Tying the knot: reforming weddings law in England and Wales

Closes 24 Sep 2026

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Chapter 4: The Dignity Framework

8. Do you agree with the Government’s proposed new dignity framework to support officiants in their legal duty to ensure that weddings are dignified?

Please explain your reasoning.

9. Do you agree with our proposed overarching dignity standard?
  • The wedding enables the couple to express free and informed consent to marry, in a manner that is intelligible.
  • The wedding is not undermined by distraction or trivialisation.
  • The wedding reflects the significance and seriousness of marriage as a major life event and lifelong commitment. 

Please explain your reasoning.

10. Do you agree with the proposed supporting standard that will support the officiant to agree a dignified wedding location?
  • The wedding location permits participants to attend safely.
  • The wedding location permits participants meaningfully to participate in the ceremony.
  • The wedding location minimises risk of any distraction that could have reasonably been foreseen and prevented.

Please explain your reasoning.

11. Do you agree with the proposed supporting standard that will support the officiant to agree a dignified wedding ceremony?
  • The ceremony should focus on the proceedings
  • The ceremony should treat the occasion with respect
  • The ceremony should avoid the risk of making marriage appear trivial or lacking in significance.  

Please explain your reasoning.

12. Do you agree with the proposed factors that an officiant should consider when making a decision about whether a location is dignified?

Please give reasons or suggestions for additional factors.

13. Do you agree with the factors that officiants should consider when determining whether a wedding ceremony will be dignified?

Please give reasons or suggestions for additional factors.

14. Do you think there should be restrictions on the consumption of food or drink, including alcohol, during a wedding ceremony?

Please explain your reasoning, including where any restrictions should apply and whether any such restrictions should distinguish between “recreational” consumption and food or drink used for religious, non-religious belief, ceremonial or medical reasons.

15. Do you think there should be specific restrictions on gimmick-based or trivialising acts or elements within a wedding ceremony?

Please explain your reasoning, including how any such restrictions should be balanced against personal expression and light-hearted or culturally meaningful elements.

16. Should religious or non-religious belief content be permitted in a civil ceremony, provided that the ceremony does not replicate, or amount to, a full religious or non-religious belief service?

Please explain your reasoning.

If you have answered “yes”, the Government has given examples of individual religious or non-religious belief elements, such as the exchange of rings or a Bible reading, that may be suitable for inclusion in a civil ceremony and examples of combinations of elements that may amount to a full religious or non-religious belief service.

Are there any further examples that you think would help illustrate this distinction between service and belief elements in practice?

Please provide reasons where possible.

17. Do you agree that state-employed officiants, i.e., registrars, should not be permitted to lead or participate in religious or non-religious belief content?

Please explain your reasoning.