Having a celebrant wedding is many things: a total joy, the experience of a lifetime, and the best way to celebrate your love (in my humble opinion!)
Working with a celebrant is also, undoubtedly, an investment.
Celebrant weddings cost more than a regular ceremony for a number of reasons, including the limitless potential for personalisation (genuinely, there are tonnes of ways to personalise a celebrant wedding). There's also the fact that celebrants will only take on a limited number of weddings and you therefore get their full attention as one of a very exclusive group of clients. Not to mention that photographers love celebrant weddings AND celebrant weddings are ace for non-lovey-dovey couples and sentimental folk too.
Clearly you’re not just two names celebrating a piece of paper, but two living, breathing people celebrating your lives together. And of course you want a ceremony which honours that. So a celebrant wedding is totally worth it!
But how do you get the most out of your investment? And how do you get the best experience? Here are my top tips.
Getting the most out of your celebrant wedding planning experience
It’s always my hope that as well as enjoying the ceremony itself, couples will enjoy the full experience of working with their celebrant from start to finish. I want you to look forward to this part of your wedding planning, and of course feel loved up throughout the process too. So how do we make that happen? Here’s some of my top tips for making the most of your celebrant wedding…
1. Be yourselves
Ah yes that old chestnut. But seriously, my number 1 piece of advice for planning a celebrant wedding is: be yourselves. Part of my job is giving you different options and ideas for your ceremony, but I don’t have any expectations about what you choose (nor any judgement on what you don’t). Authenticity and individuality are so important so let's celebrate those, instead of prioritising what you feel like you should do, or what you think others want you to do.
2. Sharing is caring
When working with someone on your celebrant wedding, it really helps if you share as much as you can – or as much as you feel comfortable to. The more I know about you both individually and as a couple, your story and your life together, the more I can personalise your ceremony.
Honestly, tell me everything. Your passions, your pastimes, your favourite artist, your hopes for the wedding, your hopes for life…in the words of Luther Vandross: never too much!
3. Let me know how you’d like us to work
If you’d prefer we work a certain way, then please do tell me. For example, some of my couples want me to decide everything for them, and keep the words a total surprise on the day. Other couples want to receive a draft script in advance of the day, and have the opportunity to tweak any wording (or sometimes rewrite sections with me). I won’t try and fit you into a particular box in our work together, so am happy to make it work however it feels right for you.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask
On the other hand, you might not have a super clear idea of what you’d like for your celebrant wedding; and that’s ok too! You’ve taken the excellent step in deciding you want a celebrant wedding - After that I can help with the specifics. It’s my job after all! As a celebrant, I make it my mission to help you figure out how to make the wedding you want come to life.
For example, if you’re not sure what your preference for #3 would be – whether you’d rather have your celebrant wedding script be as much a surprise to you on the day as it is for your guests, or whether you’d like a chance to (re)view it before the ceremony – don’t worry. You’re not expected to know exactly what you want from the off! Instead we can chat through the benefits and the drawbacks of each approach to make sure we land on the thing that feels best for you.
This doesn’t just mean asking about elements of your celebrant wedding ceremony, either; it applies to the whole process. If there’s anything at all that you’re worried about – perhaps you’re feeling super shy, or you’re worried about sharing personal information – I’m here for you. Talk to me about your concerns, and I’ll find a way to help.
Celebrant wedding or not, make it stress free!
Whether you have a celebrant wedding or a different type of ceremony, I bet you want a planning journey that’s as smooth and stress free as possible. My top tip for this is to ensure all of your suppliers are on your wavelength. If you click on a personal level, that's half the battle.
If you don’t like the sound of being told what to do for your wedding, but instead love the idea of crafting something your way, then I reckon we might click. I promise that I'll guide you and share my experience, but I won't force you into a template way of working: instead, we can work out together how we’ll work best. You can get in touch here – I can’t wait to meet you!
Like the images on this page? Me too! The photographer is Lumiere Photographic and the venue is Left Bank Leeds. The couple getting married are Ben and Jess.