When it comes to weddings, so many couples are now deciding to have a ceremony about them. One which includes personalised and individual aspects. Are you aware you can design your wedding ceremony and have tailor made ceremonies? Tailor made isn’t just for the dress, suit or clothing. It is also about the most important aspect of any wedding, the actual ceremony itself.
Personalised wedding ceremonies have been around for quite a while, with more couples recently choosing to have them. Traditionally, wedding ceremonies were conducted in religious places or clinical looking register offices. The same place people go to register a birth and a death. Not exactly the most romantic or joyously decorated of places.
Civil weddings, also classed as non religious weddings became available in registered venues such as hotels, stately homes and other places wishing to apply for a marriage licence. This became an alternative to both religious and register offices weddings, and enabled couples to say their vows in more preferred surroundings. However, the content of the ceremony was, and still is the same as that held in a register office.
While the surroundings maybe nicer, how many couples look out of the window during their actual wedding ceremony? The view outside maybe lovely, but the words being said are surely more important? How can a heartfelt, personalised, tailor made ceremony, an outdoor wedding, a bespoke ceremony on a beach, or one held in beautiful surroundings be combined? That is where a wedding Celebrant comes in.
Wedding Celebrants, sometimes also called a wedding officiant, are trained in the construction and delivery of wedding, renewal of vows and other family ceremonies. The role of the Celebrant involves meeting with couples, talking to them many times, sometimes over several hours at a time in order to write, construct and deliver a tailor made ceremony on the couple’s wedding day, in a venue of their choice, at a time suitable to them.
Unlike registrars or religious leaders, a Celebrant does not have a script from which we read. Every ceremony performed by a Celebrant has been designed and tailor made for each individual couple. We aren’t script readers, we are skilled ceremony designers and deliverers of unique words which are only used once. Celebrants build a repot and gel with our clients. Most of us keep in contact with some of our clients too.
How many couples remember the name of the registrar who married them? Probably not many. Unlike register office or civil ceremonies held in licensed marriage venues, couples who choose Celebrant ceremonies know exactly who will perform their ceremony for them, and what they look and sound like.
This is useful if choosing to have a bilingual, inclusive themed or subculture ceremony. As an alternative Celebrant, I write and perform Viking, goth, steampunk, Pagan and many other ceremonies. These aspects are included within the ceremony, including the vows. This is only available when you have a Celebrant ceremony and design your wedding ceremony, so it is tailor made.
Celebrants are also more than happy to wear appropriate, themed or requested clothing to fit in with a couple’s theme. Something registrars and religious leaders won’t usually adhere to. A vicar dressed as a Viking, or a registrar wearing steampunk clothing with top hat and goggles?
A Celebrant will also make sure guests feel included and welcomed, and if this included using words and phrases in other languages spoken by the couple or their family, this is what we do.
If you would like to design your wedding ceremony, and have a tailor made ceremony, it is a Celebrant you should turn too. If you want to include certain ceremony elements such as a handfasting, a mead ceremony, unity ceremonies, themed or personalised certificates or guest inclusive elements, a Celebrant ceremony is the way to have these.
Personally designed, tailor made ceremonies are achieved by skilled ceremony designers, or Celebrants as we prefer to be modestly known as.