Benefits of a celebrant wedding ceremony | Celebrant Weddings
I’ve been thinking a lot about how important your wedding ceremony is and about the benefits of a celebrant wedding ceremony, because it’s so important to think about WHO conducts your wedding ceremony. Celebrant weddings are some of my favourite because the couple has made an active decision to choose the person who will marry them. Your wedding ceremony is the whole reason for your wedding and the awesome party afterwards, and celebrant weddings have so much personality and emotion, and can make such a powerful impact in your wedding ceremony. I love celebrant weddings so much I thought it would be a great idea to compile a list of the awesome benefits of a celebrant wedding ceremony, how they work and as much info I can give about celebrant weddings.
Celebrant lead weddings are a really fun way to make your wedding even more personal and even more about you. I love weddings which are lead by a celebrant because they’re conducted in a way that adds so much more emotion, personality and fun into your ceremony. When most people think about weddings, they think of the ceremony as the formal bit which makes you officially married, but not as a fun aspect of your day you can completley customise to make your own.
Most people have a quick look online and book the closest registrar who’s available, and while there’s some degree of flexibility on what you say and how your ceremony progresses, there isn’t too much personalisation that can be added. When you’re saying what you’re told to and doing that they say, I really do think that your ceremony should have more you in it. Traditioanally, the ceremony is the legal bit before the fun party afterwards, but the ceremony is the whole reason for your wedding day, so why shouldn’t it be fun, personal and all about you?!
HOW DO CELEBRANT WEDDINGS WORK?
A wedding celebrant is someone special who conducts your wedding ceremony. It’s basically their mission to get to know you both really well and reflect you both, your story and your personalities into your wedding ceremony. Their main job is write a really personal ceremony and direct your service in a way that makes you happy, with words you agree with and connect to.
The main difference between wedding conducted by a celebrant and a registrar is that weddings officiated by a celebrant aren’t official in a legal sense. So, if you’re wanting to tie the knot officially, the best thing to do is to hold your legal cermony either a few days before or after (or whenever you want, really!) in your local town hall or another location that can hold official ceremonies by a registrar. I know it can should a bit weird doing tings twice, but it just means that you can then throw the wedding ceremony and party of your dreams with a celebrant and say/do what feels right to you. Not everyone connects to the words or conduct of a registrar led ceremony, so if you want to celebrate with a handfasting ceremony or something else you like, you’re free to do so!
BENEFITS OF A CELEBRANT LED WEDDING
You can say your vows outside without restriction! So, you want to get married outside but having to do it under a ‘permanent structure’ kind of defeats the point, right? Celebrants can conduct your ceremony anywhere in the world, whether it’s up a mountain in the Scottish highlands, in your back garden for a home wedding, in a farm… you get the idea. If you can think of the place, they can do it!
Choose someone special. You can choose from some lovely celebrant companies in the UK, like The Celebrant Company or opt to have someone you know conduct your ceremony for you instead. It’s not quite the same as in the USA where your best friend (Joey from Friends, anyone?), parent or sibling can become ordained within days and legally marry you, but if you are wanting to add that personal touch of having your ceremony led by them, you can.
No time restrictions. Most registrars will give you between 45 minutes and an hour, which includes the pre-wedding formalities, the ceremony and the signing of the registrar, and if you think about it, that’s not a huge amount of time. Things often run late, it’s something you kind of expect at a wedding, but if you’re going to be given an added charge from your registrar by going over your time slot, that’s not a great wedding day feeling. Lots of celebrants will give you time, as much as you need so your ceremony doesn’t feel rushed.
Personalised vows and readings. You want to add in a Disney reading you just love, or your favourite poem? Go for it! I know some registrars do let you add in personal poems and words, but like I mentioned above, it all comes out of your time allowance and it’s normally a bit more serious.
Make your ceremony FUN. That’s right. Your ceremony should be fun and incredibly memorable and full of you. It shouldn’t be the boring legal bit before the fun party afterwards, your ceremony should be incredibly fun, amke you laugh and smile ad feel like you, not a copy and paste replica.
If you’re planning a humanist or celebrant led wedding, I’d love to hear about your awesome plans! Check out the investment, view my gallery or pop me a message!
