Councillor Philip Glanville makes history with midnight wedding

Hitched: Philip Glanville and Giles McCrary signing the marriage register at Hackney Town Hall.

A local councillor and his partner became Hackney’s first same-sex couple to convert their civil partnership to a marriage in a ceremony at the Town Hall this week.

Philip Glanville, a councillor for Hoxton West and Cabinet Member for Housing, married artist Giles McCrary just after the stroke of midnight on Wednesday in the Speaker’s Parlour.

Changes coming into effect on Wednesday 10 December mean that same-sex couples are now permitted to convert civil partnerships into marriage following the Marriage ( Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 which passed in the Summer.

Councillor Glanville, who entered into a civil partnership with Mr McCrary at Stoke Newington Town Hall in 2011, told the Hackney Citizen he was “excited” to be able to convert to a full marriage.

Speaker of Hackney Sharon Patrick and Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden were present at the wedding, along with other Hackney councillors.

Stoke Newington Councillor Louisa Thomson tweeted:

Not a dry eye in the speakers parlour pic.twitter.com/A6FLfcD0C2

— Louisa Thomson (@welovestokey) December 10, 2014

Couples wishing to convert will be able to choose between a simple process at a register office or a two-stage process, where a registrar can complete the conversion at another venue meaning the couple’s family and friends can attend.

For the first year, all couples who formed their civil partnership before March 29 (when same-sex marriage was introduced) will be able to receive a £45 fee reduction.