I was delighted when Michael and Gorden contacted me to provide Civil Partnership photography at Southwark Register Office in order to commemorate this special day for them. Not only do I not get the opportunity to photograph Civil Partnerships as often as I would like, I also really rather enjoy working at Southwark Register Office.
Southwark Register Office doesn’t necessarily sit in the most picturesque location, but the ceremony room is lovely and bright, with lots of lovely daylight brightening up the couple during the ceremony. That’s assuming you have a ceremony to photograph!
Kiwis Michael and Gorden have been together for 25 years, and as Soutwark locals chose this location to make their commitment to each other in front of 2 incredibly close friends, who had both known the couple for nearly as long as they had known each other.
The usual turn of events for a Civil Partnership Ceremony is that the two participants are invited into a private pre-ceremony chat with the registrars, after which it is usual to invite the witnesses, guests (if there are any) and yours truly into the ceremony room to take part in the ceremony and witness the signing of the register. So imagine our surprise, when the witnesses and I were finally invited into the ceremony room, only to find that the registrar had already conducted the ceremony without any of us! Well, except for Michael and Gorden that is. All that was left to do was to sign the paperwork.
So that’s what happened- which didn’t leave much for me to photograph! It’s a good job that the lovely Lucas Gardens, which are virtually next door, were in full Spring bloom, and so at least I was able to capture some lovely portraits for the guys. After this, they and their witnesses went on to a celebratory lunch at the amazing Fera restaurant in Claridges which serves some truly amazing food. I was most jealous! 🙂
