Whilst there is no specific ban on the UK authorities accepting the validity of a marriage celebrated in this way, I would advise anyone considering getting married online to think very carefully about the legalities and take advice in each relevant country.
Things become more complicated when you have parties, celebrants and witnesses located in multiple countries. The American state of Utah was cited in the case reported by Granada and virtual mass weddings have also taken place in the United Arab Emirates. I would be very surprised if a court in England and Wales refused to recognise a marriage conducted under these circumstances. This provision is restricted to New York residents and, crucially, both parties, the celebrant and witness must be physically present in the state. Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order in April 2020 allowing residents of the state of New York to obtain a marriage licence online and participate in a wedding ceremony by internet link. In some countries, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the authorities to relax the requirement for marriages to be celebrated in person. However, for the most part, a marriage or civil partnership equivalent will be recognised in the UK if the right formalities were observed in the country of celebration. There are certain overriding issues that can affect marriage validity on grounds of public policy, regardless of whether the marriage was legally valid in the country in which it took place.
Had the marriage taken place in a country where unregistered religious marriages give rise to a legal marriage, the outcome could have been entirely different. This has come up in cases where unregistered religious marriages have been carried out in the UK, leading to a marriage that is neither valid nor even void but is categorised as a “non-qualifying ceremony”. The issue here is that the validity of a marriage turns largely on whether it is legal in the country in which it was celebrated.
So that’s online weddings out of the question then? Once again, it’s a little bit more complicated than that. Under the law in England and Wales, it is not possible to get married or enter into a civil partnership without the physical presence of both parties in a place approved by law. Turns out, it’s a little bit more complicated than that. Most other aspects of life have gone online since the first coronavirus restrictions came into force last March so why should weddings be any different? Last week I was interviewed on ITV’s Granada Reports about virtual weddings.
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