‘Legal Marriage is Paperwork Day’: Independent Celebrant-Led Wedding Ceremonies as a Critical Institutional Response to Changing Social Norms

Abstract

Informed by a critical institutional perspective, in this article attention is turned to the choice to have an independent celebrant-led wedding ceremony in England or Wales. As these ceremonies fall outside the current legal framework, it explores how the decision to have a further wedding ceremony in addition to a legally binding wedding may indicate a weakening of legal marriage norms. Triangulating data collected from three focus groups attended by 19 celebrants, with seven semi-structured interviews with individuals who have had an independent celebrant-led wedding ceremony, two key themes are described. First, a mismatch between legal norms which expect marrying couples to take a passive detached role and an expressed desire for ceremonial autonomy including familiarity with the marriage celebrant. Second, a lack of awareness of what legal marriage involves and perceptions of legal formalities as akin to an administrative process which may be easing their separation from ceremonial rites perceived to be meaningful. Further studies with larger samples are needed to determine the extent to which personal and communal validity rather than legal validity constitutes the social institutional form of marriage.

Keywords

marriage wedding social norms legal norms individualisation critical institutionalism celebrancy detraditionalism bricolage

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Baker

Elizabeth

(2014) A ‘brave thing to do’ or a normative practice? Marriage after long-term cohabitation. Journal of Sociology 50(4): 393–407.

Barlow

(2020) Modern marriage myths: the dichotomy between expectations of legal rationality and lived law. In: Akhtar

Nash

Probert

(eds) Cohabitation and Religious Marriage: Status, Similarities and Solutions. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 39–51.

Beck

Beck-Gersheim

(1995) The Normal Chaos of Love. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Blake

Janssens

(2021) Conscious coupling: loss of public promises of a life-long bond? An exploration of authenticity and autonomy in commitment processes across contemporary long-term relationship forms. Families, Relationships and Societies 10(3): 395–412.

Blake

Probert

Barton

, et al. (2023) Independent celebrant-led wedding ceremonies: translating, tweaking, and innovating traditions. Sociological Research Online: 1–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804231211443.

Carter

Duncan

(2018) Reinventing Couples: Tradition, Agency and Bricolage. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Cherlin

(2020) Degrees of change: an assessment of the deinstitutionalization of marriage thesis. Journal of Marriage and Family 82(1): 62–80.

Cleaver

De Koning

(2015) Furthering critical institutionalism. International Journal of the Commons 9(1):1–18.

De Koning

(2011) Reshaping institutions cited by Cleaver F and De Koning J (2015) furthering critical institutionalism. International Journal of the Commons 9(1): 1–18.

10.

Dilworth-Anderson

Burton

Klein

(2011) Contemporary and emerging theories in studying families. In: Bengtson

Acock

Allen

, et al. (eds) Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research. London: Sage Publications, pp. 35–57.

11.

Edge

Corrywright

(2011) Including religion: reflections on legal, religious, and social implications of the developing ceremonial law of marriage and civil partnership. Journal of Contemporary Religion 26(1): 19–32.

12.

Ewick

Silbey

(1998) The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

13.

Giddens

(1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge: Polity Press.

14.

Gross

(2005) The detraditionalisation of intimacy reconsidered. Sociological Theory 23(3): 286–311.

15.

Harding

(2006) ‘Dogs are “registered”, people shouldn’t be’: legal consciousness and lesbian and gay rights. Social and Legal Studies 15(4): 511–533.

16.

Hoesly

(2015) ‘Need a minister? How about your brother?’: the universal life church between religion and non-religion. Secularism and Nonreligion 4(12): 1–13.

17.

Hull

(2003) The cultural power of law and the cultural enactment of legality: the case of same-sex marriage. Law and Social Inquiry 28(2): 629–656.

18.

Kleinhans

Macdonald

(1997) What is critical legal pluralism? The Canadian Journal of Law and Society 12(2): 25–46.

19.

Law Commission (2020) Getting married: a consultation paper on weddings law. Consultation Paper No 247. Available at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/document/weddings-consultation-paper/ (accessed 15 October 2023).

20.

Law Commission (2022) Celebrating marriage: A new weddings law. Report No LC 408. Available at: https://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/weddings/ (accessed 15 October 2023).

21.

Mahoney

Thelen

(2009) A theory of gradual institutional change. In: Mahoney

Thelen

(eds) Exploring Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–37.

22.

Mamali

Stevens

(2020) When same-sex couples say ‘I do’: display-work and the (re)production of the wedding rite. Sociology 54(5): 987–1003.

23.

Mumsnet (2021) To get married before my wedding. Blog posts Available at: https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_I_being_unreasonable/4225671-To-get-married-before-my-wedding on 22/04/21 (accessed 15 October 2023).

24.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2019) Married by 30? You’re now in the minority. Available at: https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2019/04/01/married-by-30-youre-now-in-the-minority/ (accessed 15 October 2023).

25.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022) Marriages in England and Wales: 2019. Number of marriages that took place in England and Wales analysed by age, sex, previous marital status and civil or religious ceremony. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/marriagecohabitationandcivilpartnerships/bulletins/marriagesinenglandandwalesprovisional/2019 (accessed 15 October 2023).

26.

Parveen

(2020) From regulating marriage ceremonies to recognising marriage ceremonies. In: Akhtar

Nash

Probert

(eds) Cohabitation and Religious Marriage: Status, Similarities and Solutions. Bristol: Bristol University Press, pp. 85–102.

27.

Probert

Akhtar

Blake

(2022a) When is a wedding not a marriage? Exploring non-legally binding ceremonies. The Nuffield Foundation. Available at: https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/wedding-not-marriage-exploring-non-legally-binding-ceremonies (accessed 15 October 2023).

28.

Probert

Miles

Mody

(2015) Introduction. In: Miles

Mody

Probert

(eds) Marriage Rites and Rights. Oxford: Hart Publishing, pp. 1–16.

29.

Probert

Pywell

Akhtar

, et al. (2022b) Trying to get a piece of paper from City Hall? The availability, accessibility, and administration of the register office wedding. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 44(2): 226–244.

30.

Pywell

(2020) The day of their dreams: celebrant-led wedding celebration ceremonies. Child and Family Law Quarterly 32(2): 177–199.

31.

R (on the application of Harrison and others) v Secretary of State for Justice [2020] EWHC 2096 (Admin )

32.

Riessman

(2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Thousands Oak, CA: Sage.

33.

Robbins

Dechter

Kornrich

(2022) Assessing the deinstitutionalization of marriage thesis: an experimental test. American Sociological Review 87(2): 237–274.

34.

Roseneil

Ketokivi

(2016) Relational persons and relational processes: developing the notion of relationality for the sociology of personal life. Sociology 50(1): 143–159.

35.

Smart (2007) Personal Life: New Directions in Sociological Thinking. Cambridge: Polity Press.

36.

Taylor

(2007) A Secular Age. London: Harvard University Press.