In July 2022 the Law Commission submitted its long-awaited report on Wedding Law Reform. We review the key changes and what it can mean for celebrants in the future and their clients, as well as asking, is it time to celebrate just yet?
Humanists Vs Independents
Currently, Government is still to decide if Independent Celebrants will be given permission to conduct legal marriages, but in this blog, I am going to assume that they will.
Celebrants will now fall into two very distinct categories – Humanist and Independent.
Humanists are categorised as a belief organisation as they do not believe in a divine being and accept a more scientific evidence-based system – as per the Humanist UK website. This will mean that the Humanist Organisation will be responsible for training and validating their members in order to meet criteria set out by the General Registry Office (G.R.O) and therefore conduct legal marriages, as they are permitted to do so already in other parts of the U.K such as Scotland.
For Independents, like myself, we would need to nominate ourselves and be trained by the GRO to conduct Civil weddings. This may mean that there is some prescribed contracting language that needs to be included in the ceremony and as of this time we don’t know how prescriptive that may be apart from the couple to “take each other as spouses”.
Where a couple wants to include religion in their wedding led by an Independent Celebrant, it must be made clear by the celebrant that they are conducting a civil wedding or that they are a civil celebrant, and it is not a belief led wedding.
Officiant Not Venue
The great news for couples and potential venues is that now the responsibility will be on the Officiant and not the venue in terms of licensed locations, as it currently is. This will mean that people who are trying to keep their costs low can do so more easily, and dry hire spaces will be able to hold legal weddings, as will back gardens, woodlands, fields, farms, pubs etc
This means, legal weddings can take place in any location, as long as it is “Safe and Dignified”. There is some legal challenge around this depending on what Government’s recommendations are in the forthcoming Bill, for instance liability around safety and what does “Dignified” really mean?
So, if you wanted to be legally married in your own back garden then you can absolutely do that. Outdoor weddings would be permissible and any venue that wanted to hire a space to conduct a wedding in would be permitted to do so (if the officiant deemed it met the safe and dignified criteria) and would not have to jump through the current hoops that licensing requires.
There may still be some restrictions in public places that will affect these plans however, such as right of access, alcohol licensing and noise – if in doubt check with the landowner.
Universal for all weddings
The key reason that the law needed to be reformed was because it was discriminatory, as proven in a court of law when the Humanists brought a case claiming that couples had been discriminated against as they weren’t able to have Humanist weddings.
This was also the case for anyone wanting to get married in a location that was not licensed or didn’t feel that that a registry office wedding was their style and were not religious or were maybe a multi faith couple – in these cases, couples would have a ceremony akin to their preferences with a celebrant but still had to have it legalised with the registry office and therefore were penalised financially and had to in effect, have two wedding dates. Under the new proposals these circumstances are no longer problematic in the eyes of the law and couples of all denominations, sexuality and belief can have the same rights as everyone else – Hoorah!!
Religious weddings that don’t have fixed places of worship can now be conducted in places that are meaningful to the couple. If you have a Mandap built in a country house for an Indian wedding that previously had to have a civil ceremony after to make it legal, under the new recommendations, you can engage a trained celebrant or faith leader to complete a religious wedding that will be recognised in the eyes of the law.
What does the process look like in the future?
As per the picture, a lot of the focus will be around gaining consent to marry from the couple, as we still have a right and responsibility to protect people from forced or sham marriages and ensure that both parties have the capacity to consent to the marriage. Once consent has been expressed in front of witnesses they can sign the schedule, which becomes the legal document.
The wedding can then be conducted anywhere, anyhow, reflecting beliefs or not and including cultural elements, where required as long as the officiant, “upholds the dignity and significance of the marriage” and some contracting words are included.
What Next?
Government is required to make an interim response within six months (January 2023)
With final recommendations and likely a draft Bill within one year (July 2023) so it could mean that depending on training provision by the GRO and belief organisations, legal weddings under the new reforms will be able to take place as soon as next summer.
However, there are still some questions to be answered:
Q: Are Humanists are allowed to include any religious content in their ceremony at all given they fall under the belief-based criteria because they do not believe in a divine being?
Q: Safe (criteria to be met and who is liable) and Dignified (subjective term – how is this measured?) locations. Clarity needed on the criteria.
Q: “Dignity and significance” of a marriage also needs a legal test and or definition so we can be sure a ceremony remains legal.
My feeling is that this report really does offer an opportunity for all weddings to be made equal, for all couples to have the same rights as everyone else and for there to be much more freedom of choice and therefore less opportunity for people to have to pay twice and have double wedding dates. Therefore, it should be recognised and embraced as the saviour of our right to marry in ways that are meaningful to us.
My hesitation to celebrate is because I want to hear, loud and clear, that I will be afforded the same rights as Humanist celebrants to conduct legally binding ceremonies, that there will be a clear distinction between what we can offer our clients and that Independents will be given the same opportunity to receive the training required as council officials and Humanists, so that our livelihoods are not impacted.
Watch this space…….
