In July 2026, the Government opened a consultation entitled Tying the Knot: Reforming weddings law in England and Wales, containing a set of proposals that seek to make weddings “simpler, clearer and more accessible to all”. For independent celebrants and for couples who want a more personalised marriage ceremony, this consultation is the biggest step so far towards the reforms we’ve been waiting for. So if you want to have your say and ensure your views are taken into account, the time to respond is now! In this article we break down a few of the key questions relating to independent celebrants and offer some guidance on how to respond to the wedding law consultation.
Why is the Government consulting and who can respond?
You’ve probably been hearing about wedding law reform for a while, and this may seem like a very long-winded process. Indeed, the wheels have been in motion for over a decade. This began with the Government acknowledging that the laws around getting married needed modernising, followed by the Law Commission of England and Wales producing a thorough set of recommendations. It then took 3 years for the Government to formally respond to these recommendations, but in 2025 they confirmed that wedding law will be reformed as an ‘officiant-based system’.
This will move us away from the current system which licenses the building or location where weddings take place. Instead, it will be the officiant who is licensed to conduct wedding ceremonies in any location they deem to be appropriate, safe and dignified. This will open up a great deal more choice to couples – choice of location, choice of content, and choice of officiant.
So wedding law reform is almost definitely going ahead, but this consultation seeks to iron out the finer details. How will this work in practice? Who should be included as authorised officiants? And how will the dignity of marriage be upheld?
The consultation is open to the public, so anyone can respond, and the Government is particularly interested to hear from “parliamentarians, religious and non-religious belief organisations, academics, independent celebrants, support organisations and local registration services”.
All these voices are important, but perhaps the strongest backing will come from couples who have had or would like to have a celebrant-led wedding. The Government needs to hear how marrying couples will be affected if independent celebrants are included or excluded from these reforms.
Will independent celebrants be included in wedding law reform?
We don’t know yet. But this is the first time the Government has actively supported the idea of authorising independent celebrants (after the Law Commission laid out a framework for how this could work). This was extremely welcome news, but it doesn’t mean it will definitely happen. That’s why your voice really matters.
Question 27 asks specifically if we agree that independent officiants should be included as authorised officiants – so if you support this, you really do need to respond.
Do I have to respond to every question in the consultation?
No. There are a total of 39 questions in the consultation, but you don’t have to answer them all. The only section you must fill in is the ‘About You’ section at the beginning. After that, you can answer as few or as many questions as you wish. So feel free to choose the ones that feel most relevant to you.
However, we would recommend reading as much of the document as you can to get a clear idea of how the proposed new system will work as a whole. It is a very accessible document laid out into clearly defined chapters, so that’s not as daunting as it may seem.
The questions give the option of simply ticking yes/no/undecided or backing up your answers with reasoning and examples in a text box. This will offer a mix of both quantitative and qualitative data for the Government to analyse.
Of course we are biased, but we recommend that if you only respond to one question, make it question 27! We want the ‘yes’ answers to far outweigh the ‘no’ answers for this question, and if you can provide clear reasoning backed by your own experience then please do use the text box to strengthen your response.
Which consultation questions are most relevant to independent celebrants?
If you’re an independent celebrant or someone who supports their inclusion, there are some chapters and questions that will be particularly relevant and important.
The key chapters to focus on are:
- About you (essential)
- Chapter 3 – The Legal Formation of Marriage
- Chapter 4 – The Dignity Framework
- Chapter 6 – Role of Officiants
- Chapter 7 – Regulation of Officiants
Within each of these chapters there are several questions. Let’s dive into some of the key questions that relate to independent celebrants.
Question 6: Do you agree with the proposed required words for civil weddings?
Question 6 relates to the words a couple would be required to say in order to demonstrate a “clear, standardised and identifiable expression of consent”. The proposed words are:
“I [name] accept you [name] as my [husband / wife / spouse]”.
The Government considers that this wording is simple, clear and easy to understand. It also includes an option (“spouse”) for couples who do not identify with the terms “husband” and “wife”. Limited variation would be permitted through the use of “words to the same effect”, to allow appropriate flexibility.
If conducting a legally binding marriage, an independent officiant would need to ensure the couple stated these words (or words to the same effect), but this formalised expression of consent could be used alongside any other vows the couple wish to make to one another, thereby not removing any aspect of personalisation from the ceremony.
By making this recommendation, the Government seeks to ensure that the law is clear about the core requirement for couples to express consent to marry, while allowing them to have a ceremony that is meaningful to them and that reflects their beliefs, traditions and wishes.
Question 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?
Question 8 asks if we agree with the proposed new dignity framework. This framework would give couples “greater choice about the ceremony through which they enter into marriage, while upholding the solemnity, legality and social importance of the marriage itself”.
Under the proposed new model, legal responsibility for upholding the dignity of weddings would sit with the officiant. Dignity will be most directly relevant in two aspects of an officiant’s role: approving the location of the wedding and agreeing the conduct and content of the ceremony.
There are ten questions in the consultation that relate to the dignity framework, with the Government giving several examples of what would and would not constitute a ‘dignified’ wedding. The dignity framework would support officiants by providing a clear basis for decision-making, and would only be relevant if the officiant was asked to conduct a ceremony in a location or context that was outside ‘the norm’. Some examples provided include sky diving, weddings held during sports matches and weddings that include food and drink.
The Government recognises that dignity is subjective, expressed differently by different couples and communities. Therefore, the framework does not seek to prescribe every feature of a dignified wedding. Instead, it provides standards to guide and support officiants in making consistent, well-reasoned decisions.
Question 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?
Question 16 asks the crucial question of whether religious or non-religious belief content should be permitted in a civil ceremony.
This goes to the heart of what the GCCM has been campaigning on for years. Most couples do not fit neatly into a belief category (religious or otherwise), therefore flexibility is crucial to allow couples real freedom of expression.
The Government has given several examples of what would represent a full belief service and what could be defined as a civil ceremony with belief elements. But it also acknowledges that an exhaustive list is not possible. That’s where officiant discretion comes in.
The Government also proposes that state-appointed officiants (registrars) should not “lead or participate in” belief elements, because this could be perceived as state endorsement of particular beliefs. But independent officiants would be free to do so, provided that the ceremony remains “clearly identifiable as civil”.
Question 27: Do you agree with allowing independent officiants to conduct legally binding weddings?
Question 27 is one particularly close to our hearts, asking whether independent officiants (independent celebrants) should be authorised to conduct legally binding weddings. This is something the GCCM and many others have been campaigning on for years, and thankfully the Government has taken the “initial view” that independent officiants should be permitted to conduct legally binding weddings.
Authorising independent celebrants would:
- create a more flexible, inclusive system and provide greater choice for couples
- allow couples to choose who marries them and get to know their celebrant before the big day
- align England and Wales with a number of other jurisdictions that already permit independent officiants to conduct legal weddings (such as Australia)
- enable couples to have weddings that reflect their values, beliefs and cultures, without them having to fit neatly into a belief or non-belief category.
The Government says it is aware of various objections that have been posed over the years, such as the arguments that independent celebrants are ‘commercial’ or lack regulation. But it makes clear in the consultation that it does not consider these valid reasons for excluding them:
“The Government understands these concerns. However, it does not consider that permitting independent officiants would, in of itself, introduce undue commercialisation into weddings law. Weddings already take place within a largely commercial environment… fees charged by independent officiants for non-legally binding ceremonies are broadly comparable to the charges made by registrars conducting civil weddings in approved premises or Humanist celebrants.”
“Independent officiants already conduct many meaningful ceremonies for couples and the sector includes established professional bodies with which the Government has engaged.”
The GCCM wholeheartedly agrees with the Government’s initial position that independent officiants should be permitted to conduct legally binding weddings as part of a reformed weddings framework – but this will likely only go ahead if they receive a large number of positive responses to back up this view.
Question 35: Do you agree that membership organisations should be responsible for monitoring independent officiants, subject to oversight by the central regulator?
Under the new scheme, independent celebrants would be known legally as “independent officiants” and would be brought within a clear system of authorisation, training and regulation. There are several questions in the consultation that relate to how this could be done, e.g. who should regulate independent officiants, what level of training should they have, what criteria should they meet to be authorised, and how will their authorisation be renewed and monitored?
Question 35 asks if we agree that membership organisations should be responsible for monitoring independent officiants. This deviates from the Law Commission’s original recommendation, which suggested the General Register Office (GRO) should be responsible for this task.
“We therefore recommend an alternative approach under which independent officiants would be required to belong to a recognised, regulator-approved membership organisation similar to the approach proposed for belief groups.”
Under this approach, approved membership organisations would provide training and professional development, maintain a code of conduct, monitor compliance, and handle complaints. Membership organisations would be required to meet certain criteria to be approved as regulators, and they would be overseen by a “central regulator”, which the Government proposes would be the GRO (see question 39).
With several different training and membership organisations currently operating, there are likely to be differing views on these questions, so if you have an opinion on who should train, authorise and regulate celebrants, be sure to have your say.
How long will the consultation take to complete and what’s the submission deadline?
If you plan to tick ‘yes’ to question 27, fill in the ‘about you’ section and submit, you will only need a few minutes!
But assuming you want to answer more questions than this, we recommend setting aside at least 2 hours to read and respond to the consultation. How long it takes depends on how many questions you wish to answer and how detailed you want your answers to be.
Importantly, your response must be submitted by 24th September 2026. You can respond online, by email or by post.
It is very important that everyone answers with their own views based on their own experiences, but the GCCM team is here to support anyone who has questions or concerns about their consultation response. Please feel free to get in touch and we will be happy to help.