{"id":28571,"date":"2026-07-17T16:15:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/?p=28571"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:15:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:15:42","slug":"major-consultation-into-weddings-legislation-welcomed-by-ou-research-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/business-law\/law\/major-consultation-into-weddings-legislation-welcomed-by-ou-research-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Major consultation into weddings legislation welcomed by OU research lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Open University Law School researcher has welcomed a public Government consultation<\/a>, opened yesterday (16 July), which could see some of the biggest changes to weddings law in England and Wales for almost 200 years.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Pywell, Professor Emerita of Law and Social Justice, conducted research including surveys of couples, registrars and celebrants. This work is extensively cited in the Law Commission\u2019s 2022 report, Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Most of the Commission\u2019s 57 recommendations for reform are adopted in the Department of Justice consultation, which is open for 10 weeks until 24 September.<\/p>\n

Stephanie\u2019s work showed that ceremony laws are no longer \u201cfit for purpose in our modern multi-cultural society\u201d and need changing so that couples can have \u201cmore meaningful\u201d weddings in the future.<\/p>\n

Research uncovered variation over vows in ceremonies<\/h2>\n

Today\u2019s announcement confirms that the new legal framework will focus on who conducts the ceremony, rather than where it takes place. This replaces the \u201cbuildings-based\u201d law established in 1836.<\/p>\n

Couples must currently opt for either a religious marriage service or a registrar-led civil ceremony that cannot include anything \u201creligious in nature\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stephanie and fellow researcher Professor Rebecca Probert, from the University of Exeter, found that some couples who tie the knot in civil ceremonies are allowed to use traditional Anglican vows such as \u201cto have and to hold\u2026to love and to cherish\u2026\u201d while others are not.<\/p>\n

At present independent and Humanist celebrants can conduct bespoke ceremonies that can blend civil and religious elements. These have no legal effect, so couples must also participate in a religious or civil ceremony in order to be married in the eyes of the law.<\/p>\n

Consultation suggests new categories of wedding officiants<\/h2>\n

The consultation proposes allowing religious music, readings and rituals to be included in civil ceremonies. This would make them meaningful to both spouses, even if they are of different faiths.<\/p>\n

The Government plans to establish two new categories of wedding officiants: independent officiants, and those nominated by non-religious belief organisations.<\/p>\n

These officiants would have to show that they were \u201cfit and proper\u201d persons with no conflicts of interest. They would be able to approve any \u201csafe and dignified\u201d location for a wedding, and their duties would include ensuring that the couple consented to marry and that the formal legal requirements of the ceremony were met.<\/p>\n

The consultation includes a \u201cdignity framework\u201d designed to uphold the \u201cdignity and significance\u201d of marriage as a lifelong commitment. It also seeks respondents\u2019 views on how best to protect individuals from \u201cforced, predatory and sham\u201d marriages.<\/p>\n

Nothing in the consultation would affect the ability of the Anglican Church to conduct ceremonies according to its own traditions.<\/p>\n

Speaking of today\u2019s Government consultation Stephanie said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m delighted that my research into weddings and celebrants seems likely to contribute to the reform of laws that aren\u2019t fit for purpose in our modern multi-cultural society. I hope the consultation will lead to new laws that mean that more couples can have wedding ceremonies that are affordable and meaningful to them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Open University Law School researcher has welcomed a public Government consultation, opened yesterday (16 July), which could see some of the biggest changes to weddings law in England and Wales for almost 200 years. Stephanie Pywell, Professor Emerita of Law and Social Justice, conducted research including surveys of couples, registrars and celebrants. This work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2695,1525,1640,2398],"class_list":["post-28571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law","tag-marriage-vows","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home","tag-weddings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28571"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28575,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28571\/revisions\/28575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}