Same sex elopement weddings
Same sex weddings have only been possible in England since the law was changed back in 2013. The first same sex wedding in England took place in March 2014, that’s the same year we held our first legal wedding here at Ever After. So the whole time we’ve been doing weddings here, same sex weddings have been legal.
We’ve always had an online brochure you could download and we’ve always had inclusive language on our website, talking about couples and the honeymoon cottage rather than brides and grooms and bridal suites. But it still took a while before we booked our first same sex wedding – and then finally, yay!
Even after that first booking I used to get heart breaking emails from couples asking if we did same sex weddings. Of course we did but either the website/brochure just wasn’t giving out that message despite showing real weddings of same sex couples or maybe couples were too used to not feeling welcomed. Whatever it was, I used to wonder what I could do to make us look more welcoming.
And then finally I did something that changed things. What did I do? I put a same sex couple on the front cover of the brochure. I put Gemma & Jill on that very front page. Game changer. You can see more of their gorge wedding from May 2021 here.
Maybe then same sex couples saw themselves on the front cover and thought, ‘yep that could be me’. Finally I’d found a way to say loudly enough to same sex couples, ‘we want you here.’ And since I did that, I’ve not had a single one of those heart break emails asking if we did same sex elopement weddings. Result.
Since then we’ve taken bookings for same sex elopement weddings every year and celebrate them on the website, in the brochure and on our social media.
2024/25 updated elopement brochure
And this year we’ve updated our elopement brochure for 2024/25 and I’ve put another same sex couple on the cover. This time it’s the lovely Jess & Hannah and you can see more of their elopement wedding here.
You can also download that updated brochure right here.
Real same sex elopement weddings
We love to promote our same sex elopement weddings but that’s not always possible. Why not?
Because sometimes couples ask us not to share their photos. You’ll see some real weddings over on the gallery with no faces.
Couples have different reasons for not wanting to share. They range from genuine security reasons, to family fall outs to shyness.
That’s fine, we respect any couple who doesn’t want to share their photos. They’re your pics, you have control over them. We’ll check with you what’s ok to share and what’s not.
We’re grateful to our couples who are happy to share their wedding photos, it helps us show couples who are thinking about a same sex elopement what’s possible.
You tell us
We take the lead from our couples about how they celebrate their elopement wedding with us.
You tell us whether you need two bouquets…
or one bouquet & one buttonhole 
or 2 buttonholes – your wedding, your choice.
You also tell us whether you want to get ready together like Gemma & Jill
or separately.
Whether you want to do a first look before the ceremony like Megan and Lydia
whether you’re walking in together like Rebecca & Louise
or separately like Judy & Marian
However you want your wedding is good with us.
Whether you want to shout from the roof tops like Molly & Laura
or you want to keep it more on the down low – it’s your celebration.
We’re still missing out
But there are still same sex couples we’re not attracting. Which ones? Men! We take a lot of female couples but very few male couples. Dunno what we’re missing with men but I’m gonna continue to be grateful for the women that book with us – thank you!
And we’re grateful for our last gay men couple who got married with us last year, you can see Lorenzo & Louie’s fab real elopement wedding here on the gallery.
Gay Wedding Guide
We’re listed as a wedding venue on the Gay Wedding Guide.
You can check out our listing here.
I’ve got a cute lil two bride photo shoot and film I’ll be sharing here soon so watch out for that.
You can see a detailed post on one of our last same sex elopement weddings here in December – you can see that here.
Any questions not covered by the brochure or the FAQ’s drop me a line. You’ll reach me at [email protected]
Credit shout outs:
All photos: Clare Kinchin
Flowers: Moss & Mushrooms & Flowers et al
Venue: Ever After
