Pink Wedding Days | Gay Marriage and Civil Partnerships Blog

Gilwell Park is one of our favourite wedding venues.  They really do go above and beyond for all LGBTQ couples and guests. Located in Chingford and just 5-minutes from Junction 26 of the M25 , it's closer than you think! And only 25-minutes from Central London by train.  Set in 108 acres, the Gilwell estate is home to the stunning 17 th Century Grade II listed White House.  There’s space in the main hall to accommodate 150 guests for the wedding breakfast and 40 on-site bedrooms for guests to stay overnight. Tucked away in Epping Forest, Gilwell Park is close to major transport networks allowing couples a real rural retreat but one that’s easily accessible. We’re really excited to share the details of some of Gilwell Park’s current special offers as well as reminding you of their open day in November. Gilwell Park Late-Availability Special Offer Not wanting to wait any longer to say ‘I do’? Check out our late availability offer and sa...

Northern Ireland has legalised same-sex marriage.  It brings the country in line with the rest of the United Kingdom with the first gay weddings expected to take place on February 14 th 2020. Equal marriage has been legal in England, Wales and Scotland since 2014. Over the years, campaigners have made numerous legal challenges arguing the ban  is discriminatory but all have been unsuccessful. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has been the biggest political sticking point having blocked all previous attempts at legislation. Why Now? Northern Ireland’s legislative assembly hasn’t sat at Stormont since January 2017 when power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Fein collapsed.  Subsequent attempts to restore a devolved Government to Northern Ireland have failed. MPs in Westminster voted 383 to 73 in July 2019 in favour of legalising both same-sex marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland.   This gave a 3-month window and a...

5 Tips for Picking the Perfect Wedding Planner Weddings take a lot of organising.  Honestly?  Sometimes the planning sucks. Negotiating with vendors isn’t fun.  You will not have a good time figuring out who sits where.  Finalising the running order of the speeches doesn’t make for an exciting morning’s work.   Picking the perfect wedding planner can help alleviate some of the stress and boredom that comes with planning a wedding.  Find the right one and they are absolutely worth their weight in gold. Meet in person You have to have a connection with your wedding planner .  If they don’t click with you and your partner, then it’s not going to work. This is particularly important for same-sex couples. Of course, wedding planners should be accepting and open-minded towards everyone , but, as you probably already know, there are narrow-minded people in every profession.  Fortunately, these individuals are rarely s...

Same-sex couples have a disadvantage when it comes to choosing a honeymoon destination.  Straight married couples don’t worry about their relationship offending someone or whether a simple romantic gesture like holding hands will draw abuse. Homosexuality is illegal in 70 UN member states.  According to CNN , six have imposed the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts. Okay, so it’s unlikely that places like Yemen and Saudi Arabia will be pinned to your Pinterest board but Brunei might be. In Brunei, same-sex relationships are now punishable by death. Gay sex in Tanzania can land you in prison.  What about a trip to St Petersburg or a safari in Kenya?  You might like a shopping trip to Dubai or a tour of India’s Golden Triangle.  Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos don’t have any specific laws against homosexuality, but they’re generally very intolerant to LGBTQ travellers. Of course, plenty of LGBTQ travellers will go to these places and exper...

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...