Gay Weddings at the Old Manor

Your place to tie the knot

Since being written in law in 2014, many LGBT couples have celebrated their love and commitment to each other by tying the knot in a legally binding marriage at The Old Manor Hotel.

When it comes to their wedding day, same-sex couples have a huge amount of creative freedom, having already broken free of the usual gender-based roles and conventions associated with same-sex ceremonies, it's your opportunity to make your day all about you!

It doesn't matter if you’re having a same-sex wedding, civil ceremony, or humanist ceremony there are key moments in any LGBT wedding and where you can change the roles to suit your own preferences. We appreciate this could be quite a difficult topic so we've provided some suggestions. If you have any doubts our wedding planner is always on hand to answer any questions.

One step at a time:

The Proposal

Traditionally, the first stage on the road to your wedding day is the proposal, but not before the groom has asked the bride's father to do so. In the case of same-sex marriage, there are no hard and fast rules, it also raises the quandary of who will be the one to pop the question. At the end of the day, it's you as a couple who need to decide but from experience, we've found it's down to one half of the couple taking the initiative and going for it!

What about the Stag and Hen Doos?

Because many same-sex couples have a shared social circle, separate nights out for their final night of freedom is being ditched in favour of a joint event with friends or doing larger group activities like a week’s holiday in a big rented house. Sten/hag doos is a popular gender-inclusive name given to these events that reflects the fact you’ll probably have a mixed gender group.

Making an Entrance

Walking down the aisle is such an integral part of any wedding so many same-sex couples retain this tradition, but with a twist! Making a grand entrance is not something that should be limited to just one half of a couple, so some couples enter together, arm in arm. Dads are still the popular choice for lesbian couples to walk them down the aisle and mums for gay couples, it's a great way of parents giving their blessing to the marriage in a happy, loving gesture.

Who's in the Wedding Party?

Like everything else in an LGBT wedding, gender isn't a factor when choosing the best men or maids of honour. All sorts of people can be selected to fill these special roles; friends, sisters, brothers, ex-wives, ex-husbands - there's no limit on how far couples can stray from the traditional wedding party roll call.

Speeches are another area of the wedding where you don’t need to be bogged down by rules, the only piece of advice to follow is to keep the toasts short and preferably hilarious!

ENQUIRE