MARRIAGE LAWS IN ENGLAND & WALES
Currently, an independent Celebrant in England or Wales is unable to perform the LEGAL MARRIAGE part of a wedding ceremony.
In England & Wales, marriage laws state that there are only two types of legal marriage:
See Marriages and civil partnerships in England and Wales: Check if you can get married or form a civil partnership - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for the details.
To be legally married, you will need to arrange one of the above.
You can do this in the weeks and months before your Celebrant led wedding ceremony and then, at your Celebrant led wedding, you can acknowledge in front of your closest family and friends that the legal necessities have been carried out but that your Celebrant led wedding day is the DAY for all the people closest to you to celebrate your wedding!
WHY SHOULD I HAVE A CELEBRANT LED WEDDING?
You don't have to have a Celebrant led wedding! If you have had a legal marriage ceremony, then you are married, and that is a wonderful thing.
But if you want to CELEBRATE and SHARE this major milestone in your lives, you might well want a celebration to honour your marriage in front of closest family and friends, and therefore you may consider working with a Celebrant, which is where I come in.
I am there to work with you to create a personal - unique to you - ceremony, for you, your family and friends. Indeed, you might want to include family members and friends in the ceremony. You may want to include personally created vows, readings, poems and rituals, which are a brilliant way to involve your wider family. You might want to include your pets!
We can do pretty much anything, in a vast variety of different venues. The sky is the limit.
Your ceremony script will be absolutely unique to you. The only part that will be missing from your Celebrant led wedding script is the legal wording and the signing of the Register.
WHO WRITES THE CEREMONY?
In collaboration and agreement with you, I write the script. We will meet, I need to get to know you so I can understand your individual journeys before you met, and your life together! After we have met, I will go away, think about what you want, come back to you with questions and then I will write a draft ceremony. We will discuss suggestions and improvements. It will take as long as it takes with as many changes that you need. Nothing will be said by me on the day without you knowing what is going to be delivered! It is your script, inspired by you and created for you. You will be signing it off!
I love writing and have spent a long time during my career putting pen to paper.
WILL WE GET TO PRACTICE?
Oh my goodness, YES! My suggestion is that - as part of your rehearsal the day before your ceremony - we run through the script together so you are absolutely happy about how the ceremony script will go on the big day.
WILL YOU BE ARRANGING THE WHOLE WEDDING FOR US?
No, and you wouldn't want me to I think! There are gifted and brilliant Wedding Planners out there who will be able to help you.
My job is to create a bespoke, unique CEREMONY SCRIPT for you, professionally delivered and managed.
A brilliant and personal wedding script - whether it is simple or more complex - will centre on exactly what you want to say, and exactly how you want to say it. Your ceremony script should be like a swan ....... seamless and graceful on the surface, but powered by strong legs and purpose underneath. That's where I come in.
WHAT ABOUT COST?
My fee starts at £650.00.