'We're a normal couple – just smaller': World's shortest couple Katyucia and Paulo are BOTH under 1 m tall

In celebration of Guinness World Record Day 2016 Katyucia Hoshino and Paulo da Silva Barros were revealed to the world and officially named the world’s shortest married couple. GWR rolled out the red carpet for the diminutive pair, who together are only 181.41 tall, when they posed for photos in front of London’s famous Big Ben in their wedding outfits.

The 31-year-old Paulo, just 90.28 cm tall, needed to have his wits about him to win the heart of the 91.13 cm tall Katyucia (28) after they chatted for the first time on social media 10 years ago.

They were married in front of friends and family in Itupeva, Brazil – after a drawn out romance during which Paulo, whom friends refer to as ““Paulinho Gigante” (Little Paulo the Giant), had to dig deep.

Katyucia initially blocked his messages when he first chatting to her on Google’s old social media platform Orkut.

“I found her very beautiful from the first moment I saw her,” says Paulo. But at the time his future bride thought he was “annoying” and blocked all communications with him.

“She thought I was trying to flirt but I was just being nice. According to her I was a really boring guy.” Luckily for both of them she later decided to remove the block. “When she unblocked me, it didn't take me more than a minute to say hello. We started speaking and she said I was more civilised….”

A week after they met each other face to face to for the first time December 2008, they started dating. But it was mostly a long-distance relationship until the salon owner moved to her boyfriend’s, a municipal official, hometown in 2012. And only after a further four years did the couple realise they were made for each other.

During the years they have noticed that their union draws quite a lot of attention – and there will always be people with something rude to say. But being together also gives them greater strength to try and handle the attention, said the couple.

His nickname also isn’t Giant for anything: Paulo couldn’t walk until age 21, as teenager he moved around on a children’s tricycle and then graduated to a four-wheeler when he turned 20. By 2008 he learnt to walk with the help of special orthopaedic boots. Today he’s even able to drive a car which has been custom fitted for him.

In June, Paulo told The Mirror: "Basically, we are a normal couple but our height is a little smaller.

"The best thing about our relationship is our closeness, our companionship we have for each other. "She supports me in everything, she’s my little warrior."

Just before their GWR nod Katyucia said: “We hope our new record will encourage the world to look past the physical differences in others and understand all people should be treated equally.”

“We may be short but we have big hearts and lots of love for each other as well as everybody in our lives. Our life isn’t without its challenges but we are so happy we can tackle these challenges together.”

Sources: guinnessworldrecords.com, mirror.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk