Tis the season to be jolly, and the wedding of Jess Fishlock and Tziarra King absolutely looks like the most wonderful time of the year.
The OL Reign teammates tied the knot on Tuesday in Abergavenny near the Welsh capital of Cardiff, which is Fishlock’s hometown.
Can we do it again ? 😂. pic.twitter.com/avTBHqZFxk
— Jessica Fishlock MBE (@JessFishlock) December 13, 2023
The 134-cap international midfielder has spent over a decade with the Reign, but was out on loan when King signed for the Seattle side in early 2021.
They ended up meeting for the first time in April of that year, becoming fast friends and then growing even closer, with Fishlock going on to enjoy arguably the best season of her career as she claimed NWSL MVP honors.
By October 2022, they were publicly announcing their engagement on Instagram. Fishlock’s excitement as she points to a card saying ‘You’re En-GAY-ged!’, with a beaming King beside her, delivered thousands of Instagram likes.
The heart reactions are in full flow once again as the wedding guests begin to post pics to social media from the celebrations.
Megan Rapinoe — with her foot still in a protective boot after that agonizing injury exit in last month’s NWSL Championship game — was there with her fiancee, Sue Bird.
Along with Fishlock, Rapinoe was also reunited with the third of the ‘OGs’ from the Reign, Lauren Barnes.
Judging by a video shared to Fishlock’s story, Rapinoe appears to have made good use of a scooter around the wedding venue to ease any strain on her foot.
It is officially Jess Fishlock and Tziarra King wedding week and I’ve got to both laugh and cry at Megan Rapinoe scootering around their Welsh wedding pic.twitter.com/oJBdF0BrbV
— Bella Valeriano Munson (@munson_bella) December 12, 2023
Another of the happy couple’s Reign teammates, Alana Cook, was bridesmaid to King, while Ali Krieger — victorious with NJ/NY Gotham FC in that seismic showdown on November 11 — shared her pics of the big day alongside the message: “Cheers to these two incredible humans who I was so honored to celebrate this week!
“I wish you two all the happiness and love! I can’t wait for our next memory!”
Also in attendance were Fishlock’s Wales teammates Gemma Evans and Angharad James, as well as former England star Anita Asante and her wife, sports reporter and former field hockey international for Wales, Beth Fisher.
Speaking to the Seattle Times in June about the positive reactions to her engagement to King, Fishlock said: “People love us!
“I was a little surprised by how many people were really happy and a lot of messages we’d get are just ‘We love seeing it,’ ‘The visibility is super helpful for us’ and that ‘it means so much that we can see a queer relationship.’
“Whatever you want to call it is totally fine with us, we’re who we are, we’re in love and that’s it.”
A few days after the disappointment of San Diego, Fishlock and King posted a video about their visit to Lambert House, an LGBTQ youth center in Seattle.
The two players shared their personal Pride stories and spent time with the young people as part of a project supported by Starbucks.
In the Seattle Times interview, King had added: “Visibility is one of the biggest things that we can do.
“We always try our best to get messages out that need to get out whether that be about bills or contacting local representatives, whatever we can boost or post, we try to do.
“And reiterating the fact that we’re supportive of queer people, trans people being in sports and being in community and being accepted. People can’t see us without knowing that’s what we stand for.”
Outsports wishes Fishlock and King every future happiness together — and thanks them for sharing their joy with their many LGBTQ fans.