The Law Commission, the statutory independent body tasked with keeping the law of England and Wales under review and to recommend reforms, has called on the UK government to give couples more freedom to choose where they marry.

Proposed new rules would work better for the wide range of groups wanting to conduct weddings and would reduce the cost of getting married, the Law Commission said.

As the experience of couples wanting to get married during the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, the laws governing how and where couples can marry are now “outdated and unnecessarily restrictive” the Law Commission noted as it ...