OneSpirit submits its response to the Tying the Knot weddings law consultation
On 18 September 2026, OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation submitted its formal response to Tying the Knot, the Ministry of Justice's consultation on reforming weddings law in England and Wales.
What is the consultation?
The consultation opened on 16 July and closed on 24 September 2026. It is the most significant review of weddings law in England and Wales in nearly two centuries, and it builds on years of work by the Law Commission.
At its heart is a simple but profound shift. The law would stop regulating buildings and start authorising officiants. Belief organisations that meet certain conditions could nominate officiants to conduct legal weddings in any appropriate place, according to their own beliefs and forms.
At the moment, England and Wales offers OneSpirit ministers no route to conducting legal weddings. That is not the case in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where our ministers already do so. The proposed reform is the first framework that could recognise a community like ours, gathered through formation, ordination and covenant rather than a weekly congregation.
What we said
We spoke on behalf of our community of ministers in England and Wales. Our response welcomes the direction of reform and confirms that OneSpirit comfortably meets the proposed thresholds for nominating organisations. We also drew on our experience as an established nominating body in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Our response also:
supports couples having a choice of routes to a legal wedding, with equal standards of care and accountability across all of them
asks that, as reform progresses, equal treatment of marriage and civil partnership is held in view
What happens next
The Government will now consider all responses before publishing its own. Any new law will then need to pass through Parliament and be put into practice. This will take years rather than months, and there is no date yet for when legal weddings might become possible for OneSpirit ministers in England and Wales.
We will keep you updated as things develop.
Thank you to everyone who read the draft, shared reflections, and submitted personal responses. Your voices made this a response from our whole community.
With warmth,
Lavinia