Cunard Line is to allow its passengers to marry on board for the first time in its 171-year history.

The line will introduce a ‘Weddings at Sea’ program from Spring next year on board all three of its ships, the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria.

Cunard has traditionally held out from the profitable trend of offering weddings at sea, something which isn’t allowed under British law.

Cunard has reregistered its ships in Bermuda. They will no longer fly the Union Jack or display the home port of Southampton on their stern.

However, for the line, which intends to launch a brochure detailing the new wedding packages in November, it seems a small price to pay.

“Most of our competitors have been developing increasingly popular and lucrative ‘Weddings at Sea’ programs, and these are now very big business in the cruise industry,” explained Cunard’s Peter Shanks. “We receive a lot of enquiries about the possibility of being married on one of our ships.”

On-board weddings are currently experiencing a boom, with agents reporting that weddings are the most popular milestone to be celebrated on board a ship.

However, the list of ships with captains that can preside over the ceremony itself (a popular request) is limited due to legal restrictions — according to popular cruise website CruiseCritic, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and Princess Cruises are among those with captains available to marry passengers.