John, best known for his many hits including "Rocket Man" and "Candle in the Wind" which he sang at Princess Diana's funeral, will tie the knot with Furnish at Windsor's Guildhall, Berkshire, in what will be one of England's first civil partnerships.

The pair are one of hundreds of same-sex couples to take advantage of new laws allowing gay civil partnerships in the UK, bringing many of the legal protections available to married heterosexuals.

In an interview in Attitude magazine in November John, 58, said the ceremony would be a small, private affair involving only himself and Furnish and their parents acting as witnesses.

"Out of respect for their (our parents') support, we want to just keep it small -- not to make a ballyhoo of the ceremony," he told the gay lifestyle magazine.

TV presenter Paul O'Grady, who compered the event, earlier said: "We're going to tie them to a lamppost, cover them with shaving foam -- it's an old-fashioned stag do."

Deliveries of sushi and presents arrived at the main entrance to the nightclub, once a strip club known as Raymond's Revue Bar, as the celebrities partied on.

The couple had asked revelers to give donations to AIDS charities in lieu of gifts but singer Cilla Black playfully promised to ignore the instructions.

John, who declared his bisexuality in 1976, married Renate Blauel in 1984, divorcing her four years later. He has lived with Furnish, 43, since the early 1990s.

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