Philippa Stevenson: Mountain of love hails new unions

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It's the quiet season in the wedding business.

Naturally enough, only 14 per cent of those who tie the knot each year choose to do so in the winter months of June, July and August.

So wedding planners, those who run function centres, celebrants, photographers, caterers - the loving couple's vast support crew - have a bit of time ponder whether the Civil Union Bill, should it be passed in Parliament today, will make much difference to their business.

Rae Mellsop, manager of the popular Waikato wedding venue, Woodlands Historic Gardens and Function Centre, believes couples seeking an alternative to marriage are not holding their breath for the bill to be passed.

The centre at Gordonton, north of Hamilton, has bookings for weddings up to 2008 but none so far for celebrations of civil unions.

"As times goes by they may occur but it's early days yet," she says.

Down the road at another Gordonton function venue, Willow Glen Gardens, new owner Keith King has more than one reason to hope the bill will pass. It could be good for business for the gay owner and his partner Hilton Topia, who bought the centre only six weeks ago.

But as well, King says, civil unions offer "a new way to celebrate relationships".

"Some people find marriage unhelpful and an alternative is quite useful."

King, an ordained Anglican priest, already offers alternatives in another business, Looking Beyond, which creates "ceremonies and rituals for the many changing seasons and passages of human living".

"There is a broadening of the understanding of all kinds of relationships and we should be celebrating that because it is a real bonus for society," he says.

He, too, has had no specific inquiries for civil union celebrations "but it is bound to happen".

He and Topia, who have been together for six years, anticipate having a civil union as a "commitment ceremony".

In Te Aroha, the wedding business is undergoing a makeover with the help of economic development co-ordinator Wanda Brittain, of Target Te Aroha.

Identifying and encouraging a wedding industry cluster seems logical for a town called "love". A brochure and website are soon to be launched to promote it as a destination for weddings under the theme "Te Aroha - the mountain of love".

Local photographers, celebrants, florists, accommodation and venue hosts, hairdressers, and caterers saw the value of working together in "marriage marketing", says Brittain, who is also a celebrant and co-founded Looking Beyond with King.

She's not certain what effect civil unions might have on the wedding industry but believes people will still want to celebrate.

People like to mark all sorts of occasions - Brittain has officiated at divorce ceremonies.

She says the bill is needed for those who don't make private legal arrangements and cites the case of an elderly gay man who lost everything when his partner of 30 years died. With no legal claim on the house they had shared, he was kicked out by his partner's family.

Back in 1985, Te Aroha featured in a worldwide gay travel guide, Spartacus 85, which mentioned the town's mineral water baths and what were said to be "specific men-only times" when bathing costumes were not permitted.

The accuracy of the guide, which also named Kawerau, Taradale and Marton as small town gay meccas, was widely disputed and Brittain is as bemused by Te Aroha's claim to gay fame as locals were 19 years ago.

Any new kind of domestic union will surely mean more business for the wedding industry wherever and for whomever it sets up office.

Last year it boomed when 21,420 marriages were registered - the highest number recorded in 12 years.

More than one in three marriages involved the remarriage of one or both partners.

Second-time-rounders are just some of the couples who have increased Woodlands' business by 450 per cent in the past 10 years, says Mellsop.

The weddings range from the opulent, with guests helicoptered in for five-course dinners, to finger-food afternoon teas catered by someone's aunty. But one thing remains the same - people like to make commitments to each other.

* Email Philippa Stevenson