Woo hoo! You’ve recovered from the proposal and you’re starting to plan. The excitement will keep building from here! Where will you marry? More to the point, who will officiate your ceremony? More and more couples are considering having their wedding ceremony created by a celebrant so I’ve put together some questions which often arise. Why “Eight frequently asked wedding celebrant questions?” Because that’s how many I thought of and, I’m a celebrant!
Congratulations, You’re engaged! https://unsplash.com/@inlieuandinview
1. How Much Does a wedding celebrant Cost in the UK?
Well, it obviously depends on the celebrant! The beauty of us is that we’re all different, and we’re celebrants for different reasons. Some, like me, do this as our main source of income so we have to charge accordingly.
Having said that, if I was doing this to prop up a pension, I’d work just as hard on the ceremonies, so would charge just the same.
All I can tell you is what I cost, and, to an extent, why.
The best thing to do is to contact me and tell me what you want, and we can take it from there. I’ve blogged about this question alone though, so if you want to know more, this article “How Much Does a wedding celebrant cost” should help!
2. What is a Wedding Celebrant?
Me! I am! Ok, that’s facetious, I’ll be serious for a minute.
A celebrant is a person who creates and officiates (or performs if you prefer) your wedding ceremony. They will often create other ceremonies as well such as vow renewal, naming and funeral ceremonies. There’s more to read on this on my “weddings” page on my website.
3. What should you look for in a wedding celebrant?
Have a look at their website. Do you like how it’s written? Does the celebrant’s personality and style come across from their writing? Or from the pictures of their ceremonies? Remember a good ceremony is beautifully written. The writing must reflect you as a couple, your personalities, your “vibe”. So, a good celebrant is truly empathetic, and reflects this in the way your ceremony is written and presented.
But don’t simply choose your celebrant simply from a website, cost or even recommendation! They have to “get” you, and you them, in order to create the right ceremony for you. So, ensure you have a chat with your celebrant online or face-to-face before booking them.
I stayed on for the ceilidh after Harriet and Lise’s wedding. Fair to say we became pals in the wedding process!
Check that they’ve trained with a recognised association as well. I trained with Civil ceremonies; I wouldn’t want to entrust my ceremony to someone who was “winging it”! Which takes me to question number 4;
4. Can anyone be a celebrant?
That’s a good question, the simple answer being “yes”! In theory you don’t even need to train to be one. You can ask a friend to conduct your ceremony if you wish to. However, I’ll never forget the wedding which I was asked to create just two weeks before the big day. The friend who’d said he’d do it hadn’t even started to think about what he was going to do!
However, just as any other professional in any other business, I’d like to think that being a celebrant takes more than training. You could be the best writer in the world but have a voice that would put the worst insomniac to sleep. Or have presentation skills that could win you a BAFTA but the imagination of a brick. There are an awful lot of training bodies out there, with an increasingly large number of celebrants appearing on the scene. It takes us back to the importance of meeting your celebrant before booking to ensure you’ve got the right person with the right skills.
5. What is a Humanist Celebrant?
Simply a celebrant who belongs to the Humanism Movement. This means that they would almost certainly steer clear of religion, and may want to avoid some superstitions and traditions. Most celebrants (including Treasured Ceremonies’ celebrants) in the UK are independent celebrants. This means we will shape the ceremony entirely around the beliefs and values of whoever we’re working with.
6. Is a celebrant wedding legal?
Well, it’s not illegal! No, in England and Wales (and France for that matter!) you have to have your marriage made a legal contract by the registrar (or mayor in France). Most couples who use a celebrant do this in a simple, private ceremony a day or two before their celebrant-led “wedding day” with their friends and family. If you’re having a religious ceremony, it may be legalised by the member of the clergy officiating, dependant on the religion.
7. Will a Celebrant create a ceremony for anyone?
I will, yes! This is a whole separate blog/statement which I’ve yet to write but have certainly bought into. My website may not be full of images from across our fabulous rainbow society, but that’s probably because I try not to use stock photos and I live in a place which is something of a “Mono-culture”! I’ve tried to rectify this within this blog!
8. Will my Celebrant Wedding Ceremony be unique?
Yes, certainly if you choose a celebrant who guarantees bespoke scripts. I’ve written here about two very different ceremonies which I officiated.
That’s it! I hope yours was among the eight wedding celebrant questions, and I’ve answered it. Please contact me here if I haven’t, and contact me if I have and you want to talk further!
This content was originally published here.