Can you get married anywhere?!

The change you refer to was about being able to get married anywhere outside at an approved venue. Previously an outdoor ceremony had to take place under a permanent structure, like a bandstand, but now that's not required. The site still has to be an approved premise licensed to hold ceremonies.

So unfortunately you can't legally get married in your parents garden. However, you could do the legal side at a registry office for £40 and then have a ceremony in their garden led by a loved one. You could then personalise it however you like and it's cheaper than getting a registrar to marry you at an approved venue.

Yes Hayley is spot on. It was covid that forced a change so wedding venues could carry on in some way when indoors was banned but a little too late to help much.

The law changed so that venues that already had a licence to marry in a certain room (that's the "duly sanctioned" part of what the registrar says ) could then use an open outside space without the previous need for a permanent structure with a roof.

For a venue to have a room duly sanctioned it has to be assessed for suitability, fire safety, max number of people, toilets, accessibility, things like that. Which is why venues can be strict on how many people can attend the ceremony i.e. no standing at the back to get more in.

In Scotland it is different as I believe that it is not the venues room that is sanctioned but the registrar themselves, which is the next step that is needed here in England so you can get married anywhere BUT I think the registrar would have to consider it safe so I can see that it would probably cost more than getting them out to a venue because i suspect that they would first have to do a visit to make sure your garden was suitable.

We have some Scottish brides on here and there is also a registrar on here somewhere. Perhaps they can chip in.

View quoted message Ok, thanks both for clarifying that for me. Stops me getting ahead of myself and planning a wedding that can’t happen!!

View quoted message

Nothing to stop you having a personalised wedding ceremony/wedding blessing in the garden as long as you get the legal bit done elsewhere. I know someone who wanted to get married in the barn on the farm where they worked, so they did the legal bit the day before in the registry office and then had a friend do a blessing ceremony for them in the barn.