The new government should update wedding laws in England and Wales for greater freedom and fairness for couples of all religions and beliefs, the National Secular Society has said.

In a letter to Frederick Ponsonby, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice, the NSS said it was “crucial” to reform wedding laws to ensure they meet the needs of “our diverse 21st century society”.

The NSS called on the Government to adopt recommendations made by the Law Commission in 2022 to update current “archaic” wedding laws.

In England and Wales, different laws and restrictions apply depending on whether a wedding is Anglican, Jewish, Quaker, another religion or not religious at all (a civil wedding or partnership). Unless the wedding is Jewish or Quaker, it must take place in either a registered place of worship or an approved venue for civil marriage.

The NSS said this system is “unfair, confusing and restrictive”, and prevents couples from having a ceremony reflecting their own wishes and beliefs.

The NSS worked closely with the Law Commission in formulating its recommendations for wedding law, which include:

• Universal legal rules for all weddings, with very few exceptions.

• An officiant-based system for the legal recognition of marriage, to replace the restrictive building-based system. This means all weddings would be legally permitted to take place at almost any safe and dignified location chosen by the couple, including outdoors.

• Couples permitted to have religious songs or readings as part of civil weddings, provided the ceremony is still identifiable as a civil ceremony.

• New offences criminalising officiants who mislead anyone into thinking they are legally married when they are not. This will help protect people from unknowingly entering religion-only marriages that offer no legal protections.

• The ability for nonreligious belief groups such as humanists to conduct weddings.

• A framework for legally-recognised weddings conducted by independent celebrants.

The NSS said that England and Wales’ “dramatic demographic changes” underscore the need to ensure wedding law is suitable for people of all religions and beliefs. Christians are now a minority in England and Wales.

NSS: Government should press ahead with reforms for “freer, fairer marriage system”

NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: “Wedding law in England and Wales is painfully out of date and ill-suited to a society so diverse in religion and belief.

“The Law Commission’s recommendations would essentially create ‘one wedding law for all’, eliminating unfairness and unnecessary restrictions. They would also replace the peculiar ‘building-based’ system with a far more sensible ‘officiant-based’ one.

“Such changes would deliver the freer, fairer marriage system we desperately need in England and Wales. We therefore urge the Government to press ahead with these reforms.”