Couples will be able to marry at any time of the day or night in
England and Wales from October 1st. The round-the-clock ceremonies
follow the lifting of a 176-year-old ban on getting hitched outside the hours
of 8am-6pm.
One of the first venues to embrace the Las Vegas-style weddings will
be Blackpool Tower where couples can tie the knot at sunrise, midnight or even
3am.
Local authorities and churches will not be forced to conduct
marriages outside the traditional hours and at least 15 days
advance notice will also still be required.
Venues for civil partnerships are also expected to conduct
day and night weddings.
Laws which impose time limits on marriage solemnization date back to
1836 and were introduced in order to prevent clandestine marriages, which
were deemed to be a particular problem in society at the time.
The change was brought in by the Home Office following a
cross-government survey, Your Freedom, which gave the public the chance to
suggest which unnecessary laws should be repealed.
Kate Shane, general manager of Blackpool Tower is looking forward to
ceremonies being held 380ft above the ground at the top of the
tower.
She told the Sunday Times: ‘We are really excited about this change as
it now means we can offer sunrise, sunset and even midnight
weddings.’
Registrar General for England & Wales, Sarah Rapson said she was
‘pleased’ at the relaxation of the wedding hours.
She added:’Marriage and civil partnerships are something very personal
to every couple that chooses to undertake them and this change will allow
people to make their day unique to them.’
Las Vegas has been the home of night-time weddings for decades and a
favourite venue for celebrities to marry in haste and then regret their
impulsive behaviour.
Singer Britney Spears married her childhood friend Jason Allen
Alexander at 5am at the Little White wedding Chapel wearing jeans and a
baseball cap.
The marriage was annulled after lasting just 55 hours.
Radio Two presenter Chris Evans married actress Billie Piper at the
Little Church of the West in 2001. They were divorced in 2007. Bob Geldof and
Paula Yates got hitched there in 1986 and divorced 10 years later.
But actor Michael Caine and his wife Shakira who married in a Vegas
chapel in 1973, will soon celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary.
Kelly Chandler, director of the UK Alliance of Wedding Planners,
welcomed the change, describing it as a ‘positive move.’
She told the Sunday Times: ‘Wedding planning is so personal and
individual and this change is just an extension of that, allowing people to
make it that bit more unique to them.’
Taken from an extract of The Daily Mail September 30th.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210713/Couples-wed-24-hours-day-176-year-ban-lifted.html#ixzz295Jbcg00
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210713/Couples-wed-24-hours-day-176-year-ban-lifted.html#ixzz295JFR5vj 
