Pink Wedding Days | Gay Marriage and Civil Partnerships Blog

The average cost of a UK wedding in 2019 is £17,674 , that’s according to a wedding report published by Bridebook.co.uk earlier this year. It’s a lot of money to spend on a single occasion.   To put it into perspective, the average deposit for a house in the UK is £11,400 – that’s £6,000 less.  There’s nothing wrong with having a wedding that surpasses the national average.  There’s no shame in spending what you want in order to have the day of your dreams.  There’s enough pressure on couples without slamming them with unsolicited advice on what’s too much (or too little) to spend on their big day.  If you can afford to and if you want to, then do it. But know that you don’t have to spend a fortune, either.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a wedding.  Things tend to escalate once the planning starts but that doesn’t mean you have to break your budget just to keep up with whatever it is that magazines, Pinter...

MPs in Westminster have voted 383 to 73 in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.    A vote was also passed which could see abortion decriminalised provided that the Northern Irish assembly doesn’t reform before October 2019. Northern Ireland’s de-evolved Government hasn’t sat since January 2017 when power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Fein collapsed.   Gay marriage has been legal in England, Scotland and Wales since 2015.  The DUP and Sinn Fein disagree on many issues but few are as contentious as same-sex marriage and abortion.  If the assembly were to re-form before October, it’s almost certain that the DUP would take measures to stop any legislation promoting same-sex marriage.  LGBT campaigner JohnO’Doherty was reported by the Canary as saying: “Our future got a little brighter today and we hope that LGBT people across Northern Ireland will wake up tomorrow feeling more hopeful for the future we all want to...

The law commission is conducting a 2-year review into “outdated” wedding venue rules which could give couples more choice on where they get married.  Only a venue pre-approved by a local council can legally hold wedding ceremonies and the commission will look at whether this reflects modern British society or not. It means that a couple may be able to get married in a back garden or in their own home.   An overhaul of the current law would be good news for anyone planning a wedding after the 2-year review is up. Wider choice would allow for greater personalisation of the wedding ceremony.  It’s not everyone who wants to be married in a church, hotel or country house.  It is also likely to make ceremonies more cost-effective. Music to anyone’s ears when you consider that the average cost of a UK wedding venue is now over £4,000. Currently, ceremonies held in non-approved locations or outdoors are not legally binding.  Couples have to formalise ...

We first wrote about making small talk at weddings back in 2014.   It quickly became one of our most popular blog posts so we updated it a year later.  In 2019, we’re still getting regular hits on the page so we thought it might be a good idea to revisit our advice and see if anything has changed.   It’s unsurprising that so many of us still feel uncomfortable about making polite conversation at a public event.  Weddings can be particularly difficult as we may have to spend an extended period of time sitting and eating with complete strangers.  We’re all human and most of us want to make a good impression but sometimes that’s easier said than done. Why Is It Important to Make Small Talk at a Wedding? Few social occasions expect us to interact so closely with strangers as a wedding.  At other events, we’re often able to stay within a circle of friends or family members.  Small talk may be limited to a brief chat at the bar or in the li...

Gilwell Park in Chingford, Essex , is hosting a wedding show on November 3 rd 2019 between 11am and 3pm .  Visitors can enjoy a glass of bubbly prosecco as they meet the local suppliers and service providers exhibiting at this gorgeous venue. Sitting on the border of Essex and London, Gilwell Park is a beautiful rural retreat but with excellent national and international transport links nearby.   Chingford station, for example, is only minutes away! And when we say rural, we’re not kidding.  It’s surrounded by 108 acres of countryside.  What Makes Gilwell Park a Great Wedding Venue? At the heart of the Gilwell Estate is the gorgeous white house which, dating back to 1754, is a Grade II listed property.  This isn’t a cookie-cutter wedding venue.  Gilwell Park offers a good range of options to couples but without being overwhelming.  Few venues are so flexible with catering, decoration, ceremony and reception spac...

UK GUESTS SPEND £65 ON A WEDDING PRESENT WITH CASH GIFTS MOST POPULAR The average Brit spends £65 on a wedding present with cash or gift cards the most popular present Only 1 in 5 (20%) buy something from a gift list The most generous guest is the Father of the Bride spending £80 Wedding season is upon us, along with the common conundrum  of what to buy the happy couple and how much to spend. A survey from  One4all Gift Cards  examining the present-buying habits of wedding guests reveals the average Brit now spends £65 on a wedding present, with monetary gifts topping the list as the most popular way to spoil the couple as they begin their marriage. Of those buying gifts, today’s guests are avoiding the traditional gift list with only 1 in 5 (20%) picking a present from the couple’s wish list , while almost half (44%) opt for cash or gift cards for the newlyweds. Other popular presents include something for the home (21%) or a b...

June 1 st is the start of Pride Month and Barnardo’s is keen to hear from any LGBT couples interested in being foster carers to vulnerable children.   We think this is such an important topic and when we read Stephen and Wayne’s story we knew we had to share it with our readers. Stephen and Wayne White describe fostering through Barnardo’s as “the best thing we’ve ever done”. Stephen, a 34-year-old manager, and Wayne, a 30-year-old part-time care-worker, live in Coleshill in Warwickshire. They were approved for fostering in December and it was just a few weeks later that they were introduced to a young boy, Thomas (not his real name), now aged eleven. Stephen said: “We both come from large families where several of our own relatives had been fostered or adopted and we always considered them to be genuine members of our family - they were simply our aunts, uncles or cousins. “So, when the time was right, we started to do a lot of research into foste...

Taiwan has legalised gay marriage just days before the end of a two-year deadline set by the Constitutional Court.   Taiwan is now the first country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage with campaigners hopeful that it could spur neighbouring countries in the region to follow suit. In May 2017, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court had ruled that any ban on equal marriage was unconstitutional.   Up until that point, the law had been clear: marriage was between a man and a woman only.  The Court gave the Government two years either to update the pre-existing law or to create a new one. A referendum in November 2018, however, showed that most people in Taiwan didn’t actually believe in guaranteeing rights for LGBTQ couples on the island.  It put the Government in a rather difficult situation: between the proverbial rock and hard place and caught or rather between the people’s vote on the issue and the demands of the Constitutional Court.  Despite t...

Creating a wedding hashtag for a ceremony and reception isn’t every couple’s cup of tea but is it really so ridiculous when most of us use social media to document and organise our lives anyway.  Gay wedding hashtags are one example of how same-sex couples are creating new traditions.  Planning a wedding when you’re LGBTQ often means navigating heterosexual customs and gender-based norms.  This is one way that couples (gay or otherwise) can embrace modernity and add a bit of fun to their ceremony and reception. Customising a hashtag for friends and family to follow across social media platforms is bound to raise an eyebrow with some guests who may feel that it’s a bit soulless, tacky or narcissistic BUT hashtags are so helpful in curating photographs taken throughout the day.   It’s great for the happy couple to search back through, too, and see a different side of the celebrations: a guest’s eye-view.    Another reason that it’s popul...