Elton and David go social for their gay marriage

IT WAS never likely to be a simple family affair when Sir Elton John married David Furnish, but the singer and his civil partner surpassed themselves yesterday by inviting the world.

Rather than waiting weeks for the traditional album, the couple took to a social network, posting their wedding photographs and comments as they went.

The star-studded ceremony yesterday came exactly nine years to the day they became civil partners.

The couple took advantage of a change in laws introduced earlier this month allowing same sex couples to convert civil partnerships into marriages and posted a series of images from their big day on the photo sharing website Instagram to mark the occasion.

Using the hashtag Sharethelove, they also encouraged their celebrity friends to post photographs of the occasion, which comedian Jimmy Carr and actress Liz Hurley did.

The ceremony took place at the home they share with their sons Zachary, three, and Elijah, 23 months, in Woodside, Old Windsor, Berkshire.

Guests who attended included actor Hugh Grant, journalist Jane Moore, David and Victoria Beckham and their children, comedian David Walliams and his model wife Lara Stone, singer Lulu, singer Ed Sheeran and newspaper owner Evgeny Lebedev.

John kicked things off by opening an Instagram account, making his first post a picture of the couple’s wedding invitation. The red rose-printed invitation read: ‘‘Sir Elton John and David Furnish request the pleasure of your company to celebrate their wedding on Sunday the 21st of December.’’

He followed this with a series of other images including one of two pairs of shoes by an open fire with the caption: ‘‘Our little ring bearers are fast asleep and their shoes are polished and ready for tomorrow’s celebration.’’ It is understood the couple’s sons were their ring bearers.

During the day more pictures streamed in including one of a garden from an open window with the message, ‘‘Nice day for a wedding’’, and one of the couple signing their marriage document.

‘‘That’s the legal bit done. Now on to the ceremony,’’ wrote John, dressed in a black suit, shirt and spectacles, while Furnish wore a pink open-necked shirt and black suit.

The couple then changed into white shirts and black suits with red rose buttonholes for the ceremony and John wore sunglasses. In another picture, with both of them sat on chairs in front of a female registrar, Furnish appeared to be wiping tears from his eyes.