Our bespoke service writes your ceremony in close consultation with you, allowing you to have all the elements that you want to make your special day even more special. We will tweek and tweek and tweek the ceremony until you are entirely happy.
Write your own vows or use more traditional wording, the choice is yours.
Choose a fancy dress theme, your celebrant will dress accordingly.
For further information and fees contact us.
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More information
To be
legally valid, a UK marriage ceremony must be performed by an authorised person
(for example, a registrar, a vicar or a priest) and be witnessed by two people.
This means couples must choose between: an approved religious ceremony, a
registry office ceremony, or a registrar who will attend the wedding at a
licensed venue.
The
ceremony is truly the most important part of the wedding day, and while couples
can make the reception as individual as they please, they can’t quite do that
for the ceremony itself – there are rules to follow and even pre-written vows.
Some couples are perfectly happy to have that sense of occasion that comes with
following the traditional vows and order of the ceremony set by someone else.
The reality is that the ceremony is likely to be very quick, and with
restrictions on readings, music, vows and sometimes even photographs. For
example, civil ceremonies may not include anything that’s related to religion,
such as hymns (even as quotes), Bible references, or even songs that indirectly
refer to religion. In some cases, churches will not allow photos to be taken
during the ceremony, or they restrict the photographer’s access.
You may not realise that there is, in fact, a way to have the
ceremony exactly how you like it – that is by having a Wedding Celebrant in
charge. Wedding Celebrants are not widely known in this country, but in fact
have been in existence for over 40 years. In England, Scotland and Wales you must be legally married first at the registry office, and then you
are free to design the wedding ceremony of your dreams.
Using a Wedding Celebrant allows you all the flexibility you
wish for (even if you want to get married on top of a mountain, like one couple we
know…) You will be able to have your wedding wherever you choose, at any time,
and it’ll be entirely up to you how the whole occasion flows and reflects your
personal beliefs and lifestyle. You will choose your own vows, readings, poems,
music and
anything else you fancy, without restriction.
How
to choose a wedding celebrant
o
Find a celebrant who really resonates with you – it’s a wonderful option
to have someone you really like performing your ceremony.
o
Arrange an initial face-to-face meeting, which should be free, so you
can see the celebrant’s demeanour, speaking style, and whether they’re friendly
yet professional. Ask all the questions you want, and they should be able to
advise on things you are unsure of, and make appropriate suggestions.
o
Whilst there isn’t currently any official industry body for celebrants,
there is the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants who provide a network of
celebrants throughout the UK and beyond. Their website UKSOC.com lists all their
trained professional celebrant members, all of whom carry £5million Public
Liability Insurance. Expect to pay upwards of £350.00 with possible travel
expenses on top.
How
to arrange a celebrant wedding
o
Arrange for an official registration of your marriage at an applicable
registry office, where you will legally become a married couple. The costs for
this are usually a fraction of what it costs for a registrant to attend at a
licensed venue, or hiring the ceremony room at the registry office. There is
usually a basic fee for filing the marriage application, then another small fee
for a basic ceremony on a scheduled date with two witnesses. You should check
with your local authorities for applicable requirements.
o
Meet with celebrant to set the date for your ceremony, define the
overall structure and programme, how you want to enter the venue, the vows,
other readings, speeches, music, flow and timings. You can even discuss
releasing balloons, or a Hand Wrapping or Sand Ceremony, or Dove Release Ceremony. Your celebrant will draft your vows for you and review and finalise the ‘order
of service’.
o
Schedule and hold a rehearsal with your celebrant.
o
Get ready to say your ‘I do’s”!
John and Susie had Graham Edwards as their Wedding Celebrant
at their Surrey wedding in September 2012 and have this to say:
We chose a celebrant because we were
not going to be able to work things out at the Register Office – we could have
no more than 50 people at the marriage ceremony so we had reached the point
where we were considering inviting friends without children to the Register
Office plus lunch and then inviting them back again for the Sunday with their
children. Crazy and unworkable. Hence, in desperation, I looked
into having the wedding in the back garden, was given the word ‘celebrant’ to
google and never looked back.
The first celebrant I spoke to was
unable to make the date we had reserved in people’s diaries so she recommended
Graham, who came to see us. He was fabulous: so calm and diplomatic.
John and I were practically at war when he came to see us and I could barely
speak without crying. He brought joy to an event which had lost its joy
and He was lovely to work with, understanding us and who we were. He wrote a fabulous ceremony and conducted it beautifully. Everybody loved
him. What more could any Bride want? What more can I say?
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