Ceremony as gay fathers tie knot

Tony Barlow and Barrie Drewitt are surrogate parents

The UK's first same sex surrogate parents celebrated a civil partnership ceremony in Essex on Saturday.

Barrie Drewitt and Tony Barlow tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at Hylands House and country park in Chelmsford.

More than 250 friends and family attended, including both surrogate women who gave birth to the couple's three children.

The men became the first gay couple to establish legal parental rights on the birth certificates of the twins.

Tracie McCune, 39, egg donor for all three children - six-year-old twins Saffron and Aspen and three-year-old Orlando - also attended.

Hospital donations

The couple hired the fairy pumpkin coach and six white horses used by glamour model Jordan for her wedding to singer Peter Andre.

Mr Drewitt said: "We are finally doing something that we have always wanted to do.

"To be able to now legally do it in front of our friends and family and to have our children at our sides is just absolutely fantastic."

The couple left the UK with their family in 2003 to live in Alicante, Spain, but returned earlier this year after Mr Barlow was diagnosed with throat cancer.

He has been undergoing chemotherapy and external radiotherapy.

The couple asked guests to make donations to the hospital where Mr Barlow was treated instead of buying presents.