Chancellor’s Budget: outdoor weddings to be allowed!
We’ve all seen al fresco wedding ceremonies in the movies. Typically the vows are exchanged, or prevented from being exchanged depending on the film, on a beach, with nothing more than an arch of flowers and a celebrant forming the ‘venue’. Until now this has not been possible in England, forcing those whose hearts are set on an outdoor wedding to go to Hawaii or Florida or somewhere even more exotic. But that’s about to change.
One of the unexpected announcements in this week’s budget was a change to the laws that dictate the type of wedding venues we can get married in. It paves the way for outdoor weddings, pub weddings, restaurant weddings, even weddings at home, and it is designed to reduce the cost burden of getting hitched, a significant part of which is venue hire. Previously (since the 1830s), we have only been allowed to marry in a structure with a solid roof (not a marquee), and food and drink may not be served there. That’s why the norm is usually a service or registry office wedding followed by everybody decamping to a reception venue for speeches, food, drink and dancing. Currently, civil ceremonies must take place in register offices or approved premises that have been licensed for the purpose by local authorities.
The new law aims to make it cheaper and simpler to get married. Full disclosure: at Putterfingers we’re happy about this, because we hire out minigolf for wedding parties and if this means more people can afford to get married, then it means more business for us! Readers of this blog will know that our minigolf courses work just as well outdoors as indoors and don’t require a power supply, which makes them ideal for outdoor weddings. The courses are modular and weatherproof, easy to set up and can be shaped to fit the space available.
We’re delighted that wedding couples and their guests are going to be able to enjoy Putterfingers minigolf at a wider variety of venues!
