OK. It seems that in Scotland the law is different so a minister can marry you in loads of places but in England and Wales a minister can marry you in their church if they are a licenced marriage officer. If they are CoE then they are automatically licenced. Non denominational are frequently not licenced so check.
If the marriage is not in a church the civil marriage officer performs the 'legal' aspect. This is not in any way religious. But and here I am quoting:
As the law in England and Wales stands, in order to have your Christian wedding service outside of a church:
You must have the normal civil ceremony at your chosen venue with the registrar, the bride, groom and two witnesses just a few minutes before the main wedding/marriage blessing with your family, friends and guests in attendance.
This standard of practice is fully acceptable with all local registrars when using licensed venues.
The alternative is to go to the registrar office, say in the morning of the day or before your wedding day to go through the normal civil marriage requirements with the bride, groom and two witnesses, and then have your wedding/marriage blessing with the minister officiating and family, friends and guests in attendance later. The venue for your wedding can then be done anywhere, since you will have already followed the normal legal registration requirements and the vows you take with the minister will be the same as if you were in church.The above process is close to the French system, where couples must first register at the local registrar office before having their church wedding. However, at some point in the future ministers will be given the role of Appointed Persons by the General Registrar Office for conducting marriages anywhere, as opposed to how it is currently at the moment with venues and places of worship that need to be registered. Though for the time being, the Government have put their plans on hold. So the only way to effectively be married anywhere at a place of your choosing outside of a place of worship (church) must be done in conformity with the above. If you would like to find out more about this, then please feel free to give us a call.
Hope this helps clarify things.
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