by Stephanie Pywell, Professor of Law and Social Justice at The Open University Law School
The last 20 years have seen a very significant increase in the number of couples who opt to have celebrant-led wedding-style ceremonies that have no legal effect. This post outlines some of the findings from my empirical research into weddings and related ceremonies, including evidence that traditional forms of wedding ceremony no longer meet couples’ needs.
The main statute governing weddings in England and Wales is the Marriage Act 1949, which states that marriages must be solemnised in one of five ways: in Anglican churches or registered places of worship for all other religions, according to Jewish or Quaker usages, or on civil premises (register offices or, since 1995, ‘approved premises’). This gives rise to a religious/secular dichotomy: officiants at weddings on religious premises are likely to follow a specified liturgy or form, while Superintendent Registrars conducting ceremonies on civil premises may not include any material that is ‘religious in nature’. Leaving aside the fact that my 2017 survey of registration officers found that there is no consensus as to what ‘religious in nature’ means, there is no obviously appropriate form of wedding ceremony for couples whose religious or other beliefs do not coincide.
And, of course, there are some couples who cannot, for a range of reasons, marry in a religious ceremony that reflects their faith. Legislation expressly prohibits the Church of England and the Church in Wales from conducting same-sex weddings, and other religious groups must opt into, rather than out of, solemnising marriages for such couples. Similarly, some religious groups’ officiants might decline to marry people who are divorced or transgender. For many couples, therefore, a religious wedding ceremony is unavailable.
These gaps in provision are, increasingly, being filled by ‘wedding celebrants’, who conduct what the Court of Appeal has termed ‘non-qualifying ceremonies’. Of the 287 respondents to my 2020 survey of independent wedding celebrants, which was supported by the Wedding Celebrancy Commission, two had started to practise in 2003, with single-figure numbers starting each year until 2011, and over half – 154 – having started in 2017–2019. The number of ceremonies conducted by respondents had risen from around 1,100 in 2015 to around 2,800 in 2019, and my best estimate is that the total number of ceremonies conducted by celebrants in England and Wales was around 9,500 in 2019.
Between 80 and 95% of couples who chose ceremonies led by respondents were either already married to one another at the time of the ceremony, or intended to marry after it. After conducting a pilot study, I offered respondents a choice of 18 reasons why couples had opted for celebrant-led ceremonies. The most popular option, thought to have applied to about 1,400 couples, was a desire for a ‘person-centred ceremony that reflected their beliefs, personalities and lifestyles’.
It is notable that all the elements of ‘beliefs, personalities and lifestyles’ are plural because, in today’s multi-cultural society, there are many couples where the partners have different beliefs. Anecdotally, a registrar told me in 2018 that many couples who have civil wedding ceremonies would ‘like to include the Lord’s Prayer – just in case’, and lamented the fact that the law prohibits this.
Independent celebrants, on the other hand, can offer any blend of religious, spiritual, cultural or themed elements that the couple request. One independent celebrant described a ceremony involving a Catholic prayer, rituals including presenting flowers to a statue of the Virgin Mary, a lasso, a Mexican exchange of coins, and drinking alcohol during the ceremony – the drink was ‘Mexican and also formed part of their love story, as they were drinking this when they met’. A Jewish–French ceremony had incorporated ‘sharing a cup of wine, seven blessings, smashing of the glass and the signing of a certificate by the many “temoins” (French groomsmen)’. Another respondent had conducted ‘two fusion weddings combining atheism (bride) and Jewish traditions (groom) incl circling, Hebrew prayer and jumping on the glass’. One respondent had conducted a Hindu-inspired wedding – for which ‘a Mandap had been built and the ceremony content contained all the elements of a traditional Hindu wedding, interspersed with explanations for those attending not of the Hindu faith’ – in a marquee, following their wedding in the local Anglican church. An event conducted jointly by a celebrant and a Hindu priest had taken place at a hotel: ‘This ceremony had lots of rituals in line with Hindu faith and traditions. I then did a version of the British vows, ring blessing and ring exchange.’
In 2020, the Law Commission issued a Consultation Paper including provisional proposals to regulate wedding officiants. This framework could potentially enable the Government to allow independent wedding celebrants to apply to be authorised to officiate at legally binding weddings. The Commission is due to publish its recommendations this summer.
The consequences, if any, remain to be seen, but it is clear that the current law governing weddings does not reflect the needs of many members of the society it is designed to serve.
Any thoughts?