The Give Couples Choice Movement has submitted a response to the Northern Ireland Marriage Law Consultation, following a call for views issued by the Assembly Committee for Finance. Our response focuses on the need to include independent celebrants as part of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill, addressing concerns that have been expressed, and highlighting the importance of freedom of religion and belief in the marriage system.
What’s the purpose of the bill?
The Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill was introduced by Finance Minister John O’Dowd MLA on 16th March 2026, and has now reached its second stage. At its core, the Bill is about bringing non-religious belief marriages fully within the legal framework of the Marriage (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 – a process that dates back almost a decade.
In 2017, a humanist couple brought a landmark legal challenge (the Smyth judgement), after being refused the right to have a humanist celebrant conduct their legally recognised marriage. The High Court ruled that the existing law failed to respect their human rights and that belief marriages should be placed on equal footing with religious marriages. The Court of Appeal ultimately found a different legal route to accommodate such ceremonies, but the arrangements that followed were always understood to be temporary.
This Bill makes those arrangements permanent. It formally enshrines the right of couples to marry through non-religious belief organisations (such as Humanists NI) with the same legal standing as a church wedding. The legislation also includes future-proofing provisions, allowing authorities to set additional requirements for both religious and belief organisations as the need arises, while building on a framework that has now operated effectively for over two decades.
For the GCCM, this is a welcome step, but it is only part of the picture.
How this relates to independent celebrants
Crucially, this Bill does not address independent celebrants, and this is where the GCCM’s response focuses its energy.
Independent celebrants are wedding professionals who create and deliver deeply personalised ceremonies tailored to each couple. They are not tied to any religious body or formal belief organisation. They bring creativity, flexibility and, above all, genuine representation of the couple’s own values and story. And yet, in the UK, the ceremonies they conduct are not legally binding. Couples who choose an independent celebrant must still attend a separate civil ceremony with a registered official to make their marriage legally binding – a process that many find impersonal, disconnected, and at odds with the meaning of the day they have planned.
During the second stage debate, Finance Minister O’Dowd addressed this matter directly. He acknowledged that independent celebrants were raised during the consultation process, but indicated that legislating to grant them legal powers would require careful consideration, particularly around a provision in the 2003 Order prohibiting marriage conducted “solely for profit”. He was clear that he did not wish to delay the current Bill to resolve this question, but he did not close the door on future action either.
Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson then presented a compelling case on behalf of independent celebrants. He noted that some couples simply do not fit neatly into either the religious or the non-religious belief category. They may hold a mix of religious and non-religious views. One partner may be a believer and the other not. They may want a ceremony that draws on multiple traditions, or simply one that reflects who they are as people, rather than the doctrinal requirements of a belief institution. For these couples, independent celebrants are often the only route to a ceremony that genuinely represents them. And yet they are still required to hold a separate ceremony to make their marriage legal.
Mr Tennyson went further, asking the Minister whether the ongoing review of marriage law in England and Wales had informed his thinking, and whether there were plans to revisit the issue in a future mandate. The Minister confirmed that he is watching the England and Wales process with interest, though he noted that no concrete proposals have yet emerged from that review.
Why the GCCM responded
The Give Couples Choice Movement exists to champion the right of every couple to have their wedding ceremony conducted by the person they choose, and to have that ceremony be fully legal. While we focus much of our attention on the ongoing law reform in England and Wales, we want this principle to inform marriage law across the UK, and we feel this is lacking in the current drafting of the NI Marriage Bill.
Our response to the Committee urges the Assembly not to let this moment pass without acknowledging the case for independent celebrants. We have called on members to recognise that allowing independent celebrants to solemnise legal marriages is not a niche concern: it is a matter of freedom of religion and belief (FoRB). As Eóin Tennyson rightly observed in the chamber, maximising FoRB means ensuring that couples are not compelled to have their marriage authenticated by a religious or quasi-religious body if that does not reflect their beliefs. Independent celebrants are the means by which that freedom can be fully realised.
Furthermore, we strongly contested the concern that authorising independent celebrants would create a commercial market for marriage. The prohibition in the 2003 Order was designed to prevent commercially motivated entities from monetising the act of state registration of marriages. It was never intended to prevent skilled professionals from charging a reasonable fee to conduct a ceremony. We point out that in the current marriage system, registrars, religious officiants and humanist celebrants all charge for registering a marriage and conducting a ceremony. If this fee-charging does not engage the profit prohibition, there is no principled basis for treating independent celebrants differently.
How you can help
The deadline for written submissions to the NI Assembly Committee for Finance is Friday 12th June 2026. If you feel strongly about couples’ right to choose how and by whom their marriage is celebrated, you can submit your views online, or directly to: mandcpbill@niassembly.gov.uk
Submissions should be sent in Word format and, where possible, structured to address the specific clauses of the Bill.
Northern Ireland has an opportunity to lead the way on this issue. Let’s make sure the Assembly hears clearly from the couples, celebrants and advocates who believe that every wedding deserves to be both legal and meaningful: in a single ceremony, on a single day, led by the person the couple has chosen.