Elton John and his longtime partner David Furnish will celebrate Christmas as a married couple.

As previously reported, the duo was rumored to be wed on Dec. 21, nearly a decade after they became one of the first couples to take advantage of a change in U.K. law allowing for civil partnerships. Vintage Vinyl News quotes John as saying at the time, "Having our civil partnership was an incredible breakthrough for people that have campaigned for a long time -- through the '60s and the '50s in England when it was so hard to be gay and hard to be open about it. And it was a criminal act. So for this legislation to come through is joyous, and we should celebrate it. We shouldn't just say, 'Oh, well we have a civil partnership. We're not going to bother to get married.' We will get married."

Rumors suggested that John and Furnish planned a relatively modest affair, and photos from the event -- shared on John's new Instagram account -- bear that out, depicting a tastefully decorated ceremony with relatively few people in attendance. Of course, the guest list did include some of Britain's wealthiest and most famous people (including Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne), but when you're talking about a guy who used to rock a duck suit at the piano, anything less than garish glamour can come as a surprise.

John and Furnish have been together for more than 20 years, and are the proud fathers of a pair of sons, Zachary and Elijah. As you can see in the photos posted to John's Instagram, the wedding's official hashtag was #ShareTheLove -- a sentiment that we at Ultimate Classic Rock heartily applaud as we congratulate the happy couple.

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