I want to have my ceremony in a park and a posh picnic for afterwards. Has anyone got any experience in this? or know what I would need to do?

Unless the park has an enclosed area licensed for weddings, then the legal part of the ceremony would have to be elsewhere. I believe there has to be a "permanent structure" that is licensed - this could be a gazebo or similar that is outside.

Other options would be to do the legal part in a registry office, and then have a "ceremony" outside conducted by someone - a humanist for example.... depending on what sort of thing you want.

Probably best to google it - lots of good explanations out there, and a link to the humanist website. Basically for non-religious people - they can do ceremonies of all kinds.... But that's just an example - you could have a ceremony done by anyone if it's not a legal one - otherwise you'd need a registrar, and a licensed venue of some kind.....

an I get married in my back garden?

Not legally in England, Wales or Northern Ireland I’m afraid. You can only marry in a church, or in a room that has been legally licensed by the local authority. These days that can mean a stately home, a permanently moored boat, a fixed gazebo or even a cave - so there are still a lot of options.

If nothing but your garden will do though, consider a humanist ceremony. Not legally recognised (so you would first need to pop into your local register office to get the paperwork out of the way), these non-religious weddings are much more flexible, can be heavily personalised and are getting very popular with couples that find standard ceremonies too restrictive.

You can legally marry outdoors in Scotland - a licensed clergyman can marry you in a religious ceremony anywhere he sees as fit and proper, and a recent change in the law means that the registrars can temporarily license anywhere fit for the purpose on a temporary basis for a civil wedding. A garden would indeed seem to qualify.

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