Wedding Celebrant FAQ’S
It’s natural to have a lot of questions – especially when you want to break from tradition and create a wedding ceremony that is personal and special to you as a couple.
Here are some frequently asked questions that I get asked – but please get in touch if you have any questions. I’d be delighted to hear from you.
What is the role of a Celebrant?
The role of a Celebrant is essentially that of a non-religious leader of ceremonies. The ceremonies can be anything from secular weddings, held at chosen venues, to the renewal of wedding vows and Celtic hand-fastings.
At civil weddings, traditionally, the Celebrant acts in partnership with the Registrar, conducting the Order of Service, whilst the Registrar deals with the official signing of the marriage certificate. A Celebrant does not have the authority to actually marry a couple, but is there to perform the ceremony in partnership with the Registrar.
Why choose an Independent Celebrant?
Independent Celebrants are commonly employed for civil wedding ceremonies where the bridal party wishes for a unique and personalised service. We can lead tailor-made ceremonies as we operate separately from a Registrar.
How can we craft our wedding ceremony?
In order to understand everything an Independent Celebrant can do for you at a civil wedding ceremony, it’s best to first look at what a traditional Registry-led Wedding has to offer: weddings solely conducted by a Registrar at a civil ceremony, for example in a Registry Office, tend to follow a standard format to a designated time-limit, usually about 20 minutes, with very little opportunity for individual input or creativity. Even in a chosen wedding venue, with this type of wedding, the standard format is followed. The ‘big day’ can feel as if the central part is merely a tick-box exercise before the party afterwards.
If you want your wedding ceremony to feel unique, memorable and personal to you, then you might begin to look at an alternative way of planning your day, and this is where an Independent Celebrant can help you. An Independent Celebrant will be able to offer you what you are really hoping for in creating the day of your dreams.
The alternative way of going about things is to dispense with the offices of the Registrar as part of your actual ceremony. Instead, you can opt to visit the Registry Office in advance, perhaps on the morning of the wedding ceremony, or the afternoon before. Then you can sign the paperwork in a simple ten-minute appointment with a witness, paying a fraction of what it would cost you if the Registrar participates at the venue on the day.
The great advantage of going about your wedding in this way, is a) the cost is reduced, and b) more importantly, it frees you to choose exactly how you would like your wedding to be. By dispensing with the Registrar, you are no longer bound to have your wedding at a licensed premises. You can have it anywhere – outdoors under an apple tree, in your garden, on a boat, a bridge, a mountain, in a hot-air balloon. The possibilities are endless!
You can also design your wedding ceremony exactly as you like, having thrown out the standard format offered by the Registrar. You can have as many readings, as much music, live performers, and dancing as you wish, and take as long as you like about it. If you are coming from different cultural backgrounds you can take elements from different traditions to give special meaning to your union.
How much does an independent celebrant cost?
As an Independent Celebrant, I will charge a one-off, all-inclusive fee, based on the size and scale of your ceremony. The cost will include an initial meeting, all necessary planning, travel costs and conducting the ceremony on the day. Please contact me for a quote.
What is included for weddings?
There will be an initial consultation, with no obligation, to discover if I am the Celebrant for you. Time will be spent discussing the style of wedding, the place, time of year, size of wedding party, individual participation, choosing of readings, poems and music. Once you have decided to go ahead, more detailed planning will follow, with two or three more meetings as you get closer to the date.
I will help you create a ceremony to suit your individual tastes, assisting with wording, and the form you wish it to take. You can compose your own vows if you wish, or follow a version that I will write, or have a bit of both.
I will visit the wedding venue in advance to make sure it will suit the ceremony we have planned.
I will oversee a rehearsal of the wedding ceremony the day before, if requested.
I will arrive an hour before the ceremony on the day, meet with the Bridegroom and any other members of the party to make sure everything is under control, and set up my wedding table and sound system if needed.
I will conduct the ceremony in the style that you have requested, and hope to bring to it an individual charm that will give significance to the occasion and make it truly memorable.
Funeral Celebrant FAQ’S
Why Choose an Independent Celebrant?
Independent Celebrants are also requested and recommended by Funeral Directors to conduct funerals where the deceased has left specific wishes for a non-religious service. Funerals may take place at a crematorium, or outdoors at ‘green’ funeral sites.
How much does it cost?
As an Independent Celebrant, I will charge a one-off, all-inclusive fee, based on the size and scale of your ceremony – this is most usually arranged through the Funeral Director who is co-ordinating the arrangements.
Once agreed, I will give you as much time and expertise with planning this unique event as you need, to help you shape the ceremony to your own personal requirements.