Civil partnerships

[RuthW]

Has anyone chosen a civil partnership instead of a marriage? If so, why did you choose that?

Thanks.

Yes, we did. We wanted our relationship to be recognised in law but didn't want a wedding. It was cheap, quick, fuss free and suited us perfectly.

We did. I’d never been keen on getting married. If always found it to be a bit archaic and gendered. And steeped in the history of women being property etc. I know that you can have different versions of marriages now but It had never appealed to me.

However after having a child it made sense for us (in terms of inheritance and other legal stuff)to be legally bound! During this time heterosexual couples were given the right to get civilly partnered and we followed the news story and felt like it could work for us. A civil partnership allowed us to feel like we’d managed to do the necessary legal stuff without buying into a tradition we had both been critical of.

Ultimately maybe it’s just semantics and it’s a bit mad we have two different versions coupling in the UK, we should probably just have one! However I love being a partner and not a ‘wife’. Pointlessly gendered things piss me off. So having a gender neutral title like partner pleases me and I like the connotations of the word.

I didn’t change my name. We had a very simple ceremony. It worked for us.

I was going to but in the end I've booked a wedding instead. A registry office room that holds 6 people only, then we're going for a meal. Think DP preferred wedding and I read CP not recognised in some countries, but I don't know why this influenced me as doubt we'll be travelling to them! Now we've had some wording sent through from the registrar Ive realised I don't like being referred to as 'the bride' ( im 60 and it makes me feel like Miss Haversham) so CP might have been better but there wasn't much in it for me.