Licensed or Not? The Ceremony Opportunities Wedding Venues Could Be Missing

Licensed or Not? The Ceremony Opportunities Wedding Venues Could Be Missing

If you own or manage a wedding venue, I have a question for you.

What if the most beautiful place on your property for a wedding ceremony isn't the place where the legal marriage can currently take place?

Perhaps it's beneath an old tree, in a courtyard, a terrace, inside your favourite restaurant, in an unusual room that was never intended to become a traditional ceremony suite. Or perhaps your venue isn't licensed for civil marriages at all.

Does that mean you can't offer wedding ceremonies? No. You could open your doors to far more possibilities than you may realise. Because there are two things that are often spoken about as though they're exactly the same: 'getting legally married and having your wedding ceremony''. But they aren't necessarily, and if that's the case, they don't necessarily have to happen in the same place, at the same time, or even on the same day, and that's where the possibilities begin.

LAW: What Does Being a Licensed Wedding Venue Actually Mean?

Let's clear up one of the biggest misunderstandings first. In England and Wales, what we commonly call a “licensed wedding venue” is an Approved Premises for civil marriages and civil partnerships. Under the current system, a venue applies to its local authority for approval.

Approved premises must have an identifiable room or rooms approved for the legal proceedings. Current legislation also allows ceremonies in linked outdoor areas within the grounds of approved premises, subject to statutory requirements and to arrangements agreed with the registration authority.

So being a licensed hotel, for example, doesn't simply mean: “The registrar can legally marry you anywhere you fancy.” There are still legal requirements governing where the legal proceedings can take place. This matters because registrars and independent celebrants perform two different roles.

A registrar can conduct the legal civil marriage within the legal framework governing registration services and approved premises.

An independent celebrant such as me can create and conduct a personalised wedding ceremony in places where a legal civil marriage may not currently be possible.

The important distinction is this: under current law, my independent celebrant ceremony does not, by itself, create the legal marriage. The couple completes the legal requirements separately. I create the ceremony, and once a venue understands that distinction, things become much more interesting.

POSSIBILITY: What Can an Unlicensed Venue Actually Do?

Imagine a couple walks through your doors and falls completely in love with your venue, then they ask: “Can we get married here?” If you're not an Approved Premises, you may automatically answer: “No, unfortunately we're not licensed for weddings.” But that could end a conversation that didn't actually need to end. A more helpful answer might be: “You can't currently complete the legal civil marriage here with the registration service, but you absolutely can have a celebrant-led wedding ceremony here.” And a couple has the freedom to hold a basic statutory ceremony, which is a proposed-appointed date that requires the couple to bring at least 2 witnesses before the celebrant-led wedding ceremony.

With this understanding, an unapproved venue can have a very different conversation because a venue does not have to be an Approved Premises simply for a couple to hold an independent celebrant-led wedding ceremony there.

We're not turning your property into a licensed wedding venue.
We're not pretending to conduct the legal registration.
We're creating the ceremony, which is the story, the promises, the rituals, the bonding, the honouring and the celebration.

That means restaurants, barns, gardens, woodland spaces, arts venues, private dining rooms and wonderfully unconventional event spaces can all potentially become places where couples gather their people and experience their wedding ceremony.

Subject, of course, to the venue owner's permission, health and safety, accessibility, practical suitability and whatever other requirements apply to the use of the space. And this isn't only about weddings. Once you begin thinking in terms of ceremony, rather than exclusively in terms of legal marriage, your venue could potentially host:

Wedding ceremonies.
Vow renewals.
Commitment ceremonies.
Anniversary ceremonies.
Naming ceremonies.
Blended-family ceremonies.
Celebrations of life.
Memorials.
Renaming ceremonies.

And other significant life occasions that people want to gather and mark. Some of those ceremonies never required a marriage licence in the first place. Suddenly, the question isn't simply: “Are we licensed for weddings?” It becomes: “What could people celebrate here?”

FREEDOM: What If Your Venue Is Already Licensed?

This is where I think things become even more exciting. Having Approved Premises doesn't mean every part of a couple's wedding experience has to be dictated by the location of the legal proceedings. They can potentially have both. Imagine your venue has a beautiful approved room where the couple completes their legal civil marriage with the registration service. But somewhere else on the property is the place they have really fallen in love with.

Perhaps it's the garden.
The restaurant.
A dramatic staircase.
A courtyard.
A woodland clearing.
Another event space.

That's where a celebrant-led ceremony could offer another possibility. Registrar here. - Celebrant there. The registrar handles the legal marriage in the appropriate approved setting. Whereas the celebrant creates the personalised ceremony elsewhere.

That could mean a small legal ceremony followed by the larger celebrant-led wedding ceremony.

It could mean different rooms.
Different times.
Or even different days.

There can be practical limitations on how registration services and independent celebrants work together, and the arrangements must always comply with the requirements of the relevant registration authority.

Not every registration service will necessarily want to work in exactly the same way, either. So check with your borough. But celebrants are generally accustomed to working flexibly around the legal element. We know which parts belong to the registration service and which belong to us.

And interestingly, some registrars and former registrars are themselves moving into or training in celebrancy, where they can work with couples in a much more personalised and creative way. So it's worth asking the question: why, when each role is different? So neither have to compete; used thoughtfully, they can complement one another beautifully. After all, the couple is what matters.

FREEDOM: What Could a Celebrant See in Your Venue That You Haven't Seen Yet?

This might be my favourite part. Because sometimes a venue manager has walked past the same place every day for ten years.

“That's just the orchard.”
“That's just the courtyard.”
“Nobody really uses that room.”
“That's where we serve Sunday lunch.”

And then a celebrant walks through the property and thinks: I could create a ceremony here.

Suddenly the staircase isn't simply a staircase; it's an entrance.
The old tree isn't simply part of the grounds - it's where the couple could stand surrounded by everyone they love.
The restaurant isn't simply where the wedding breakfast happens - it could become an intimate ceremony space before dinner.
A courtyard could become a circle.
A woodland path could become a procession.
A tiny private dining room could become exactly what a couple planning a wedding for twelve people has been searching for.

A good celebrant doesn't simply bring a script into a space - we respond to the space with

Movement.
Sound.
Entrances.
Exits.
Guest participation.
Music.
Storytelling.
Symbolism.
Cultural traditions.
Family involvement.
Ritual.

Even the architecture and natural surroundings can become part of the ceremony. That's where a venue stops being the backdrop to somebody else's wedding, and becomes a part of their story.

COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY: Are You Turning Away Business You Could Actually Say Yes To?

This is where understanding celebrant-led ceremonies stops being simply a lovely creative idea, but a business opportunity. If somebody loves your venue but believes they cannot have their wedding ceremony there because you're unlicensed, they may never enquire. Or they may enquire, hear “no”, and immediately continue their search elsewhere. So offer them a civil celebrant who can explain it all to them and confidently say "yes". However, if you have a team that can explain alternatives, then you won't lose a booking. Or you can say.

“We're not licensed for the legal marriage, but we welcome independent celebrant-led wedding ceremonies.”

Now you haven't simply answered an enquiry. You've given that couple an option they may not have known existed. And there are other possibilities too.

Not every ceremony needs,

120 guests.
A Saturday in August.
A full wedding package.
Or exclusive use of an entire venue.
A vow renewal might work beautifully on a Sunday afternoon.
A naming ceremony might fill a private dining room.
An intimate celebrant wedding might suit a weekday or an evening.
An anniversary ceremony might become dinner afterwards.
A celebration of life might use your gardens and restaurant during a quieter period.

A commitment ceremony might bring people to a space they had never previously considered a “wedding venue”. The very spaces that don't fit your traditional wedding package could become perfect for another kind of ceremony. So rather than only asking: “How many weddings can we host?” Perhaps another useful commercial question is: “What else could we be hosting?”

COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY: Don't Just Become Wedding-Friendly. Become Ceremony-Friendly.

There is another opportunity here that I think venues often overlook. A wedding venue might see a couple once. A ceremony-friendly venue could potentially become part of a family's story. Imagine a couple having their wedding ceremony with you.

Years later they return for a naming ceremony.
Later still, an anniversary.
A vow renewal.
A family celebration.
And perhaps, eventually, the same family gathers there to honour a life that has ended.
That's an entirely different relationship between people and place.

Human beings don't only need beautiful spaces when they get married.

We gather for beginnings.
Endings.
Commitments.
Changes.
Families.
Names.
Lives.
Losses.
Achievements.
Transitions.
And those difficult-to-name moments when somebody simply knows: “We need to mark this.”

You're not simply selling somebody a room for a day. You're creating a place where life can be marked.

That's why I think a ceremony-friendly venue is a much bigger idea than a wedding venue. Which is why I am a family ceremony, travelling through the family's growth and alchemising their life's events to externalise and mark them in ceremony.

INCLUSIVITY: Who Currently Thinks Your Venue Isn't For Them?

There is another reason celebrant-led ceremonies matter. Not every couple sees themselves reflected in the traditional wedding format. An intercultural couple may want traditions from both families represented. An interfaith couple may want to honour different beliefs.

A same-sex or LGBTQ+ couple may want language and traditions that genuinely reflect their relationship rather than adapting themselves to somebody else's template.

An older couple may not want to be treated as though they're 25. A blended family may want their children actively involved in the ceremony. Someone marrying for the second or third time may want something completely different from their previous wedding.

Some couples are spiritual but not religious.
Some are deeply unconventional.
Some hate being the centre of attention.
Some want everyone involved.

This is where celebrancy can be extraordinarily freeing. We can begin with the people rather than the template. And some simply look at the conventional wedding script and think: “That's lovely. But it isn't us.”What matters to you? Who needs to be represented?

What traditions do you want?
What don't you want?
How do you want your guests to feel?
What would make this ceremony unmistakably yours?

For venues, that creates another important question: Who currently assumes your venue isn't for them?

Becoming openly celebrant-friendly can send a very different message: there is room for you here.

LAW: And the Wedding Law Itself May Be Changing

All of this is happening at a particularly interesting time. In July 2026, the Government opened a consultation on reforming wedding law in England and Wales. One of the central proposals is a fundamental shift away from a system based primarily on the venue of the wedding towards one focused on the officiant being responsible for it.

The proposals also contemplate independent officiants conducting legally binding weddings within a future regulated framework. That could eventually create substantially more choice around where and how couples legally marry. But let me make the important part very clear: That is proposed reform. It is not current law.

Legislation would still need to be developed, introduced and passed before a new system came into force. So venues and couples must continue to work within the law as it stands today. But venues don't have to wait for the law to change before discovering what independent celebrant-led ceremonies can already make possible.

And those that understand this landscape now may find themselves very well prepared for whatever comes next.

RELATIONSHIP: I Want to Know What Makes Your Venue Different

And this is where I'd like this article to become more than something venue managers read and forget. I want to discover you. I'd love to recommend your venue as a ceremony-friendly venue for couples looking for spaces that welcome and can hold their family's transitions.

Whether you are

Licensed or unlicensed.
Traditional or gloriously alternative.
Huge or tiny.
Urban or rural.
Grand or intimate.

But I'm not particularly interested in copying and pasting the standard paragraph from your wedding brochure.

You know the one.
Beautiful grounds.
Exceptional service.
Bespoke packages.
Your perfect day.

That doesn't tell me why somebody should choose you. I want your USP. I want to post about your 'unique selling point'.

What is your Unique Selling Point? You can tell me here, which will enable me to see the rest, but drop me a message about the one thing that makes your venue so special.

Tell me, and I'll share it.

What can somebody experience at your venue that they genuinely cannot experience anywhere else?

Perhaps you have a spectacular location for a celebrant ceremony.
Perhaps you're brilliant at multicultural celebrations.
Perhaps you're wonderfully unconventional.
Perhaps accessibility is something you've genuinely thought about rather than added as an afterthought.
Perhaps you're LGBTQ+ welcoming.
Dog-friendly.
Eco-conscious.
Perfect for older couples.
Made for micro-weddings.
Exceptional with neurodivergent guests.
Brilliant for second marriages.
Wonderful for people who hate traditional weddings.
Perhaps your chef can create something extraordinary around a couple's cultures.

Perhaps the ceremony and dinner can happen around the same table, like it was for the Miller-Parkes
Perhaps there's a secret garden nobody knows about.
Perhaps there's a view that stops people mid-sentence.

Or perhaps you welcome a kind of ceremony that other venues haven't even considered yet. That's what I want to know, and that's what couples want to know, too..

Two Ways Your Venue Can Get Involved

1. Get Listed

If your venue welcomes independent celebrant-led ceremonies, please tell me about it.
Tell me where you are.
Tell me whether you're an Approved Premises for civil marriages and civil partnerships.
Tell me which kinds of celebrant-led ceremonies you're open to hosting.
Tell me about your accessibility.

Tell me about the unusual spaces your clients use and, more importantly, tell me the one thing you can offer that they won't find anywhere else.

Selected ceremony-friendly venues can then be introduced here, allowing couples to discover spaces they might otherwise never have found.

2. Invite The Ceremony Alchemist Into Your Venue

Even if you don't yet know what your venue could offer, invite me in and walk me through your property. Show me the spaces you already use — and the ones you don't. Looking at your venue through the eyes of a celebrant, ceremonist, event host, and storyteller will bring a fresh take.

Together, we can explore where a ceremony could take place, what kinds of occasions your spaces might host, and what could make your venue stand apart from everyone else in your area. You may discover that the place you've been walking past every day is precisely the place somebody has been dreaming of getting married.

Your Venue Doesn't Need to Be Everything to Everybody

It needs to know what makes it extraordinary to the right people. So whether you're already licensed, completely unlicensed, proudly unconventional, or simply beginning to wonder what else your venue could become, I'd love to hear from you.

Because the future of ceremonies isn't only about where people are legally permitted to marry. It's about giving people meaningful places to celebrate who they are, who they love and the lives they're creating together.

Open the doors.

Let's see what could happen inside.

Dionne Roberts
The Ceremony Alchemist
Independent Civil Celebrant | MC | Event Host | Presenter

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