Licensing your venue for civil marriages and civil partnerships
4. Outdoor ceremonies
Venues should have a suitable alternative space available in the event of inclement weather.
- The Responsible Person (or their Deputy) will liaise with the couple and registrars to decide if it is safe to proceed (inside or outside) when adverse weather makes it difficult to continue with the ceremony (too cold, too hot, rain, high winds). The Superintendent Registrar (or their deputy) will make the final decision on whether a ceremony must move inside.
- This could be an unlicensed temporary outdoor covered structure within the linked outdoor areas, a previously approved permanent licensed structure in the grounds of the built premises or a currently approved room in the licensed premises itself.
- Ceremonies cannot take place with the legally required parties being split between a licensed room/structure and a linked outdoor area. The couple, two registrars and two witnesses must all be wholly inside a licensed room/structure, or wholly outside in a linked outdoor area.
- You may have to limit the number of guests at proceedings due to take place in an approved linked outdoor area to the number that you can safely accommodate in your alternative for inclement weather.
