Pink Wedding Days | Gay Marriage and Civil Partnerships Blog

It’s easy to see why destination weddings are popular. According to Brides Magazine, the average cost of a wedding in the UK for 2015 was £24,000. This is insane. I mean look at that figure again: twenty-four thousand pounds . By comparison, the average UK salary is only £26,500. Unless people are handing out iPhones as wedding favours, where exactly is that money going? Okay, okay, o f course, we’re being unfair. There’s nothing wrong with having a £24,000 wedding day. There’s nothing wrong with spending £200,000 if you can afford to.  The worst thing that any bride or groom can do is subscribe to what everyone thinks they should do. It’s dangerous to talk about the average price of this or the average price of that because to the couple getting married, their wedding isn’t average. Interestingly, too, Nationwide Building Society released the results of their own survey into the average cost of a wedding and theirs came in at a far more palatabl...

The lovely people at Dejoria have been busy; they wanted to find out if religious ceremonies are still popular with couples getting married.  For us, it's an interesting question. The LGBT community is often excluded by religious institutions. UK law, in fact, protects religious groups from having to perform or endorse same-sex marriage.   For the vast majority of gay people there is no choice ; it’s a civil marriage ceremony or nothing. But it’s interesting to see that straight couples are now less inclined to choose a religious ceremony . This might be for a number of reasons: a lack of or change in religious belief, a small budget, a want of a different venue or the lure of the all-inclusive wedding package .  We live in a different world now, a different society, and in the UK at least, the grip of the Church is weakening in many of the arenas it once dominated.     Or perhaps we should be surprised that modern couples are stil...

Same-sex marriage is now legal in the Republic of Ireland , and it’s fair to say that we’ve been pretty excited about it. It’s got us thinking about Irish wedding traditions, and here are some of our favourites. The Claddagh Ring The Claddagh Ring has been popular in Ireland since the 17 th century. Designed to symbolise the three qualities of love , friendship and loyalty , the ring is two hands clasping a heart below a crown. It's most commonly given as an engagement or wedding ring.  Traditionally, a mother will give the ring to her daughter or a grandmother to a granddaughter. If the idea of the ring doesn’t appeal to you, then you could always take the design and use it on your wedding stationary.  Horseshoes Horseshoes have long been associated with good luck. You’ve probably seen them featured in other weddings , too. The horseshoes used today are most likely to be plastic, but for real authenticity use a real...

Same-sex marriage is now legal in the Republic of Ireland. The new law came into effect on Monday following a public referendum held in May. There are now a number of options for Irish same-sex couples:  Couples who married abroad will now see that marriage recognised in Ireland. The effect of this was immediate . Couples can now choose to convert their civil partnership to marriage , but there is no obligation to do so. Details of how to convert a civil partnership are expected to become available soon. Couples can now register their intent to marry with a registrar. Once the notice period has passed then the first ceremonies can start taking place. Ireland has come a long way since the referendum was first announced back in 2014. It’s come a long way full-stop. Homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1993 , and divorce was only legalised in 1997 .  No small feat for a country with such deep historical connections to the Catholic Chu...

There’s nothing like a bit of escapism at this time of the year, is there? The weather is poor; the Christmas trees are already up (it’s November, people!) and everyone is sniffing, sneezing and spreading all manner of germs onto to the rest of us.  Can't we just pretend for five minutes that we're off someone more exciting, more exotic than the twenty-five minute commute to the office. Wouldn't it be fabulous to plan a wedding without first having to consider the  minutiae  of a "wedding budget" spreadsheet the length of Belgium. We can't offer you much, but we do, at least, have this.  Courtesy of the lovely people at beachhousetci.com , we can see exactly where the rich and famous are choosing to get hitched .  Luxury for some of us might be using triple quilted toilet paper or shopping at Waitrose , but for some people luxury can mean getting married in some of the most beautiful places on earth.  ...

A couple  who were  married in England are making a legal challenge at Belfast's High Court today, because   their same-sex marriage is not recogised in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland remains the only country in the United Kingdom with a gay marriage ban. The highest legal recognition a gay couple can have there is as civil partners .  The couple behind the challenge believe the law not only downgrades their marriage, it devalues it.  Of course, Northern Ireland isn't unique in this position. Many countries where same-sex marriage remains prohibited will not recognise marriages made abroad. One  notable  exception to this is  Malta .  Malta recognises overseas marriages even though gay marriage isn’t legal there yet.  This is the latest high-profile legal challenge to the ban. Since the Republic of Ireland legalised equal marriage via public vote back in May , Northern Ireland has been under increasing pres...

15,038 same-sex couples were married in the UK between March 29 th 2014 and June 30 th 2015. The Office of National Statistics has published its latest figures on same-sex marriages and civil partnerships in the UK.   The results are hardly surprising, but they do offer an insight into gay relationship trends since marriage became legal.  From 29 th March 2014 to 30 th June 2015 , there have been 7,366 same-sex marriages in the UK. Of that number, 55% were between females and 45% were between males. Following traditional trends, marriage ceremonies were most popular during the summer months.  Between December 2014 and June 30 th 2015, 7,732 couples converted their civil partnership to marriage.  December was the most popular month for doing this, but since then there has been a decline (except for in May).  The ONS also notes that civil partnerships are on the decline. This is particularly n...