The UK wedding industry is on the brink of its biggest legal transformation in generations. With the Government committed to reforming wedding law in England and Wales, venues of all shapes and sizes have a real opportunity to thrive — but only if the reforms go far enough to include independent celebrants as recognised officiants. Here are 5 clear reasons why venues could benefit from wedding law reform in a big way.
1. More weddings = more business
The marriage law overhaul is expected to unlock millions in economic growth, boosting the wedding sector and helping venues welcome more bookings.
According to the Law Commission’s estimates, loosening outdated restrictions could add up to £1.1bn to the UK economy and increase the overall number of marriages taking place. These estimates are based on the implementation of all recommendations, including enabling independent celebrants to officiate at legally binding weddings.
For venues, that would mean:
- a greater number of couples seeking ceremony space
- more choice on offer to the couples they work with
- higher demand for unlicensed venues such as woodlands and fields.
Simply put — better choice for couples means more business for venues.
2. Couples will have the freedom to hold weddings anywhere
Under current law, legal weddings are restricted to licensed premises or certified places of worship. But the upcoming law reform will change that, with the Government confirming it will move to an officiant-based system for marriages in England and Wales.
Under this new scheme, approved officiants will be authorised to conduct legal marriages, which will completely do away with the current licensing system run by register offices. This opens the doors to a wide variety of venue types that are not currently licensed, including:
- gardens and woodlands
- farms and fields
- beaches and boats
- private homes
… to name but a few!
Furthermore, established licensed venues will be able to offer even more freedom to couples, as they could offer multiple spaces for wedding ceremonies. If the venue is large enough, this could potentially mean the ability to host more than one wedding per day.
In short, this shift from a venue-centric to an officiant-centric approach will allow weddings to be held in a wider variety of locations, without the red tape that currently deters many couples.
3. Wedding law reform will mean more celebrant ceremonies
Venue staff frequently tell us they LOVE celebrant-led ceremonies. But a huge drawback is that celebrants cannot legally marry couples, so a separate ceremony is required beforehand.
However, this could all change under the reformed law if the Government decides to include independent celebrants (not just humanists) within the new legal framework.
Currently, couples who want a personalised ceremony in England and Wales need:
- a civil ceremony with a registrar at an approved venue or register office
- a separate celebrant-led ceremony with family and friends at a venue of their choice.
This two-step process can limit venue bookings, with many couples focusing their spend on the legal wedding due to budget constraints or the hassle of needing to have two ceremonies. Reform that recognises independent celebrant weddings would remove this split entirely — meaning couples can hold a meaningful and legal marriage ceremony in a venue that they love.
For venues, that’s a less fragmented wedding experience and more seamless bookings.
4. Personalised ceremonies = happier couples
As venue staff will know, today’s couples want weddings that feel authentic and personalised, blending traditions, values and storytelling. Gone are the days when all weddings looked and felt the same — couples want to put their own stamp on their day and make it uniquely them.
Most venues will have seen a rapid rise in the number of weddings led by independent celebrants over the last decade. That’s because celebrants are uniquely placed to meet these personalisation needs by crafting ceremonies that reflect couples’ identities. These ceremonies can be longer in length than registrar-led weddings (as celebrants won’t need to rush off to the next wedding) and can include elements such as:
- personalised vows
- readings
- music
- symbolic elements
- religious, spiritual or cultural elements.
In short — giving couples access to legally recognised celebrants means they’re more likely to marry in venues that can match their vision for a personalised celebration.
5. Reform would celebrate equality, inclusion and freedom of expression
One of the most powerful benefits of including independent celebrants in wedding law reform is the impact on religious freedom, cultural expression and equality.
Under the current system, couples who wish to express their beliefs in their wedding ceremony face stark limitations. Legal marriage is largely tied to civil ceremonies with prescribed wording, or to specific places of worship — leaving many couples excluded from full, meaningful participation in their own wedding.
Independent celebrants offer a solution. They are trained to create ceremonies that reflect a couple’s religion, faith, culture or worldview. This is particularly important for:
- mixed-faith couples, who may want to honour both traditions equally
- couples who are religious or spiritual, but do not want to marry in a place of worship
- couples from communities whose cultural marriage practices are not recognised under current law.
Supporting independent celebrants means supporting a more inclusive and non-discriminatory wedding landscape — one that reflects modern Britain and enables venues to welcome and celebrate diverse couples equally.
Why wedding venues should support the GCCM campaign
The campaign by the Give Couples Choice Movement (GCCM) is championing the inclusion of independent celebrants in the law reform process because it would:
✔ give couples choice over the content and format of their ceremonies
✔ expand the locations in which couples can marry
✔ remove the discrimination and red tape in our current marriage system.
This matters hugely for couples and celebrants — but it also matters for venues. If independent celebrants are excluded from the reform, many venues will still struggle to offer fully legal wedding ceremonies tailored to the couple’s vision. That’s a loss for business, for creativity, and for community engagement.
The question of whether independent celebrants should be included in the upcoming reform is due to be consulted on in 2026 — and this consultation will be open for anyone to respond to, including venue operators.
So if you support the law reform and the inclusion of independent celebrants, keep an eye out for the launch of this consultation, and why not write to your MP in the meantime? (More on this below.)
What venues can do right now
If you run or work for a wedding venue and you believe in a thriving, inclusive, future-proofed wedding industry, here’s how your venue can help:
Write to your local MP
Tell them why independent celebrants should be included in wedding law reform and highlight how it will benefit your venue, your local economy and your couples. You can find a template letter which you can adapt to your requirements at the end of this page.
Join the GCCM campaign
Join us and add your voice to an industry movement that’s building momentum and shaping policy.
Share with couples
Let your clients know that you support expanded choice — it’s a selling point for many modern couples. We even have a handy A5 leaflet that explains it all — feel free to share this with your couples and get them involved.
Get ready for the consultation
We were told the consultation would open in “early 2026” with a specific question about whether independent celebrants should be included. So keep an eye on the Government’s consultations page and the GCCM website for updates… because when it launches, your voice needs to be heard!
Final thought
Wedding law reform is happening — and it’s about more than legal housekeeping, it’s a chance to modernise how we celebrate love in Britain.
For venues, this isn’t just policy change, it’s a business opportunity.
Let’s make sure wedding law reform opens doors — not keeps them closed.
Write to your local MP
Here’s a template letter for venue operators which you can copy, tweak and send straight to your local MP.
Remember: you can only write to your designated MP, and make sure you include your full address and postcode at the top of your correspondence.
Dear [MP name]
I am writing as the [owner / manager] of [name of wedding venue] in your constituency, to ask for your support in the upcoming wedding law reform in England and Wales — particularly the inclusion of independent celebrants as legally recognised officiants.
As you may have heard, in October 2025 the Ministry of Justice confirmed its intention to reform the Marriage Act 1949 in line with the recommendations made by the Law Commission, with a view to undertaking a public consultation on the details in early 2026. You can read the letter here: Weddings: Letter from MoJ – Law Commission
In this letter, the MoJ confirms that marriage law will be reformed to accommodate an ‘officiant-based’ system, and that they will seek to remove the difference in the treatment of humanists as part of this. However, a key focus of the consultation will be the question of “whether independent celebrants should be allowed to conduct legally binding weddings”.
The outcome of this consultation will have an enormous effect on our business. While reform presents a huge opportunity for the wedding industry and local economies, this opportunity will only be fully realised if the new system allows suitably regulated independent celebrants to conduct legally binding ceremonies.
At present, many of our couples must separate the legal and celebratory parts of their wedding because celebrant-led ceremonies are not legally recognised. This creates unnecessary cost and complexity for couples and limits the full potential of venues and local suppliers.
In addition, independent celebrants are the only types of officiants who allow couples to reflect their faith, beliefs and cultures in weddings at our venue. As you can imagine, we welcome couples from many different backgrounds, so we feel this is vitally important.
From a venue perspective, recognising independent celebrants would:
- give couples greater freedom to marry in meaningful, personalised ways
- enable more weddings to take place at venues like ours without the need for multiple ceremonies
- increase bookings and associated local spend
- support small businesses across hospitality, tourism and events
- reflect the diversity of modern couples and families.
The Give Couples Choice Movement (GCCM) is campaigning for a fair, inclusive reform that supports couples, venues and communities alike. I strongly support this approach and urge you to ensure that independent celebrants are explicitly included within the scope of wedding law reform.
This is a rare chance to modernise the law in a way that benefits both constituents and local businesses. But it has been over a decade since this reform was first proposed, and we are still waiting for clear action.
I realise how busy you must be, but with the consultation scheduled for “early 2026”, time is of the essence. So I have two simple requests:
- Please could you contact the Ministry of Justice referencing this letter and ask them to provide a specific date for when they plan to open the consultation?
- Please could you offer me some guidance on how I can best respond to the consultation when it opens? Your expertise will be invaluable to ensure I get the key points across and best communicate the needs of our venue and the couples we work with.
I would also love the chance to speak to you about our venue and we would gladly welcome you for a visit and a chat so we can explain more about how this reform would benefit us.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Yours sincerely