Pink Wedding Days | Gay Marriage and Civil Partnerships Blog

Today's post is more of a call to action than anything else. We're asking anyone who reads this blog to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take 2 minutes to sign this . Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is trying to add an anti-gay clause to the country's current equality laws. The clause is designed to protect those who feel any  endorsement of same-sex relationships would be a violation of a personal belief system or faith. When they say ' endorsement'  they're not talking about active endorsement. They're talking about commercial endorsement: between a business or service provider and the customer. In simple terms, it means that a gay couple could be refused service in a restaurant. It means that they could be asked to leave a hotel or be forced to look elsewhere for somewhere to live. It stems from the current court battle between  Ashers Baking Company and The Equality Commission . Last year, when a customer asked Ashers to bake ...

So, you've found the PERFECT venue for your civil partnership or marriage. The only problem? It isn't licensed to perform them. You have two options in this scenario. The easiest way to do this is to get the legal bit done separately . If you and your partner go with two witnesses to a registry office, then you can get "married" in a matter of minutes. You're then free to have the actual ceremony wherever and whenever you want. We've written about this here , and it's the best option for couples who want to marry outdoors, in unusual places or even in their own homes. You can hire a celebrant who will personalise the ceremony for you, too. The second option is to work with the venue and apply for a grant of approval from the local council. You'll need to tell them the rooms that you're intending to use within the building by sending them a plan. The council will then decide whether or not the venue is formal enough to deserve a lic...

Don't you just love it when something drops into your inbox at exactly the right time It makes a change from Russian webcam girls (Love you really, Natalya) and PPI spam. The office is going to be pretty quiet next week. We'll still be checking emails, Facebook and Twitter, but we won't have chance to post anything new.  Cue a lot of scratting around trying to find something to use.   Yeah, yeah, yeah - I know, we bang on about how important wedding organisation is and then we leave a wedding post to the last minute... We get a lot of press releases and, most of the time, they're either unsuitable or just not in keeping with the blog. It's difficult to know what to pass on when you don't have the product yourself.  And the wedding industry is very effective when it comes to taking your money. Having your perfect day can ( and often does) come at a premium. If you're familiar with some of the stuff of Etsy , then you'll know wh...