How to decide if a celebrant-led wedding ceremony is for you

Getting engaged is probably one of the most exciting and happy moments of your life! A day you have perhaps been dreaming of for a long time. No doubt, there were tears, smiles, celebrations with loved ones and the all-important ring selfie social media announcement! Now you and your partner can start planning for your life together and begin planning your dream wedding.

Making choices for your wedding is such a special time, planning the biggest day of your life can be fun and exciting.

Chances are you’ve been working on your wedding Pintrest board since about 2 hours after your proposal! So many lovely decisions to make about what to wear and what flower to have for your centrepiece.

But deciding what kind of ceremony you want can often fall down the list of priorities. The formal bit at the start of the day that people just want out of the way before the champagne starts flowing can feel like it needs the least planning.

Making your declaration of love in front of friends and family should be the central part of planning your wedding day; the main event filled with smiles and happy tears, an honouring of your love story so far and a celebration of your new life together as a married couple.

If you agree with this and you want your wedding ceremony to be a personal affair sprinkled with anecdotes and totally bespoke vows and special touches to make it feel unique and fun, then a celebrant-led wedding ceremony could be the one for you!

Rather than feeling you’ve now got an extra thing to put on your to-do list, I want to make sure that making the choice for your wedding ceremony is easy and simple. 

Perhaps you’ve never seen a celebrant in action and haven’t previously considered this as an option for your wedding. Or maybe you’ve been to a wedding with a kick-ass ceremony, and you want a slice of that cake for your own big day. 

So, let’s start off with what a celebrant does and what they can bring to your big day.

In a nutshell, wedding celebrants create a unique ceremony with you creating bespoke vows, declarations and telling your love story with a touch of magic ensuring that your wedding starts off with a bang.

If you are a couple looking to break with tradition, then I would say that going with a wedding celebrant is the best option for you. Maybe you’ve attended that many church weddings by now that you can’t stand to hear St Paul’s letter to the Corinthians or sing All things Bright and Beautiful one more time!  A celebrant can pick any readings, music or singing you want. Fancy a group rendition of your favourite Disney song? Let’s do it! Want all your guests to share a toast and take a shot of your favourite tipple during your ceremony? Sounds great!

Really there isn’t anything that can’t be done! A wedding celebrant will have so many magic gems to suggest making sure your ceremony is front and centre of your wedding rather than the bit that Great Auntie Marge snoozed through.

A celebrant will be able to listen to your ideas and thoughts for your wedding and guide you to creating a ceremony that is totally personal to you.

So, if you are an adventurous couple with a distinctive sense of style and you want your wedding day to reflect that, pick a celebrant-led wedding.

You might have seen or heard about various pagan wedding rituals that are growing in popularity such as hand fasting or jumping the broom. If you have a more spiritual side that you would love to bring into your ceremony, then a celebrant-led wedding would be the best way to explore this and incorporate some elements that your guests might not have seen before.

Of course, if you are more on the romantic side and want your guests to be reaching for the tissues in your ceremony then a celebrant is a good option for you as well. When you are married by a registrar then there is a set script that must be followed which doesn’t allow for any personalisation. If you’re looking to tug on the heart strings with your sentimental vows, then working with a wedding celebrant is going to best for you.

Location is another reason that choosing a celebrant-led wedding might be the right choice for you. Always dreamt of getting married on a beach at sunset? A celebrant can make it happen. Got a favourite abandoned castle that would be an amazing place to get hitched? A celebrant can do that too. So if you have a dream location in mind for your wedding then I would recommend a celebrant-led wedding is going to be the right choice for you.

Another reason to pick a celebrant-led wedding is if you and are your partner are a multi-faith couple. Or one of you has more religious views than the other and you still want to honour their beliefs without getting married in a place of worship. An independent celebrant is totally non-religious and not affiliated to any groups or organisations. This means there is nothing off limits for them in terms of the content of your ceremony. If you want to have a prayer or a hymn, that’s totally fine.

You may have come across humanist celebrants who are part of humanism and so there are certain restrictions they must follow, and they won’t be able to add in any religious elements to your ceremony.

I hope that this has helped you understand some more about what a celebrant-led wedding can bring to your big day and given you some clarity on whether this would be the best path for you to chose. It is always a good idea to speak to a celebrant to ask all your questions and so you can discuss your vision for your dream ceremony. I would love to hear about your wedding so please do feel free to get in touch if there is anything I can help you with.