Ok, so it wasn’t that big, or even that gay, though Ivan would argue I added a touch of gay by being there. It wasn’t in fact even a wedding, given that back in the day us ‘gays’ couldn’t actually get married. It was technically our civil partnership. Which to us, well it was our wedding!
My partner Ivan had been in hospital for nearly 3 weeks, after an accident with a Pony left him fighting for his life and his leg. He had just come out of the operating theatre after a 9 hour op to repair his leg, now that the infection was under control. There were only 5 days left until our wedding. The Dr’s weren’t convinced that Ivan would be well enough to be discharged in time. Ivan was determined that he would be.
Wil, our son, well he just wanted Daddy home.

You can imagine how overjoyed we were, when 3 days later, Ivan was given the all clear to come home. He had strict instructions, and a wheelchair, but he was allowed home. And best of all, we had 2 days in which to practice getting him into his suit!

The night before the wedding I had a little surprise for Ivan. No, not that. That would have been a big surprise!

I had arranged for his best mate from the army, along with his wife, to come to the wedding, unbeknown to Ivan. They arrived the night before and crept into the garden, and snuck up behind Ivan. Ivan was gobsmacked.

The next morning we were up and about early. Far from being struck down by lightening, or pelted with hailstones in retribution for daring to want to marry another man (far less have a child with said man), the skies were a wonderful blue and the sun was bright. It was going to be a good day.

It all went amazingly smoothly. We were keeping it simple. There was only us, and Wil, two great friends as witnesses, and of course our suprise guests. We got to the registry office, having managed to suitably clad ourselves in suits. Wil too looked dashing in a shirt and waist-coat. The staff were brilliant. We had forgot to tell them that Ivan was now in a wheelchair, but it was no issues at all. It was a short, but perfect service, shared with us by Wil and our good friends. It was 01st May 2010
and we were married!!

From the registry office, we made our way to the local pub. We had hired it for a few hours to share the rest of the day with our friends and family. As planned, they drifted in and out throughout the day. It was superb! We had just one dilemma. Should Ivan drink or not?! Now we know he probably shouldn’t, he’s a light-weight at the best of times, ha, let alone when he’s dosed up on meds! But sod it, you only get married once! He did drink, and he managed not to fall over once. The advantage of being pushed everywhere in a wheelchair I guess!

We wrapped up the day fairly early. Ivan had only been out of hospital 2 days. He’d performed miracles, but was shattered. The day was perfect though. It may not have been the biggest, or the gayest, or even technically a wedding, but to us it was exactly what we needed.

The year had proven to us that we would stick together, as a family, through anything.

We make a great family.

Maybe it was time to start thinking about expanding it……

(Previously published on http://www.gayswithkids.com)