WHAT IS A CELEBRANT?
And why should you choose one for your special day?
A celebrant is someone who creates and leads a ceremony to mark a significant milestone in someone's life, working closely with the individual, couple or family involved.
More specifically, a wedding celebrant will craft and lead a wedding ceremony. We are the people at the top of the aisle doing all the talking! In all cases in England and Wales, and in some in Scotland, these are non-legal ceremonies.
As a wedding celebrant, I will work with you to create a personal, fun and memorable ceremony tailored to your unique love story. Whether you want something wacky and unconventional, or formal and traditional, my goal is to make your big day stress-free, full of love, and completely unforgettable.
WHY CHOOSE A WEDDING CELEBRANT?
In England and Wales, you can only be legally married by a member of the clergy or a registrar. The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a tad more complex, but independent celebrants, like me, are not able to legally marry you.
However, not having the legal constraints may actually be beneficial as it's one less thing to worry about! When you can have the wedding ceremony of your dreams, signing a few papers becomes pretty insignificant. Consider the legal paperwork and the ceremony to be two separate entities, with the latter being full of love, laughter and YOU! Here are a few reasons why you should choose a celebrant-led wedding:
01.
Completely personal service
02.
Total creative freedom
03.
Inclusive and meaningful
04.
Have your wedding anywhere!
01
Completely personal service
As a wedding celebrant, I will work closely with you, getting to know you both as individuals and as couples. This means you can trust that I am representing your values, beliefs and desires, which will help put you at ease and help you relax on the day! This results in a bespoke, meaningful and personal ceremony which simply couldn't be replicated with a registrar.
Contrastingly, if you opt for a registrar, you do not get to choose them, and you usually don't meet them in advance. That's not to say that they won't be great, it's just not guaranteed. They normally do more than one wedding in a day, so if you're running late, they probably won't wait for you! They also have to follow certain protocols, including not working at specific temperatures. Your ceremony will be non-personal, and you will only get to pick from a couple of standard options for your script. The resulting ceremony can be bland and generic: the difference between a celebrant-led wedding and a registrar-led wedding is night and day!
02
Total creative freedom
With a celebrant-led wedding, there are no rules or restrictions. You do you baby! Want to rap your vows? Want to reenact your favourite scene from The Notebook? Want to sing a Disney-inspired medley for your personal vows? Go for it! Want to paraglide into your ceremonial space? I mean, I've never seen it done before, but where there's a will there's a way! You get the point, with a celebrant-led wedding, anything goes! There is so much room for flexibility, and you could incorporate your friends and family as much or as little as you'd like. Make it memorable, make it you.
03
Inclusive and meaningful
Everyone deserves love. A celebrant-led wedding is non-judgemental, inclusive and respectful of all beliefs. Everyone and anyone can be represented. Perhaps you are an interfaith couple and you'd like to incorporate elements of both your religions into the ceremony. Maybe you're a same sex couple who want to have a wedding in a safe and trusting environment, or maybe you're from different countries and would like to represent both your cultures in your ceremony. A celebrant-led wedding can sensitively and respectfully cater to all your wishes.
04
Have your wedding anywhere!
The only places you can get legally married in England and Wales are a church or a licensed venue. Whilst many of these places are gorgeous, this is SO restrictive! Also, If you opt for a registrar to conduct your ceremony at a licensed venue, you will still pay a considerable amount of money to have them there. If you have a celebrant-led wedding, you could literally have your wedding ceremony anywhere you wanted (so long as you have the landowners permission of course!) You could choose somewhere very personal to you: perhaps it's where you had your first date, where you got engaged, or maybe it's somewhere beautiful or interesting that reflects your personalities and hobbies. Your garden, cinema, brewery, art gallery, park, theatre, zoo, double-decker bus, pizzeria, planetarium, rooftop bar... You're only restricted by your imagination, the possibilities are endless!
SO HOW DO I GET LEGALLY MARRIED?
Don't worry, it's simple really!
Whilst an independent celebrant-led wedding is not legally binding, it's STILL your wedding day.
To legally marry your partner, you'd need to sign the formal documents at a local registry office with a registrar - just a little more 'wedmin'. Depending on your region, this could be as little as £46. You could do this the week before your wedding, the day before, whenever!
Think of it this way: if you have a child, you'd celebrate the day they were born, not the day they were legally registered! Your celebrant-led wedding is the same idea: you'd celebrate the day you had your wedding, not the day you signed the papers at the office (or you could celebrate that too if you wanted another excuse for a date night!)
Follow the links for further information for marriage in your country.
Scotland:
​
Download the document for more info on marriages in Scotland.
​
​
​
​
England and Wales:
​
Northern Ireland:
