Couples will be able get married in McDonald’s, pubs and restaurants under cost-cutting Budget plans

COUPLES will be able to get married in McDonald’s under Budget plans to let all restaurants, pubs and hotels hold weddings.

Chancellor Philip Hammond will announce a review of “outdated” marriage ceremony laws that require venues to abide by strict and costly rules to stage weddings.

The overhaul of rules would also allow open air weddings.

The move is designed to slash the cost of getting married.

Currently the average cost of venue hire for a wedding in the UK is £4,500 - a significant chunk of the average total wedding cost of between £20,000 and £30,000.

Current red tape required to become a wedding venue includes needing to dedicate a specific room where the ceremony takes place - as well as needing to be part of a building rather than outside, even if it’s under a marquee.

Wedding licence holders must also make sure that no food or alcoholic drinks are sold or consumed in the specific marriage ceremony area one hour before and during the proceedings.

Treasury officials said this burdensome red tape deters small business owners from seeking to get a licence.

Relaxing restrictions would make it cheaper and simpler for couples to get married - and would encourage more to tie the knot, they said.

Meanwhile a bid to extend civil partnerships to mixed-sex couples hit a snag after the Government refused to back a Tory MP’s draft legislation - despite it clearing the House of Commons yesterday.

Women and Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt said there were a “number of questions” about making the changes after a Private Members Bill brought forward by ex-minister Tim Loughton was approved in the Commons.

The bill seeks to open civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples for the first time.