Flickr is filling up with pics taken at gay weddings since they were legalised in Britain. They’re not as prominent as they might be – people, annoyingly, don’t seem to use sexual orientation tags when they’re uploading wedding pics. Anyway, the thing about these pics is that they’re pretty much like heterosexual wedding pics: good, bad, indifferent, funny, cheesy, grand.
What I find moving about them, though, is the emotional freight they carry: the arbitrary stupidity of making people who are in love wait for so long to enjoy the simple pleasures of an old-fashioned wedding.
In these pics I see people who didn’t want much – a list at John Lewis, a cake, invitations, a proper do – but were, for stupid, small-minded reasons (mostly now forgotten), denied it for decades. Congratulations Jim and Greg, by the way!