Daylight marriage laws to be axed

Couples will be able to tie the knot at any time of the day or night from the autumn, officials said today.

Archaic rules banning marriages from outside the daylight hours of 8am to 6pm will be scrapped, opening up the possibility of sunrise services or midnight marriages, the General Register Office said.

But the new rules, in place from October, will not force any local authorities or religious groups to allow marriages or civil partnerships to be registered outside of the traditional times, which date back to 1837.