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Yorkshire Celebrant Helps Rewrite 200 Years Of Marriage Law After Consulting with Government

A rites-of-passage expert who has spent three decades leading weddings and ceremonies for the couples and families that the system so often overlooks joined the Deputy Prime Minister on a boat, on the Thames yesterday, as the government published its long-awaited public consultation into reforming England and Wales' centuries-old marriage law.

STUART MORRIS, 58, from Malham, North Yorkshire, founder of The International College of Professional Celebrants (ICPC), the world's largest trainer of wedding and funeral celebrants, joined David Lammy aboard a boat on 16 July and led a Q&A with him, as they launched the biggest overhaul of UK marriage law in almost 200 years.

“The current law is a patchwork, some of it dating back a thousand years, said Stuart”, who was invited to be involved in the launch following years working directly with the Ministry of Justice, including meetings with Baroness Levitt, as part of the Wedding Celebrancy Commission, which he helped found and sits on as an executive board member. 

The Commission funded independent research through the Open University into what couples actually want and how countries such as Australia, where civil celebrants have conducted legal marriages since the 1970s, manage reform. That evidence fed into the Law Commission's 2022 report, the foundation for this week's consultation.

He continued: “A British couple married in Las Vegas will have their marriage recognised in the UK. The same couple cannot legally be married by an independent celebrant in a barn in Yorkshire, or in their garden at home. Also in England and Wales, only registrars and ministers of certain recognised religions can legally conduct a wedding, leaving couples with little choice over who marries them, how personal the ceremony is, or even whether they meet their registrar before the day.”

“For gay couples, mixed-faith couples, and anyone whose family or faith leaders cannot or will not take part, the options can be bleak: a legally required minimum ceremony costing around £100, capped at once a month by most register offices and often overshadowed by upselling towards pricier packages in council venues. It is a system built around administration and revenue, not around the couple- but not excitingly this is all set to change”.

“Every couple deserves a ceremony that actually reflects who they are, not a script written for someone else. I took my first funeral thirty years ago for a young woman whose family could not afford to bring her home. I made sure she was never just a number in the system. I feel exactly the same way about couples today wanting to marry, who are being failed by a law that has not caught up with modern life”.

Announcing the consultation, the government confirmed the proposals are designed to give couples more choice over where they marry, reduce costs, provide a boost to Britain's wedding, tourism and hospitality industries, especially smaller venues and introduce stronger safeguards to protect the meaning of marriage. Around 470,000 people marry in England and Wales each year under law that dates back centuries and no longer reflects the diversity of modern life.

Under the proposals, the focus shifts from bricks and mortar to people and promises, meaning couples could legally marry almost anywhere, from forests and beaches to castles, canal boats and even cruise ships at sea. The changes could also ease the financial burden of getting married. The average wedding in England currently costs more than £20,000, with venue hire alone typically around £6,000 before catering, a cost cited by half of unmarried men and a third of unmarried women in relationships as a reason for not marrying.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy said: “They say you can’t put a price on love, but too often, the cost of weddings puts this commitment out of reach. That’s why I’m reforming archaic rules, so couples have more freedom to say ‘I do’ on their own terms, while strengthening safeguards to protect the meaning and permanence of marriage.”

The announcement will also address how the law treats different faiths and belief groups. Currently, some couples must choose between a ceremony that reflects their beliefs and one that gives them full legal protection. Under the proposals, the law will be brought up to date with a fair, consistent framework for all, giving couples greater freedom to create ceremonies that reflect who they are, including interfaith couples who could celebrate both of their traditions within a single legally recognised ceremony.

Stuart trains celebrants who go on to lead ceremonies for more than a million people a year across the UK, and ICPC has 50% more active members than any other celebrancy organisation in the country. His new book, Hello, I Love You, Goodbye, exploring why ceremonies and rites of passage matter to us as human beings, is nearing completion, and he’s just launched his first four chapters available now at hilyg.uk.

The public consultation is now open and will run from July 16 to September 24, lasting 10 weeks.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .