Congratulations! You are about to celebrate the most amazing day of your life and be very busy! Hopefully these tips will help you…

1. Be organised. It’s a really special day and there’s lots to do so start planning immediately, have a spreadsheet of what needs doing when and try your best to stick to it. Venues for the ceremony and reception will need booking early, as will your photographer. Build in some extra time as some of the decisions you need to make will take a lot longer than you would ever imagine.
2. Be organised. Again, be organised. You’ve never heard anyone say, “I wish I’d been a bit less organised”, or, “I wish I’d had more to do in the last week”, have you?!
3. Ask for help. Without the traditional best man, ushers and bridesmaids it’s just you and your partner doing everything. If that’s the way you want it that’s fine but I would recommend asking for help, that’s why people have all those bridesmaids and ushers. It makes people feel really special to be asked to help so don’t be afraid to. And believe me, there’ll be plenty for everyone to do.
4. Do it your way. The great thing about Civil Partnerships, apart form the obvious, is that there’s no tradition. You can both wear what you like, you can enter the ceremony together or separately, you can not have a first dance, you can sign the register to the theme tune from Cagney & Lacey if you want to, it’s all up to you. Make it personal to you and enjoy planning it.
5. Budgets will change. Our budget tripled so be prepared. Our first budget was totally unrealistic, our second relied on us not wanting everything to be just how we wanted it to be and the budget we ended up with was the realistic one. Best to be aware that can happen so you know to either relax your budget or stick to it rigidly from the start.
6. Priorities. These are different for everyone but worth identifying early on so you know where you’ll compromise and where you won’t. Our priorities were: our guests, photography, music, food and wine. We spent more on our rings than our outfits and less on our honeymoon than on feeding our guests.
7. Formalities. Don’t forget the formal stuff. You have to give ‘Notice of Intention to form a Civil Partnership’ at your local registry office before you can tie the knot. Once you’ve done that you are free to hold your ceremony between 16 days and one year later.
8. Venues. Think about how many people you want to have before you start looking at venues otherwise it’s easy to be disappointed when you set your heart on somewhere only to discover their dining room doesn’t have space for all the people you want to invite. Or trim down your friends and family – but that’s harder.
9. Honeymoon. Have one! Don’t go back to work on the Tuesday, trust me, you’ll need a holiday. You’ll have just had the most profoundly fantastic day of your life and you’ll both want to re-live it 600 times. Then you’ll need to sleep.
10. Relax & enjoy. Most importantly of all – enjoy the day! Try not to get caught up in ‘Auntie Barbara doesn’t like the starter’ or ‘Tim and Emma can’t find the reception’. That’s for your helpers to deal with. It’s your day and it will be amazing, experience every minute and enjoy every second.

Good luck!

If you have any tips please feel free to share them.

Over the last few years, we have photographed numerous civil partnerships, with a fair mix of grooms and brides…

Our civil partnership photography service is relaxed, friendly and fun.

Our photography style leans strongly towards reportage, and we seek to capture the love, friendship and joy which you and your guests share on your special day.

We are neither camp (one extreme) nor at all uncomfortable with your and your partner’s relationship (the other) – we just seek to be an unobtrusive friend on your day and great wedding photographers!

If you just can’t get enough here, why not visit the civil partnership blog of one of our principal photographers.

Lumina’s talented Samir photographed the Walima at the Millenium Hotel on Grosvenor Square.  It was a truly glamorous setting for the wedding reception and  for guests  from Khazakstan and England who came to celebrate with the just married couple.

Yana looked stunning in her pink gown.  One of the things which we love about Walima’s is that with the late start to the reception, it means the couple can get ready a bit early and have a fun portriat session with their photographer before entering the ballroom in their grand entrance.  Salek and Yana certainly took advantage of this, so they got a really special set of photographs which captured the drama and romantic mood of their Asain wedding.

Then it was off for cake, drinks, toasts and dancing!

Last year I celebrated the most amazing day of my life – my Civil Partnership.

My partner and I decided after about a year together that we ‘knew it was right’ so we decided to make a big commitment to each other. My partner tells a different story of how it came about, something to do with me proposing seven times and her finally relenting but I prefer my version!

Being a keen organiser, I sat down with my laptop and set up a spreadsheet straightaway. It’s not terribly romantic but I would recommend it as, whatever your priorities and budget, there is a lot to think about and organise.

We began with the big things: a date, venues for the ceremony and reception, and a photographer. We knew we wanted Lumina to do our photography as their photographers seem to be able to capture people naturally yet also be really creative – and they aren’t very expensive – so we booked them early on.

It took us a long time to decide where to have our Civil Partnership; in London where we live and my partner was brought up or in Leicestershire where I was brought up.

We imagined a chic, city wedding with the ceremony at one of the top spots: Islington Town Hall, Chelsea Town Hall or Marylebone Town Hall. Islington we love because it’s in a really trendy area and both Chelsea and Marylebone are great as they have lots of different size rooms you can use depending on how many people you want to invite.

Yet, after a lot of discussion and with the pressure of the date looming, we decided to go back to my roots and have the ceremony in Oakham, Rutland and the reception in my parents’ village as it would be easier for my family.

Once that major decision was made we had to go to our local registry office in Enfield to give our ‘Notice of Intention’ with the Superintendent Registrar. For this, you have to take along proof of your identity and address, and show that you are both legally entitled to enter into a Civil Partnership. It takes less than an hour and costs around £70 per couple.

Once you’ve done that the registry office where you’re having your Civil Partnership will liaise with you about the ceremony details. It’s up to you what readings and music, if any, to have, will you enter the room together, separately or with a relative, what names will you both leave with, who will act as your witnesses, do you want to write your own vows – it’s all very flexible.

Our next big decision was what to wear. My partner is of Mauritian origin so she found this quite easy as she wanted to wear a sari. She opted for green rather than the traditional Hindu wedding colour red simply because it suits her better. My decision was harder.

While it’s liberating that after only six years in existence there aren’t any specific Civil Partnership traditions or rules to worry about, it also means there are unlimited options.

Having always wanted to wear a white suite I thought that my Civil Partnership was the perfect opportunity to do so. Yet, as time went on, I realised that for me personally, I’d feel more special in a dress – the white suit would sadly have to wait. And so my search began. Again, my assumptions were all wrong. I’d thought I’d go for something short, smart and modern – and probably quite a strong colour – but very quickly I began to understand why many brides stick to the traditional white.

Were I a six foot model I may not have worried that anyone could outdo me on my special day but as a solid 5 foot 2 I wasn’t going to take that chance! So I opted for white knowing that no one else would be wearing it and bought a beautiful long dress that still felt individual to me.

With all these major elements of our CP arranged we felt some sense of relief and achievement. Now just the invites, rings, music, food, drink, cake, decor, ceremony, hair, make-up, guest list, honeymoon and transport to arrange!

Good luck with organising your Civil Partnership and making all those decisions, I’m sure it will be the most amazing day of your life whatever you choose to do.

In a follow up post, Sally will impart her top ten tips for planning your civil partnership. Stay tuned!

PS: Head to Sally’s website to find out more about her and what she gets up as a professional writer!

After their civil ceremony they wanted to have a wedding photography session to celebrate just the two of them in a local London park, so Lumina’s Samir used this chance to capture some really gorgeous photographs of the happy couple.

Head here to view all the photos from the day.

Please contact Tuvia or Roger for the password!

Not only was it action-packed from the beginning, but also charged with emotion, with plenty of hugs and a few tears from their closest friends and family who were there to witness them tie the knot.

They started the day with a bit of pampering, with the men at Ted Baker and the ladies at Fresh Aveda.

We all went back to their flat for a quick change and a bit of champers before walking to Frederick’s, stopping en route for a few portraits in the sun.

A simple civil ceremony with family was followed by a Jewish ceremony.

Then the party kicked off!

There was plenty of dancing between courses – a great way to work off an unbelievable meal!

Ever since, we’ve known that our amazingly friendly and talented Samir (who loves his Asian wedding photography) was the perfect photographer for this creative and fun couple.

Vanisha and Amar’s engagement didn’t disappoint with the ring ceremony done to the A-Team theme music and confetti canons. Here’s a sneak peak at a few portraits from the day with much more to follow!!!

For their wedding photography, Lumina focused on natural moments so that the camera shy couple didn’t have to worry about photographs but could rest assured that the story of the day would be captured.

The talented Samir did a great job of capturing the happy day!