Pink Wedding Days | Gay Marriage and Civil Partnerships Blog

The wedding is over. The confetti has been swept up and the tables tidied away.  The gifts have been opened. The thank you cards sent out.  The wedding day might be over but the marriage is just beginning. Weddings are easy.  It’s what comes next that’s hard. Celebrating the strength of someone’s relationship in the face of so many other failed marriages (1 in 3 marriages now end in divorce) , is a kind thing to do for anyone who loved you enough to invite you to their ceremony in the first place. Buying traditional wedding anniversary gifts by year might seem old fashioned but there’s something quite quaint about celebrating another year of someone’s marriage with a time-honoured present. But buying a wedding anniversary gift is tough.  What do you buy people who probably already have everything they need?   Do you give something more modern like cash or vouchers? Or is that too impersonal? Do you even buy a present at all?   It’s an...

Ashridge House is NOT your average wedding venue .  It was Henry VIII’s Royal Residence. It’s a Grade I listed building set in 190 acres of gardens and woodland. And it’s only 30 minutes from London. Ask someone what their dream wedding venue looks like and most people will probably describe somewhere similar to Hertfordshire’s Ashridge House.   We get the impression that it’s pretty impossible to over-hype this venue.  If the house’s exterior takes your breath away, then don’t expect to catch another one inside either.  There are 9 reception rooms available to use as ceremony spaces.  There’s even a grand sweeping staircase , too, and a terrace overlooking the gorgeous gardens.   Ashridge House takes the romance and turns it up to 10. We’d encourage all our readers to take a peek at the venue’s website to see how this stunning house and its surrounding area could work for you both on your wedding day. What’s more, y...

The United Methodist church has voted to uphold its ban on same-sex marriage by adopting the ‘traditional plan’ and re-affirming that homosexuality is not compatible with the Christian faith. What is the United Methodist Church? The United Methodist Church (UMC) is the largest mainline Protestant religion in the United States.  Set up in 1968 in Texas, the UMC traces its roots back to the founding of Methodism by John and Charles Wesley in England in 1739 . The UMC has 13 million members but whilst congregations are growing in parts of Africa and in South Korea, numbers are falling in the US.  What does UMC believe about homosexuality? The UMC believes in the ‘sacred worth’ of everyone but it does not support same-sex marriage nor does it endorse homosexual relationships.  This ‘hate the sin but love the sinner approach’ has been adopted by various Christian denominations. The UMC motto is Open hearts. Open minds. Open doo...