10 unique ideas for your celebrant-led wedding ceremony
Obviously I blooming adore a wedding! Watching two people in love make the ultimate commitment to each other in front of their friends and family is such a magical thing and as a wedding celebrant, I am so lucky to be able to part of it.
Having said that….
If you’re like me and you have seen your fair share of wedding seasons, it might be that you’re starting to feel a bit less excited about sitting through another rendition of Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer, and you think you could recite the registrars script word for word.
Don’t get me wrong, getting married in a church or licenced venue is a totally lovely choice for your wedding day. But perhaps you’re dreaming of something a bit more ‘you’ and with a bit more sparkle.
So how do you ensure that your wedding day is bespoke to you, filled with laughter and love and a few surprises your guests might not have seen before?
Step 1 is most definitely choosing a celebrant-led wedding. (Can this be a link to the ‘how to decide if a celebrant wedding is for you’??)
When you chose a celebrant-led wedding the possibilities for your ceremony are endless! Not only will you have a bespoke script including personalised vows and declarations, but a celebrant will likely have plenty of tricks up their sleeve to ensure that your ceremony is unique reflection of you.
To get your creative juices flowing, here are some of my favourite elements to include in your ceremony to make sure it is THE wedding your guests won’t forget.
1. Location, location, location
When you have a celebrant-led wedding you really can get married anywhere! No need to stick to tradition and get married in a church or registry office. Why not give your guests something to talk about and pick a unique venue? Maybe there is a forest where you walk your dogs that holds a special place in your heart, or you got engaged on a beach and you’d love to tie the knot in the same special place. The sky really is the limit!
2. change the seating
Once you’ve chosen your venue, consider how the guests will sit during the ceremony. You don’t have to go down the traditional route of having guests sitting in rows across a central aisle. How about having your guests sitting in a circle? A lot more intimate and a way to make your guests feel really included in your ceremony. You might even want to consider if you’re having an aisle at all. There is no rule about having the bride enter with her father and be ‘given away’, in fact a lot of people have moved away from this tradition. Perhaps you and the bridesmaids will conga down the aisle instead?!
3. Mix up the music
If you aren’t getting married in a church, then you probably want to step away from the traditional wedding march. And there are still limits to the music you can have in a registry office. When you have a celebrant-led wedding you are in complete control of all the elements of your ceremony. How about giving your guests a real tret and have a barbershop quartet sing your favourite song as you enter? Or take inspiration from Love Actually and have a surprise Gospel Choir pop up. Maybe you’re musical yourself and you want to surprise your partner by serenading them (have you seen the video of Tom from McFly on his wedding day – have a tissue ready!)
4. Write your own vows
With a celebrant-led wedding there are absolutely no set words that you must follow in your ceremony. You can completely throw out the ‘to have to hold’ script out the window and write your own vows. Personal vows that celebrate your love story and are meaningful to you are bound to have your guests reaching for the tissues! Your celebrant will work with you to create your vows but maybe you’d like to totally write your own or surprise your partner by writing some secret vows that they will only hear for the first time during your ceremony. Unique vows are guaranteed to make your ceremony a magical and memorable experience for you and your guests.
5. Hand fasting ceremony
When you think of the traditional elements of a wedding ceremony you probably think of the ring exchange. But maybe you want to mix it up and go for something completely different. You may have seen a hand-fasting ceremony before as this pagan tradition is growing in popularity at the moment. But it is still a unique element to bring into your wedding ceremony. Handfasting is an ancient Celtic ritual which symbolises the binding of two lives. Some consider it the origin of the saying ‘tying the knot.’ Traditionally ribbon or cord is used to tie the couples hands together. The colour of ribbons used in the ceremony have different meanings and the choice of tie should represent what is important to you. This is one of my favourite ways to bring a unique touch to your wedding ceremony.
6. Pass round your favourite tipple & ask guests to take a shot
Another one of my favourites and certainly a way to make sure your ceremony is the party starter not the boring bit at the beginning! Of course, it is traditional to toast the happy couple during the wedding, but why wait for the speeches? Passing round a tot of your favourite tipple is a unique touch for your wedding ceremony that your guests will likely love!
7. Unity Candle
The act of lighting a unity candle; two people jointly lighting a candle with their individual flames and representing the igniting of a new life together, is another lovely, unique ceremony you can incorporate into your wedding. Symbolically, flames represent love and passion, and so brining these two flames together is a representation of the joining of a couple in love and unity. I also like the opportunity this gives for more guest participation. The couple have their own individual candles which might be lit by a flame from someone in the wedding party (maybe their parents) before they jointly light the candle representing their new life together.
8. Ring warming ceremony
Ring warming is a unique and lovely way to involve your guests in your ceremony. It is a practice whereby your wedding rings are passed around the guests who are asked to hold them (warm them) and say a silent wish for your future. This symbolises the part that all the guests play in your future as a married couple. Wedding rings already symbolise everlasting commitment but having the good wishes of all your guests bestowed upon them gives them an even deeper meaning. Depending on the size of your wedding this can be done before the ring exchange while a piece of music plays, or before the ceremony begins.
9. Readings
If like me you think you have heard all the classic wedding reading before, just remember you can pick anything you like for your celebrant-led ceremony and that includes the readings. Maybe you have a few friends that you’d like to invite to act out a scene from your favourite romantic comedy? Or you have a family member who is great at writing poems. Think outside the box here to give your guests a nice surprise and bring in something unique for your wedding.
10. Pick your favourite song for a guest sing-along
One of the things that I do love about a church wedding is the opportunity to have a good old singsong. But who’s to say that you have to forgo this when you have a celebrant-led wedding? How about passing round a song sheet with you favourite song and getting the guests to join in karaoke style? Maybe you go for a song with male and female parts (You’re The One That I Want from Grease or Can You Feel The Love from The Lion King). This guest participation is guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s faces and help kick start the party mood.
I hope these tips have given you some food for thought and shown that, when it comes to your ceremony, really anything is possible. I know that it can feel overwhelming to have so much choice but your celebrant will have plenty of experience and ideas up their sleeve to help you create a unique and magical ceremony. If you’d like to discuss some ideas for your wedding then I’d love to hear from you, please feel free to get in touch.