Choosing your Wedding Ceremony Celebrant
Have you been looking for a place of beauty for your dream wedding ceremony, but do not want to be restricted to just approved licensed venues? Are you looking for something personal and different from the traditional, mass produced weddings, where the same words for every couple are read from a book? Do you want a ceremony that celebrates your love and commitment to each other exactly as you wish, with your own personality, style and beliefs as a couple included?
Having Your dream Day, Your Way!
Unlike a ceremony with a registrar or in a church, by choosing a celebrant there are no limitations! You can have the ceremony that YOU want, where YOU want, and with a content of your choice. A Celebrant led ceremony offers you the chance to have your Wedding ceremony, your way. No compromises or standard formats, each ceremony is written just for you.
Celebrants do not marry couples – Celebrants are there to help you as a couple celebrate your marriage. As a Celebrant I will put together and create a unique, bespoke wedding ceremony for you, that is not like any other wedding ceremony. The Wedding Ceremony is there to celebrate you as a couple, committing to yourselves in front of your family and friends. Your wedding ceremony with a Celebrant like me, will truly be a bespoke ceremony, whereas the scope for personalising a registrar led ceremony is very limited for you.
Everyone wants to have the wedding of their dreams and on most occasions everything is planned down to the last letter . . . . however most couples think that they have to have their wedding at a licensed only venue with a registrar, or have it at a registry office in order to be married.
Well, this does not need to be the case! Using an independent celebrant like myself, you can have the wedding of your dreams and have the ceremony ANYWHERE you would like to have it, whether this is in a forest or on the beach, a marquee in a back garden, or even in the restaurant that you both had your first date in!
What is not so commonly known or understood in this country, is that ONLY the ‘Declaratory words’ and the ‘Contracting words’ have to be said in a registry office or licensed venue in order for the marriage to be recognised in law and for a marriage certificate to be issued!
So the main difference between a registrar and a celebrant, is that a celebrant led ceremony does not contain the legal aspects of a marriage contract, whereas the registrar’s ceremony obviously can. So, a couple choosing a unique celebrant led ceremony will complete their legal paper work on a separate occasion with their two witnesses at a register office.
*Important to note! – I am a celebrant and NOT a registrar, therefore for your marriage to be recognised by law, you must complete the legal formalities at a registry office before the ceremony – This is usually done by couples earlier the same day of the wedding ceremony, or the day before.
In my home town in Dorset, this ‘legal’ part is just £42.00 to have your marriage recognised – The rest of the wedding ceremony, including the exchanging of rings and saying your vows to each other, is purely ceremonial and can therefore take place literally ANYWHERE, and at anytime night or day.
Exciting stuff!!
Where do we go from here?
If you are looking for a celebrant led wedding ceremony, I can meet with you both as a couple, and based on our discussions I will create for you, a ceremony that will celebrate you commitment together. If you wish to have included your love story, then I will incorporate this into the ceremony, along with your personality, style and beliefs as a couple as part of this awesome, personalised ceremony.
The price you pay for this service would typically include such things as the initial consultation (normally at a cafe local to you, or on Skype or a home visit) unlimited calls and emails and I will also let you see the ceremony script before the wedding day for your approval, and also many hours writing/re-writing the script for your unique ceremony. I will also be at the wedding venue and hour before we are due to start the ceremony, to make sure everything is in place for you, all my travelling.
Further help and advice?
If you want to know anything else about working with a celebrant for weddings or any other occasions, please feel free to give me a call on 07557 803814 or drop me an email at timdownercelebrant@gmail.com and I am always happy to offer advice.
