To apply to be The Hitch’s Couple of the Week email TheHitch@thetimes.co.uk

Mr Simon Harris, 39, and Mr Paul Dack, 38, became the Harris-Dacks by deed poll in November 2002. In 2005, the pair became civil partners, an event celebrated with a pagan handfasting ceremony performed by a Druid friend, on a day memorable for its noise and laughter. Both men grew up in “different grim sink estates” in Newport, South Wales and - after a good deal of moving around - have settled in the South Wales Valleys in “a typical Welsh terrace”. The pair met two decades ago, but did not become an item until 2000 when Simon returned from living in Spain. Both the Harris-Dacks work as nurses. They honeymooned in New York and Las Vegas, and are looking forward to becoming foster parents.

How did you meet?

P: “We first met twenty years ago at a friend's house in the late Eighties. There was a definite something between us, but I was very shy and naïve.”

S: “And I was in a relationship. We were friends for a while. There might have been a relationship, but my itchy feet led me to Swansea, London and Spain over the next ten or so years, and we lost contact for a while.”

P: “We met up again on his return in 2000. This was when our relationship as a couple began. I had always held a torch for Simon and Si realised that the love of his life had been at home all this time.”

What were your first impressions? Instant infatuation or sexual-tension spiced antipathy?

S: “I was attracted to Paul's sense of humour, gentle nature and killer cheekbones.”

P: “I was attracted to Simon's apparent savoir faire. Plus he too had a decent set of cheekbones. We were both young and relatively poor: the cheekbones have now been buried under 20 years of better living.”

How would you describe your romantic history? In what ways does this relationship buck the trend?

P: “The relationship suffered a hiatus when Simon moved away. My subsequent relationships were short-lived and unhappy. Si's relationships were happier and he still remains friends with past partners who attended our civil partnership.”

S: “With hindsight, we never stopped thinking about each other despite the distances and gaps in communication. When we met up again after ten years, we both new that we wouldn't be going anywhere again without each other.”

Details please: who asked whom?

P: “No one popped the question. It was just assumed that we would be married in whatever way we could, whether enabled by the state or not.”

S: “Even before the law allowed us a partnership, we exchanged rings and changed our names by deed poll, tacking Paul's Dack onto my Harris.”

Talk us through the big day.

P: “We became civil partners in 2005. We had a pagan handfasting in the house, officiated by a druid friend of ours, followed by a register office ceremony in Cardiff. All the family came and we exchanged our own choice of vows.”

S: “As it was a family celebration, we had the reception back at the house. We did the catering ourselves, and a friend made an enormous chocolate wedding cake. The reception was noisy and fun, with parents, grandparents, friends, siblings, nephews and nieces talking, singing and dancing. We both remember the day as being full of laughter.”

What look did each of you go for - Barbie does bridal or decorous restraint?

S: “We both splashed out on Ozwald Boateng suits."

Who delivered speeches and what anecdotes were you intent on censoring?

P: “The speeches were kept short. It's nigh on impossible for either of our families to be quiet long enough to listen to a speech of any length. Mostly we reiterated our love for, and commitment to each other and thanked our family and friends for their attendance.”

Who will wear the trousers in this partnership?

S: “Who will wear the trousers? What a daft question! For a start we're both blokes, so we mostly tend to wear trousers. Also, if someone ‘wore the trousers’ in the sense of the question, it wouldn't be much of a partnership, would it?”

What motto would best describe your union?

S&P: “This is us. It works. We're going with it.”

How long do you give yourselves? a) Forever and a day? b) A bog-standard 11.6 years? c) A Britney-esque 55 hours?

P: “We're in this for the long haul. We both do our best to capitalise on our qualities and not succumb to our weaknesses. Hopefully we complement each other to the benefit of the relationship.”

S: “Family is very important to us, and both clans get on well. The house is full of family photographs and memorabilia. And we've recently been approved as foster parents. We hope to give the child who comes to us a sense of belonging and self-worth.”