corchen replied to your post: “Devotio," a modern Malora ficlet”
This is yummy. They couldn't have been married in the garden tho - private residences can't be licensed for marriage ceremonies, unless they're 'regularly open to the public'. Didn't spoil it for me, just figured you would want to know!
Hi honey! You're totally right. The legalities of marriage in England proper are quite restrictive.
For those of you who don't know what corchen and I are blathering on about - in most of the UK, you must be married at the Register's Office or in an approved Church or approved Wedding Venue (that must submit for a license to do so.) Homes are generally not approved unless like Corchen said, they're regularly open to the public. Outdoor weddings are generally not done, or if they are, they aren't legally binding. Scotland has different laws, but I'll focus on England because that's what we're talking about.
How to circumvent this? It would be a very American thing to do, but a couple could have what is called a Register's Office Wedding (yeah, like in Downton Abbey, but with much less pomp and circumstance,) and then have another non-legally binding ceremony at home. In the United States, we would call this a courthouse wedding with a personal "ceremony" at home. It's becoming more popular with couples in England (besides eloping to Scotland,) especially with the advent of the internet and being able to see everyone else's fab and offbeat wedding plans and pictures.
Another option would be to have a civil partnership ceremony instead of a marriage ceremony at home, but the legal ramifications of these partnerships are slightly different than full-on marriage. You can also have civil celebrants perform this ceremony, even if you've been married "legally" elsewhere, but want to share the ceremony itself with friends and family upon your return.
I could have gone into this in the ficlet, but thought that it would have weighed it down and taken a little bit of magic away from their day if I had to explain that technically, yeah - Mal and Aurora were already legally married before their garden ceremony. They probably would have done it at the register's office (hence my nod to the registrar doing the subsequent ceremony at home, though it would probably be a civil celebrant IRL,) and like most couples, ignored the fact that they were really married for a little while until their "actual" special day.
