In six days' time, Neil Fletcher and John Stewart will become the first gay couple in the UK to marry. Over the next few days, we will follow the build-up to the event

Councillor Neil Fletcher and his partner and colleague John Stewart have been together 12 years, and are to hold their civil partnership ceremony - an occasion they firmly regard as their wedding - at 10am on Tuesday.

We meet in John's neon-lit office in the Town House, Aberdeen City Council's headquarters, a setting more commonly for questions of a political rather than personal nature. For John, the deputy convener of the education and leisure committee, and Neil, convener of the resources committee, December 20 is significant in both senses.

John, 33, friendly, witty and never short of a quick riposte, and Neil, 41, warm and upbeat, spark off one another throughout our chat which takes place first in the council's main chamber and then in the quadrangle of Marischal College.

"Do you want to know his bad habits?" asks Neil, grinning conspiratorially as we walk into the wood-pannelled debating chamber.

"He snores, " John says from remarkably far across the room.

They explain that they first met at Aberdeen University. They started seeing each other in November 1993: Neil, an accountant by training who grew up in Stoke-onTrent, attended a Liberal Democrat meeting at which John, from Kilmarnock, who studied church history and politics, was also present. Neil gave John a lift home afterwards and invited him to come round to watch the ScotlandItaly football match a few days later, on November 18. Scotland drew with Italy, 0-0, and Neil and John started going out. As Neil says, "not a bad result".

Their first date took place the next day at the Wild Boar on Little Belmont Street.

The couple moved in together about six months later. There was no proposal as such - "unfortunately the law was about 11 years behind us so we couldn't do it like that, " says Neil - but they did pledge to stay together 18 months into their relationship.

"We'd had discussions about whether it was for good and I said to John 'I'm ready when you're ready', " says Neil. "And then John came home one day with two rings."

They will use the same rings for the wedding ceremony, but are getting them cleaned and engraved.

The fact that they have been wearing commitment rings for years symbolises the fact that in certain respects they are already like a married couple. As Neil says, taking joint ownership of Neil's house was a very big step. They are already into double figures in terms of their anniversaries and had a big party to celebrate their tenth. They shake their heads emphatically when asked if they have encountered any prejudice when planning their wedding. There has been no hassle: no refusals to co-operate, no cold shoudering, just an eagerness to engage with this - potentially very profitable - new market.

Both men have always harboured a desire to tie the knot. Once the civil partnership legislation was passed, John did not have to spend any time considering the location for his.

"I always had my heart set on a big wedding, " he says, "and when I saw King's College Chapel [part of the Old Aberdeen university campus] I had my heart set on a big wedding there."

They will nip out to sign the official papers at the point when marrying couples go into the vestry to sign the marriage registry as it is not possible as yet for gay couples to have a civil wedding in church.

For Neil, the location was not crucial. "I want my friends and my family about me, that's the important bit." Both sets of parents and a total of 151 relatives and friends will be there for the ceremony and lunchtime champagne reception immediately afterwards. More than 300 guests will attend the Beach Ballroom celebrations in the evening.

As with many couples, one half of the partnership - John - has taken on the role of organiser: "I've been organising it and telling him what's happening, " he says wryly.

Neil, a non-church-going Methodist, had only a few stipulations. "I've set out my requirements, " he says. "I want a church and I want a Wesleyan hymn and I don't want to spend too much on the cake."

As for the honeymoon, that will be in Australia. They are going in January so they can still enjoy Aberdeen's Hogmanay celebrations, which they have both been closely involved in organising.

For now, though, they are focused on next Tuesday. They have chosen to hold their civil partnership ceremony at 10am on the first day it is possible to do so. Because of a clerical error by the Scottish Registrar General, this will be one day before the rest of the UK. "Finally, the law has caught up with the reality that same-sex couples do live in long-term relationships and we wanted to have it done on the first possible day, " says Neil. "We've waited long enough."