marriage are completed by a Registering Officer, who is a person specially appointed by the Monthly Meeting in which the couple is to be married. However, that person is responsible purely for the administration of matters such as the certificate and does not "marry" the couple. Usually, there are no bridesmaids or other special roles in the wedding other than that of the bride and the groom. The couple then signs the Quaker wedding certificate. All those present are invited to give ministry with the gathered meeting as they feel led, as in any other meeting for worship. At the close of worship, all who are present at the meeting are asked to sign the wedding certificate as witnesses. Often, the certificate is hung prominently in the home of the couple as a reminder of the declarations it made and of the people with whom it shared that moment. United Kingdom Declarations The declarations made by the couple in meetings for worship for the solemnisation of marriage in Britain Yearly Meeting are as follows (words in italics are optional): "In the presence of God (OR In the fear of the Lord and in the presence of this assembly), Friends, I take this my friend NAME to be my spouse*, promising, through divine assistance (OR with God's help), to be unto him/her a loving and faithful spouse*, so long as we both on earth shall live (OR until it shall please the Lord by death to separate us)" * the word "spouse" may be replaced by "wife", "husband" or "partner in marriage". The declarations may also be made in Welsh. Law Quaker marriage has been subject of special law in England and Wales since the 18th century. The first Marriage Act 1753, which regulated the legal and civic recognition of marriage, recognised only marriages conducted by the "Society of Friends", Jews and the Church of England and removed recognition of common-law marriage or marriage conducted by any other religious group. Thus, Quakers' marriages were legally recognised though marriages within other non-conformist traditions were not legally recognised. The special exemption for Quakers has continued in subsequent Marriage Acts in England and Wales up to and including the Marriage Act 1949, which allows "marriage in according to the usages of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers". Quakers and Jews were exempt from the restrictions within the Marriage Act 1949 from the requirements