblings have told of how they initially tried to fight their attraction to each other, fearing a relationship might be illegal.
Matilda and Samuli Eriksson have admitted it felt "weird" when they first got together and said they also faced the judgement of friends.
However, Matilda, 23, said the pair's parents were "very happy" for them from the outset.
Matilda said she thought Samuli's father had even hoped that they might end up together.
The couple tied the knot in July near Helsinki, Finland, after getting engaged last October.
Wedding photos show the couple's family beaming at an outdoor ceremony, just three years after they gathered for the marriage of the groom's dad and the bride's mum in 2019.
Matilda and Samuli met back in 2018 at Matilda's mum's birthday party. The said they became friends with "good chemistry" and that their relationship remained platonic until last Spring.
She told Norwegian paper Dagbladet: "Each time we had good conversations and felt the connection.
"In 2021, we started hanging out regularly, but initially as friends or step-siblings."
When Samuli one day moved in for a kiss, Matilda said she responded with "passion".
However, the pair had decided it was the last time something romantic could happen between them - as they were too afraid to lose their friendship.
When one week ago it happened again, they decided they could "simply not deny the feelings and affection" they had for each other.
In May 2021, they started dating and promptly moved in together.
"To be completely honest, it felt very strange, and wrong at first," Matilda said.
"I was confused and in love at the same time and honestly I really didn't know what to do.
"Thinking about the fact that he still is my step-brother and also I thought about other people's opinions."
Several of their friends were initially judgemental, she said, which caused her to have doubts.
In the end it was her mother that told her to do whatever felt the most right in that moment - which led her to marry Samuli,
They got engaged in October after proposing to each other "at the same time" but then began to worry whether it would be legal in Finland for them to marry and have children.
Matilda said that luckily one of her sister's friends was a law student and told her there would be no problem with them getting married.
The couple have documented their unusual relationship in a series of TikTok videos.
Unfortuantely, the platform was also where they had received the most hate, with viewers leaving nasty comments such as "straight to jail".
However, others called it a "true love story".
One supportive viewer said: "Like honestly that is so cute your mom marrying his dad and you marrying him."
