Pink Wedding Days | Gay Marriage and Civil Partnerships Blog

The Osage Nation is the latest Native American tribe to legalise same-sex marriage . Members voted 52% in favour of changing the definition of marriage to “between two persons”. The US Supreme Court decision to legalise same-sex marriage in 2015 did  not apply to Native American tribes who form their own federally recognised Governments.  Henry Roanhorse Gray told NBC news that he was excited by the result. He went on to say: "To every Native kid just beginning to understand who they are inside, the tribe has made it clear we support and love them,"   Same-sex marriage is also legal amongst the Cherokee and Cheyenne nations .   Many other Native American tribes, however, continue to maintain that marriage is between a man and a woman. 

Where: The Well, Clerkenwell, London. What: Restaurant & reception venue Capacity: Up to 50 for the wedding breakfast, and up to 150 in the evening.  Contact: PWD page               The Well website                           Facebook               Twitter What we love:  This venue is ideal for couples who want an urban chic reception in the capital.  Although the venue can’t hold wedding ceremonies, it’s perfectly placed for the nearby town halls of Islington, Camden and Finsbury . The Well has been hosting wedding receptions since 2000 , and they’re more than happy, too, to help recommend and organise additional elements for the occasion – including stilt walkers, comedians and magicians from recommended  vendors and service providers , and who wouldn’t want to arrive on a London Routemaster bus?...

Where: Grove House Hotel, Roehampton, London. What: Mansion house hotel Capacity: Up to 250 guests Contact:   Grove House Hotel Website                 Grove House is a gorgeous Grade I listed building .  Close to Wimbledon and Richmond, it boasts excellent nearby transport links without compromising the rural charm of its estate.   Grove House has rose gardens, a lily pond and even a lake.  Couples have access to experienced event planners who are certain to use their knowledge and expertise to make each wedding day something very special. And did you know Grove House offers exclusive use.   Why would you want to share it with anyone else? We love, too, the option of using either Grove House’s in-house catering or using an external caterer.  This gives couples the chance to tailor-make their wedding. On drinks, there’s a corkage option. We’d highly recommend a visit to ...

Where: Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone. What: Hotel Capacity: Up to 500 guests Contact: PWD Page                 Leas Cliff Hall Website                 Twitter What We Love: This isn’t a one-size-fits-all venue. The Lea’s Cliff Hotel offers the option of intimate, personal ceremonies right up to grand, sweeping affairs for up to 500 guests.  The hotel is licensed for civil ceremonies , so there’s no need to worry about getting guests from A to B. And why would you want to leave? The hotel boasts views of the English Channel and, on clear days, France. We’d encourage anyone looking for a wedding venue in the Folkestone area to visit the Leas Cliff Hotel website and take a peek at the gallery as there are some gorgeous photographs that really show off this light and airy, well-placed and spacious venue. In Their Own Words: "The Leas Cliff Hall boasts unrivalled views...

Being a bridesmaid or bride’s man can be a full-time job, that’s according to new research.  Fashion retailer Simply Be surveyed 1,087 UK women who’d been bridesmaids and discovered that the average bridesmaid  clocks up 43 hours on wedding duties – more than the average working week. If bridesmaids charged for this, then, based on the average wage of a UK wedding planner, they could pocket up to £326.90 per week.   Visits to wedding fayres and organising the hen party were the most time-intensive of all a bridesmaid’s duties – 11 hours on average. Add to this dress fittings, make-up and hair trials, and the venue  dressing, and it’s easy to see why it isn’t just as simple as saying ‘I will’ when your BFF comes asking. But Simply Be did reveal that 74% of those surveyed said they enjoyed the process.  Joey Hughes , E-commerce Manager at  Simply Be  said: “Evidently, being a bridesmaid is a big respo...

From bridezillas to overbearing mothers and monstrous mother-in-laws , there are plenty of insidious clichés about women and wedding planning .  And let's not forget that a wedding was once seen as an exchange of property.  The daughter handed over from father to husband for a fee; the woman was the transaction and the mother a witness to it.  Ouch.  While modern weddings might be more or less equal, often it's the mothers that have to watch from the sidelines.      It's the father who leads his daughter down the aisle, who sings her praises during the speeches. He's the one who gets to dance with her.  And mothers? They get to buy a hat and (if they're lucky) act as a witness on a certificate that their name and occupation won't even be listed on.  Surely, we can do better.   And this is where same-sex marriage makes tradition ripe for reinvention. How to Include Your Mother in Your Wedd...

Who qualifies? You have to be married OR in a civil partnership. One of you MUST earn less than £11,000 per year. The other MUST earn between £11,000 and £43,000. And you’ll need to apply online. How does it work? The partner that doesn't pay tax transfers up to £1,100 of their unused allowance to the partner who does.   Reducing their tax by up to £220 per year. You can apply, too, if one of you is receiving a pension.  If a couple were entitled to the allowance in 2015/16 but didn't claim, they can backdate it.  So if you act now, your allowance could be worth £432. HMRC believe that fewer than half of all entitled couples have claimed, and they're encouraging couples to apply on the Government's website. 

Same-sex marriage laws may have been a factor in the number of adolescent suicide attempts in the US, according to research published on the Jama Network website.  Researchers used the data of 760,000 students who attended high school between 1999 and 2015.  These dates include the period prior to Massachusetts introducing same-sex marriage in 2005 and end when gay marriage became federal law in 2015.  What They Found Out States with same-sex marriage laws had fewer cases of teen suicide than in those states where same-sex marriage remained illegal.  Read more about the results by clicking here. And at least on the surface, the data appears to make a lot of sense: in states where same-sex marriage (and thereby homosexuality) was more widely accepted , teenagers, insecure or unsure about their sexuality, probably felt less isolated, anxious or desperate than those in states where same-sex marriage was forbidden.  The data isn’t ...

Gay marriage is now legal in Finland making it the last Nordic country to grant equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.  The Finnish Parliament started equal marriage proceedings back in 2014 but a number of complications in finalising the legislation, in addition to a last-minute attempt by opponents to derail it, mean it’s taken longer than campaigners had hoped for. Couples who have  registered (civil) partnerships will now be able to convert these to marriage. Unfortunately, Finland will not be following Norway’s lead in allowing same-sex weddings in churches. The Lutheran Church , the largest in the country, remains opposed to same-sex marriage. 

An Italian court has ruled that two gay men can  both be recognised as the legal father of surrogate twins even though only one of the men is biologically related to the children. The Judges argued that parenthood cannot solely be defined on a biological basis, and campaigners are hopeful that this ruling will set a precedent for future cases.  It comes less than a year after the Italian Government legalised civil partnerships. The couple at the centre of the case were not named, but it is known that the children – who are seven years old – were born in Canada with the help of a surrogate mother . Surrogacy is currently illegal in Italy