Coronavirus: Can I get married in Wales right now?

The virus cannot stop true love - but it can delay weddings

Couples who have been prevented from getting married or forming a civil partnership since lockdown might have celebrated when the Welsh Government announced ceremonies could resume from this week.

But before you start throwing confetti in the air - it seems finding a person to conduct a ceremony or a venue to do the deed is not as straightforward as it seems. Confused? You will be.

Can I get married in Wales?

On Friday, the Welsh Government announced from Monday 22 June it was "removing limitations on marriage and civil partnership ceremonies taking place, subject to physical distancing requirements", three months after a ban on ceremonies came into force because of the coronavirus lockdown.

It said ceremonies would have to be small and adhere to social distancing rules.

So yes - technically. Read on, however, for the terms and conditions...

Where can I get hitched?

The Welsh Government swiftly added caveats to its announcement on Monday as people rushed to contact venues.

It turns out only certain places are included in the announcement, namely official register offices and places of worship. But....

Carly Davies got in touch to say when she tried to contact a registrar they said no. Why?

Even though register offices are now allowed to perform weddings, they don't have to.

In its updated guidance, the government said: "Venues will be able to decide whether they want to open for such purposes."

What about my local church? And mosque? And temple?

Pretty much see above. The same applies to places of worship - they can decide whether or not to resume ceremonies.

The government said it was "working on detailed guidance in partnership with stakeholders".

You can get married in a church if they agree, but don't expect to fill it with guests

As an example, the Church in Wales has already said it is using the limited reopening announced on Monday to test out if social distancing can be achieved in its churches, rather than performing ceremonies straight away.

Church in Wales (like Church of England) and Roman Catholic weddings can usually just be performed with the minister or priest, who can solemnise the marriage themselves.

This is often the case with mosques, synagogues and temples, if they have their own registered officiant.

However some denominations or individual places of worship within a variety of faiths do not have a registered officiant and require a civil registrar to be present as well.

So even if the venue itself is willing to carry out a ceremony as of this week, it will depend on the local registrar being available or allowed to take part.

What about hotel weddings?

Helen Morris asked the BBC this question. For now, other "approved locations" are ruled out of the equation, so hotels, castles, stadiums - anywhere not a register office or place of worship which was previously licensed to hold weddings still cannot do so.

To illustrate the point, Michael Ludwig of Craig-y-Nos Castle in Swansea got in touch, following reports that weddings were now allowed, to make this very point.

He said: "We are not taking any wedding bookings in June, as the remit is such that hospitality is not open until 4th, 6th or 13th July.

"We are therefore also unable to offer food and drink under any form of social distancing rules and will not be providing such a service in July.

"As we have a number of weddings already booked in August, we may either convert them to 'ceremony only' if regulations are not relaxed enough, to allow them to continue."

How are couples feeling?

Waiting for their big day - Elizabeth Facer and Ian Choi were one of the couples forced to delay their wedding

Confused, frustrated, concerned. Noorhan Ani has asked when can someone "actually get married", saying that for international students who need to switch their visa from student to spouse visa, they can only do so when they are actually married.

Stephanie Jenkins said she thinks "it's time to elope" - good luck with that. Weddings are not currently allowed in England or Scotland. Northern Ireland however has been allowing weddings since early June with up to 10 people present.

Elizabeth Facer and Ian Choi, from Cardiff, started a petition calling for the rules on weddings to be relaxed after they had to delay theirs during lockdown.

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Yvonne Scott's son Geraint and his fiancee Stacy Lynch immediately got in touch with their non-conformist chapel in Barry on Monday when they heard weddings were back on, to rearrange their delayed service from 4 April.

Stacy Lynch and Geraint Scott had to postpone their wedding earlier this year

However, although the minister there was happy to proceed, when they contacted the registrar who also needed to be present to register the marriage, she had no knowledge of the rule change.

Yvonne said the family had had a "stressful" 24 hours in limbo, not knowing whether they could proceed or not.

Talking to people from around Wales on social media, Yvonne said the same story was repeated - officials not knowing anything about the rule change.

It is a happy ending for the Scott family. The registrar is on board, and their wedding will now take place in early July with just 15 people present. They are aiming to have another church service and reception later in the year.

So there is hope - but for quite a few couples, it will be a question of being in the right postcode or the right faith as to when their life of married or civil partnered bliss can begin.