The law that decides where you can marry is being rewritten, and you have until September to say something
The Government opened a ten week consultation on weddings law in July. If it goes through, the ceremony could happen in a garden, on a beach, or under a tree, and a celebrant could make it legal.
On 16 July 2026 the Government opened a consultation called Tying the Knot, which runs for ten weeks and closes on 24 September 2026. It is built on the Law Commission's 2022 report, and if you are planning a wedding in England or Wales it is the most consequential thing to happen to the rules in your lifetime.
Here is the problem it is trying to solve. Right now the law licenses buildings. A ceremony is legal because of where it stands, not because of who conducts it. That is why you can have a civil ceremony in a hotel that paid for a licence but not in your parents' garden, and why the outdoor ceremonies that became legal in 2022 still have to happen within the grounds of approved premises.
What is actually being proposed
The central idea is to stop licensing buildings and start authorising officiants. The permission would travel with a person rather than sit in a postcode.
Follow that through and a lot changes. A ceremony could take place somewhere that means something to you: a beach, a wood, a private home, a field on a farm that will never apply for a licence because it holds four weddings a year and the paperwork is not worth it.
The consultation also raises legal recognition for independent celebrants and humanist officiants, who cannot currently conduct a legally binding ceremony in England and Wales. Thousands of couples already have a celebrant lead the ceremony that matters to them, then do the legal part separately at a register office. Under the proposals that second appointment could stop being necessary.
If the reform lands, the question stops being "is this building licensed" and becomes "is this person authorised". That is a different wedding industry.
What it does not mean
It does not mean anything has changed yet. A consultation is a consultation. If you are marrying in 2027 you should plan around the law exactly as it stands, which means a licensed venue or a register office for the legal ceremony.
There is no published timetable for legislation, and consultations of this kind routinely take years to become law. Treat any supplier who tells you otherwise with suspicion.
Why it is worth ten minutes of your evening
Consultations are usually answered by trade bodies and lawyers. They are open to anyone, and responses from people actually getting married carry weight precisely because they are rare.
If you have ever been told your venue could not do the ceremony where you wanted it, or paid twice because the celebrant you loved could not sign anything, that is the experience the consultation is asking about. The window closes on 24 September 2026.
**Sources:** the Ministry of Justice consultation Tying the Knot: Reforming weddings law in England and Wales (gov.uk), and the Law Commission report Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law.
