Everything you've ever wanted to know about working with a wedding celebrant
- Meg Senior
- Dec 8
- 8 min read
If you’ve got questions about working with a wedding celebrant, well, friend – I have answers.
And these aren’t the kind of “Frequently Asked Questions” where brands just cram in the extra info they want you to know; these are actual, bona fide questions that I get asked. There’s no such thing as a stupid question, especially with something like wedding celebrants, where there’s still a fair amount of confusion about what we do and how we can help.
So, without further ado…
Frequently asked questions for wedding celebrants
(Got a question that’s not answered here? Good going! Definitely pop me a message here. You never know, it might make it onto the blog post…)
Things I get asked at wedding fairs
These are some of the basic things you might want to know about working with a wedding celebrant more generally.
What’s a wedding celebrant?
A wedding celebrant hosts your wedding ceremony. Unless you’re getting married in church or another religious setting you have two options for your ceremony:
Option 1 – Book a registrar through the local council. Your ceremony will be legally binding, but will have standard wording with very little personalisation. You don’t get to choose which registrar you'll have and you don't get to meet them before the day.
Option 2 – If you want a ceremony that’s more about the two of you, and you want to choose who marries you, then you want to book a celebrant. Your ceremony will be highly personalised, and you’ll be part of the process of creating it, but it won’t be legally binding if you’re in England or Wales.
Do I need a celebrant?
Yes, you need a celebrant – if you want to have a wedding that’s gorgeously, perfectly personalised to you.
Having a celebrant is a “nice to have” not a “need to have”... but only in the same way that almost everything involved in a wedding is a “nice to have”. If you simply want to be legally married, you can have a quickie wedding down the registry office.
As a celebrant, I’ll craft a wedding ceremony that reflects you and honours how incredible your relationship is, with all your ups, downs, funny stories, memories, and bits that make you you.
Is it more expensive/how much does it cost for a wedding celebrant?
The short version of this is: my prices start from £1,500.
The slightly longer version of this is having a celebrant wedding costs more than a bog-standard ceremony for a number of reasons, including the limitless potential for personalisation, the extensive attention you get from your wedding celebrant, the limited number of weddings they take on a year.
It’s less like comparing apples and pears, and more like comparing apples and a mouth-watering apple crumble: they could be argued to fulfil the same role, but one of them brings much more to the table.
My venue said I had to book a registrar, what do I do now/how do we get legally married?
If you want a celebrant wedding but you’ve already booked a registrar, don’t panic. You still have options! The council will usually let you change the details of your ceremony, so you can have it on a different day/at a different time/location. Here are some wedding day timeline ideas to fit both in.
Things I get asked in calls with couples
These are the kind of questions I get asked by couples when we’re chatting properly for the first time. Not only is it important for me to get to know them, but it’s very important that they get to know me!
What kind of couples do you work with?
There’s a misconception that all celebrant weddings have to be super romantic, emotional and lovey-dovey, but that’s not true. The thing that all of my brilliant couples have in common is that they’re looking for something fun, relaxed, and a little unconventional; the idea of a standard, by-the-book-with-no-wiggle-room kind of ceremony feels like a wasted opportunity!
What’s your delivery style?
My delivery style as a wedding celebrant is friendly, warm and fun. I'm lighthearted (when it suits!) and bring guests along with us so that everyone feels special to be part of the occasion.
What’s the planning process like?
The first step of the planning process is a video call where we can chat through your juicy plans, and I can answer any questions you have – this is the perfect chance to check our ‘chemistry’.
Once you’ve decided to book, we will sort your contract and payment of the booking fee.
After you’re booked in (yay!) I’ll send over a planning document with lots of questions to answer. I ask my couples to treat it as a date night, because it’s super cute and loads of fun – you get to hear from your other half all the things they love about you and your relationship. What could be better?!
Post date night, we’ll have an epic discussion so I can really understand you as a couple and what you want from your humanist ceremony.
Then it’s over to me to create your bespoke wedding ceremony script. It’s not a one-and-done, so there’s ample opportunity to make edits and amends. We’ll work on it until you’re completely happy that it’s right.
What training have you had?
I’m accredited by Humanists UK, so my training involved both face-to-face and self-led learning, assignments and feedback, and delivering live wedding ceremonies. To keep my accreditation, I am observed (AKA peer reviewed) at least every two years by a Humanists UK colleague, ensuring I’m maintaining their high standards.
Outside of my official accreditation, I spent my previous career in events. This experience comes in very handy when you’re in the midst of wedding planning and need a second opinion. And I'm trained as a coach, which is super useful when it comes to asking the right questions to gather material for creating your ceremony!
What happens if you’re ill on the day?
The Humanist Ceremonies network always backs each other up, which means I can call on a pool of celebrants with the same standard of training, and who have signed up to the same code of conduct as me. (Plus we are the only celebrant body that has a complaints procedure, which hopefully won’t be necessary but is always good to know).
What this means practically is – in the very unlikely situation that I'm too ill to attend your wedding – that I will see who is available to step in and check the details with you to make sure you’re happy with the substitute.
What happens if we need to change the wedding date (e.g. because we get pregnant or have a family bereavement)?
You can change your date for no charge one time, because I understand that life happens (isn’t that what we’re celebrating, after all?)
After that I ask for a £100 admin charge for each date change. I’m super flexible, and you can pick from any date I have available when you’re ready to make plans again.
Do you have any reviews?
YES LOADS – I’m so glad you asked! Over 60 five-star google reviews *beams proudly*. You can see some on google here – but I’ve gone ahead and taken the liberty of pulling out a few sentences below, so you don’t even have to click if you don’t want to…
"Meg was absolutely incredible for our wedding. She invested a lot in getting to know us as people and we enjoyed every second of getting to know her."
"Our ceremony was everything we’d hoped for: moving, funny, heartfelt, and so different from the traditional format. So many of our guests told us afterwards how much they loved it, and how refreshing and memorable it was - we couldn't agree more."
"Meg set the tone for what ended up being the best day of our lives and we're so grateful!"
"Ultimately on the day we had the most special ceremony that felt so "us" - we absolutely loved it and so many of our guests were laughing and crying in equal measure. Thank you Meg!"
"We are so pleased that we decided to book Meg and have a celebrant ceremony. We knew on our first call that we wanted her to be part of our day. She took time to get to know us and wrote an amazing script that was funny, sweet and really highlighted our relationship story - she really struck the perfect balance."
Things I get asked when planning the ceremony
By this point, couples have booked me, and we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty. You can think of these as process questions, if you like.
How long will the ceremony last?
It depends on what you'd like to include, and what your preferences are. As a guide it's good to allow 30 minutes in your wedding timeline.
Want lots of readings and guest appearances, plus a full processional style entrance parade? Allow 40-45 minutes.
Prefer to keep it super simple, or worried you'll be squirming in the spotlight? Allow 25-30 minutes.
Do we have to write our own vows?
I like to think that I'm a celebrant for people who don't like being told what to do, and I never MAKE people do vows at all – sometimes people only want to say "I do" which is A-OK.
Having said that, if you want to share personal vows, I advise all of my couples to have a go at writing their own vows, because they’re most meaningful when they come from you.
But this doesn’t mean you have to do it completely on your own! Part of my job as your wedding celebrant is to help you craft your vows, with prompts to get you started, and feedback and assistance in making the paper match what you want to say.
(In fact, it’s such a big part of my job that I’ve created a vow-writing guide especially for couples who work with me.)
Should we include anything symbolic?
Absolutely, if you want to! ‘Symbolic’ here can mean anything: from a book you both love, a TV show you watch together, something from where you first met or your first date. If you’d like something like this, I’m happy to help come up with ideas (although here's a few to start you thinking.)
Equally, if all the wedding rituals you've heard of give you the ick – or conjure images of witches burning effigies – then we don't have to shoehorn them in just for the sake of it. We can keep it simple and let the ceremony wording speak for itself, and it will still be glorious and personal.
Things my friends and family ask about being a celebrant
And finally, a few things I’ve never been asked by clients – prospective or current – but that I have been asked by friends and family. If you're particularly nosey, I think you might wonder about these things too...
Do you ever meet couples you don’t want to work with?
No! Sometimes I meet couples where I don’t feel I’m the right fit for them, but that’s not because I don’t want to work with them; it’s because I want to ensure they get the right thing for their wedding.
Have you ever worked with a couple you didn’t get on with?
I’m very proud to say, no (though obviously I wouldn’t even broadcast it if I did, because I’m not a meanie). Generally couples suss out what I'm like from my content and social media, and then we consolidate that when we initially chat. It’s usually pretty obvious here if we gel – if we didn’t, from either end, it shouldn’t get past this stage.
How do people find out about you/book you?
People find me a number of ways: via wedding fairs, blogs and recommended supplier lists; word of mouth loveliness from couple friends or industry pals; or through finding blog posts like this or coming across me on social media.
They can book me via arranging an initial chat, which kickstarts the process.
Now my darlings, has that behemoth list of FAQs answered YOUR question? Hopefully you feel like you know more about both working with a wedding celebrant and working with me specifically.
If you have another question – or if I’ve answered all your questions, and you’re ready to rumble – feel free to book a gab in here, so we can get cracking. Eeep – I’m excited to chat to you!
The glorious images on this page were taken by Sidey Clark Photography at Katie and Lachie's wedding. You can see a full blog feature about their celebration here.
