GETTING MARRIED OUTDOORS

Hello, yes you can get married outdoors but must have a back up plan incase the weather is wet or windy. we are hoping to get married in a pagoda outside our venue, but if the weather is not good, they will set up the space which we will be using for our sit down meal for the ceremony as well. they decide 2 hours before the ceremony with the registrar if it can go ahead outside or not (thats what our venue have told us). I believe that you can only get married 9am-5pm if you are booking a registrar to do the ceremony.

The rules will depend on where you are in the UK. In Scotland you can get married outdoors. In the rest of the UK, you can also get married "outdoors" although the ceremony itself has to be carried out under a permanent roof, like a pagoda.

The six o clock rule also applies unless there has been a recent change.

Oh....welcome to the forum.....

Peter

As Peter said, it depends where you are in the UK - and even down to which district you are marrying in. For example: we wanted to get married as late in the day as possible, but the latest time our registrar would do the ceremony was 4pm, even though it is legal to get married up to 6pm.

LOL!!!!

I'm getting married outside although we've had to pay for a back up room just in case of bad weather. We haven't met with the registrar yet but read in the literature that you have to stand under a fixed roof. God knows how we'll fit, the gazebo type thing is tiny! The literature also said you can't get married any later than 6pm.

HI there

As Bethan said, by law you have to married in a permenant structure, so a gazebo or summer house if it has been licensed for civil cermonies. With regard to the guests, they are sat or stood outside of the structure usually and the ceremony is conducted underneath.

I have planned quite a few outdoor ceremonies and most have had plan b's incase of bad weather however, there are some venues such as Rococo Gardens in Gloucestershire which is stunning but there isn't anywhere for the guests to go if it rains and you aren't allowed to erect anything, so it's a case of supplying umbrellas.

There are other options though. In Scotland a humanist ceremony is a legal contract and they allow you to marry absolutely anywhere as it is the registrar who is licensed. You can have a humanist ceremony in England and Wales, but it isn't legal, so like the wedding I was at today, they were married yesterday at the local registry office with parents and siblings, then they had a spiritual blessing outside their venue today. It was really moving and very poignant as the brides' Godmother conducted the blessing and it was just as beautiful as a normal civil ceremony. This can also be a much cheaper option. You only have to pay for the registry office approx £40 and that's it, then the blessing was totally free!

If you've got any questions then feel free to get in touch. You may want to contact your local registry office who will be able to tell you which venues have licenses for outdoor ceremonies.

HTH

Ruth

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