"Pride Brides" set to marry at this year's celebration

Thursday 01 August 2024

A couple are set to get married during this year's Channel Islands Pride event in what is believed to be a world first.

CI Pride Director and wedding celebrant Ellie Jones says it will be a landmark occasion for the couple and their thousands of guests.

“I am super honoured to be officiating what we believe to be the first ever legal wedding on a Pride stage," said Ms Jones.

"The two people getting married used to attend the LGBTQ+ young group many years ago and they asked if I would marry them, which I was very honoured to be asked to do.

"I threw the suggestion out there that they could get married at Pride, and they said 'YES!'

"Our Pride Brides are definitely going to have one heck of a wedding party!”

Pictured: A previous CI Pride event in Guernsey. (Paul Chambers)

An estimated 8,000 people attended CI Pride when it was last held in Guernsey in 2022.

Ms Jones is expecting a similar turn out this time round, meaning the betrothed couple could have the largest wedding celebration in Guernsey's history based on the number of people attending.

The big moment will happen on the stage at Market Square after the Pride parade has taken place.

Ms Jones said: "One of the biggest things that has changed since we first had CI Pride is the fact that same sex marriage [was legalised] in that first year we had Pride, so the link to be able to do that on the Pride stage now is awesome."

"We think it's a world first," she explained.

"We have unusual marriage laws in Guernsey which means people can get married anywhere and any time, they're not restricted to a building.

"It was really restrictive, particularly for LGBTQ people because we can't get married in churches as general rule, so it really restricted places we could get married to the Greffe and St James, and then only on weekdays because the Greffier only works on a weekday.

"[The States] changed the marriage laws about two years ago and opened it up to wedding celebrants to actually do the legal part of it, rather than just the ceremonial part of it. 

"If anyone wants to research it and prove us wrong, that would be great – but the quick searches we've done suggest that when people say they've got married at Pride we know that their laws don't allow that to happen so it will have been a blessing during the Pride parade, so we believe it is a world first!"