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Morning

Off for a run soon, lovely day.

Great report Elspeth - that was so funny you sent them the wrong way on the beach run , the course is never accurately measured anyway, and people always do 'variations', so it just adds to the adventure .

MrsMac - enjoy a good rest after your win.

Hope everyone is making the most of the good weather.

Screamapillar - I'm going to one on Thursday - so I guess I will find out . But as my pals are skint, I guess they won't be going for the cakes, dresses etc . In fact we will be lucky if we get a can of Tennants lager and a Scotch egg for the after ceremony party .

Intermanaut wrote (see)

@Tigerspaw - you're not comparing like-for-like there.  It'd be easy to do a traditional marriage for less than £300, and equally easy to do a civil partnership for £50,000.

True - I guess you can have Bridezillas whether gay or straight - and thats just he blokes .

The straight wedding industry is huge though, its only a matter of time before they get their claws into civil partnerships. It depends how strong you are at resisting it, and parental pressure and expectation has a big part to play. I think as soon as you mention Church, everyone expects the full mega bucks deal.

Average cost of traditional marriage £20K !

Actual cost of civil partnership documents and basic ceremony £125 .

(Not that I'm tight, but really, what are people paying all that money for?....)

I agree it should be equality for all.

The church (or religion generally), IMO, should have no say or influence in how a country is governed, else at the extreme end, you get the Taliban, and at the more 'softer' end you get some of the bigoted views we see expressed in this country.

The problem is the use of the term 'marriage' - whether historically correct or not, it has taken on this church formulae, white wedding dresses, vows in front of God, blah de blah, it gives the church power over peoples lives. How many of us know people who have had church weddings because they want the setting and the ceremony 'the photos look nice' etc - lots of my friends who never set foot in church, all had 'traditional' weddings and hocked themselves into debt for years in order to keep their wider familys happy.

This is why I think it is fair for 'Civil Partnership' to be open to all - then you don't even have to deal with the word 'marriage' and the churches appropriation of it - it is a legal contract pure and simple.