Question 1

What is a celebrant?

Accepted Answer

A celebrant is an independent individual, trained to conduct custom-made ceremonies to celebrate life’s milestones in a way which is truly personal to you, with no legal obligation. There are very few limitations on what can be included in a celebrant-led ceremony or where it can be held.

Question 2

Why would I choose a celebrant led wedding ceremony?

Accepted Answer

When planning a wedding, couples often think they that only have the option of either a religious ceremony or a civil ceremony with a registrar.
There is however, an increasingly popular third option of having a celebrant-led ceremony. 
Religious and civil ceremonies can often feel very limiting but as celebrants are not limited to licensed venues, couples can get married anywhere they choose. Celebrants are also not restricted to traditional templates, so couples can include whatever they wish in their ceremony and have complete creative freedom to design a truly unique and personal experience.

Question 3

Is my celebrant wedding ceremony legally binding?

Accepted Answer

No.
 
You will need to register your marriage in a registry office before or after your celebrant wedding ceremony in order to make your marriage legally binding. Couples consider the day they host their celebrant-led ceremony and reception to be their "real" wedding day, rather than the day of the formal registration. A wedding ceremony is a sincere public commitment of love in the presence of friends and family and the legal aspect is just a formality.  It is often viewed as a paperwork exercise that the couple will complete privately and inexpensively and while most will choose to do this before their ceremony, it can actually be completed at any time.

Question 4

Do I need to register my marriage on the same day or at the same venue as my Celebrant Wedding Ceremony?

Accepted Answer

No.
You can do this any day before or after your wedding ceremony at any registry office in the UK. You do not need to have a registrar attend your Celebrant Ceremony or be present at your venue. Often, it is cheaper to register your marriage at your local registry office on a weekday rather than a weekend.

Question 5

How do we attend to the legalities?

Accepted Answer

You will need to give notice at your local register office and arrange to have a ‘Statutory Ceremony’ to legally register your marriage. This is the ‘admin’ part of the process and does not need to be treated as a formal ceremony. Please see our blog on how to legally register your marriage.

Question 6

We don’t want to legalise our marriage at all, is this allowed?"

Accepted Answer

Yes.
 
A Celebrant Wedding Ceremony is not a legally binding ceremony.  It is about celebrating your love and relationship in a way that is special to you.  If you wish to confirm your commitment to each other without legal ties we can design a commitment ceremony tailored to your needs.

Question 7

Is a Celebrant-led ceremony less ‘real’ or important?

Accepted Answer

No.
In fact quite the opposite is true. Celebrant-led ceremonies are about promoting choice for couples who are looking for something extra special. There is no standard template so celebrants have the freedom to create an event which narrates your love story in a way that is important to you.

Question 8

Just how unique can our wedding be?

Accepted Answer

Completely unique! There are no rules so you can simply have whatever you wish. Here are a few examples of weddings where couples have embraced their passions and chosen venues special to them.
A 1940s vintage themed wedding complete with cockney sing- along.
A fully inclusive wedding where guests were asked to bless and pass around the wedding rings, then read out why they thought the couple were a perfect match.
A beach wedding in the exact spot where the groom had proposed the year before. This was complemented with a beach theme, where the bride arrived on a speedboat carrying a bouquet of shells.
A ceremony in the centre of a circle of trees in the couple’s garden. The wedding rings were made from one of the branches and they exchanged vows about how their wedding bands weren’t about status but about serving as a reminder of the exact place and time that they made their commitment to each other.

Frequently Asked Questions