Usually, there are around 250,000 weddings in the UK each year. Under the current COVID-19 restrictions, however, many planned marriages have been postponed indefinitely. The official statement on GOV.UK is "You cannot get married or register a civil partnership at the moment because of coronavirus (COVID-19)".

This has caused sadness, frustration and expense for many people.

This petition is for online weddings to be legally recognised.

Luckily there are examples of what that could look like:

• In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an order allowing online marriages. People can now apply for marriage licences remotely and clerks allowed to conduct ceremonies virtually.
• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also enabled people to get married online.

Notes:

1. People who want a virtual wedding can currently host one, but they can't get legally married online from separate locations. This is because the legal aspects of a marriage must be fulfilled in a physical location and the internet itself is not a place or a legal entity.
2. In the proposed action there would be certain elements needed such as two witnesses and a registrar, but the current requirement on needing a physical, registered space (dating back to an Act of Parliament in 1837) needs to be updated.
3. The statutory registration service is overseen by the Registrar General as part of the General Register Office, part of the HM Passport Office but provided locally by local authorities. Since 1994, the range of services offered by register offices has expanded so that they may now provide additional celebratory services including statutory citizenship and civil partnership ceremonies and non-statutory ceremonies such as naming and renewal of vows. All civil ceremonies may also take place in local approved premises, including hotels and public buildings.