Religious readings, hymns, meditations and poetry could be included in civil weddings for the first time under an overhaul of marriage laws recommended by a Law Commission report today.
Humanist and other non-Church of England weddings could soon also be allowed, without couples having to do a civil ceremony as well.
People of other faiths will also be able for the first time to use religious readings in civil ceremonies.
According to the report, the present bureaucracy and restrictions put some couples off from getting married at all. One couple was told recently they could not even use the term "in sickness and in health" in their civil wedding because it was deemed too religious.
The Law Commission report says the present law is trapped in the 19th century and unfit for purpose in a multi-cutural society. Licenses to hold civil ceremonies are currently linked to particular buildings. The Church of England has its own set of rules apart from those governing other faiths and civil ceremonies.
Humanists are among those frustrated that their ceremonies are not currently legally recognised and have to be augmented by a civil ceremony. Some couples in the UK also do not understand the complexity of the law. They have a religious ceremony and believe it is legally binding on its own, not realising they lack the protection afforded by a civil ceremony until they break up.
Law Commissioner Nicholas Hopkins said: "The law of marriage in England and Wales is now out of date, inconsistent and overly restrictive. Our modern society deserves a clearer set of rules that gives all couples greater choice and certainty, while providing protection from the abuses involved in sham and forced marriage."
The report says: "It has long been recognised that the law is in need of reform – that need is now all the more pressing. Society has changed in many ways unimaginable by the legislators of 1836 and the legal framework no longer meets the needs of a culturally and ethnically diverse society. Layer upon layer of legislation has added all the more complexity to all stages of the marriage process. It can no longer be assumed that the vast majority of the population have a shared understanding of what makes a marriage and the formalities with which they need to comply."
The changes will, among other things, solve the problem that many gay couples who worship in the Church of England now have who want a religious marriage with Anglican or other godly prayers.
Because the Church of Engand secured a ban on all same-sex marriages in its buildings, gay Anglican couples who wish to marry have no option but to have a civil ceremony, without any mention of God or anything religious.
After the expected reforms all couples, not just gay ones, will be able to marry in beautiful and romantic settings such as beaches, gardens and historic buildings, and for the first time ever include religious readings in their ceremonies.
Many heterosexual young couples who support gay equality might also choose to eschew church weddings once they can be married in a civil ceremony "in the eyes of God" as well as the law.
