Hi there, welcome to my new blog as your wedding celebrant!
So I’ll start this exciting Fun Fact Blog with a few really common questions I get asked.
Question: “I want our wedding ceremony to reflect that I’m religious and my partner isn’t. We don’t like the idea of a church wedding so we want a few bible verses and also traditional elements included in our registrar-led ceremony. Surely we can arrange this with our Registrar”
Answer: No, you can’t. Unfortunately. It’s actually against the law for your registrar-led wedding ceremony to have any sort of religious connotations. So no scriptures, bible verses, or hymns being sung is allowed. The ceremony can’t elude to any religion, it can’t even mention any deity or God in any part, in any way.
Solution: Hire a Celebrant! Me!! Celebrants exist to make sure you can have a truly personalised ceremony. And if that means mentioning God, I’m more than happy to do that. There are no legal restrictions to the type of ceremony you can have, so have anything and everything, anywhere! I’ll even help choose the scriptures with you, if you need, and we’ll add any non -religious traditional verses to suit your partner too. You can even walk down the aisle to your favourite hymn, together or separately. It’s up to you. Your wedding ceremony will be a true reflection of both of your beliefs and desires. No restrictions whatsoever!
Question: “Surely we can just elope and have a small, intimate register office ceremony, the two of us, without any need for guests or witnesses.“
Answer: No you can’t, unfortunately. Again the law requires you to have a minimum of 2 witnesses at your register office wedding. No exceptions to this rule whatsoever ; you HAVE to have at least 2 other people there. So a truly intimate ceremony isn’t possible with a Registrar.
Solution: Yup, you guessed it, a Celebrant like me can absolutely marry just the two of you! Anytime. Anywhere. Without anyone else needing to be present. So if you want to elope, at sunset, overlooking the Yorkshire Dales, the same spot you had your first picnic date together for example, let’s do it! Or in Greece, just you two, on the beach, barefoot overlooking the sea, why not?! The only thing stopping you will be your imagination. So throw any ideas my way and the romantic in me will be up for it I’m sure.
I can't wait to answer more of your questions, in hopes of working together on your forever after.
Vim x