Weddings and Partnerships

“Working with Andy has been a pleasure from our very first email.  We met several times in the months before the wedding and he kept in close contact throughout, answering our questions, sharing drafts of scripts with us and making sure everything was ready in good time.

He is a very professional, relaxed, warm and friendly man who asks the right questions and understands what you are about as a couple.  He is a great story-teller and he had us and our guests in stitches of laughter on the day, as well as delivering a very sensitive and heart-felt ceremony that really set the atmosphere for the day.

We had so many compliments about Andy afterwards, with our guests telling us how much they loved the ceremony, that it was unique and personal.  We loved it, and if we were getting married again we’d ask Andy to do it for us!!”

Sarah and Neil

 

My name is Andy Ison and I am available to lead wedding and partnership celebrations, as well as renewals of vows, in Yorkshire and the north of England.  I am a thoughtful, creative and energetic person with a deep experience of public speaking and as a leader of a range of celebrations.

I qualified as a celebrant of weddings and partnerships with Humanists UK because I care about providing a positive and relevant way for people with no religious belief to publicly celebrate such an important stage in their lives on their own terms.

For your special day, you will want the most beautiful, symbolic and thoughtful ceremony possible. I promise to prepare and deliver a wonderful ceremony which will be a wonderful expression of you as individuals and as a couple, and really show your love for each other.  It will be my role to be alongside you beforehand and on the day so that the ceremony fits with what you want to do and will live long in the memory.

I will build everything around your stories and share my own experiences and ideas with you, offer suggestions and work with you to prepare a truly wonderful ceremony. It will be rich in symbolism, with vows that reflect your styles and values, and with a variety of readings and music that reflect your hopes. The ceremony will also be arranged in such a way as to ensure that as many family and friends as possible are involved in the celebration.

There are so many ways to create your ceremony. It can be traditional or follow a theme that suits you, formal or informal, and have as much humour, symbolism, silence and music as you wish. The freedom in the ceremony is matched by the possibilities for the venue and I will do all that I can to fit in with your wishes, be it in a garden, forest, stadium, mountain, pub or wherever else you choose.

It would be my privilege to work alongside you to make your wedding day a wonderful celebration of friendship, trust, respect and love. I will do all I can to deliver a great ceremony that will be memorable and will fully express your commitment to each other.

 

 

What I offer:

• A preliminary discussion and face-to-face meetings to ensure the whole ceremony is personal and unique
• Ideas for music, poetry, symbols and rituals
• A rehearsal in the week before the celebration
• A booklet of the celebration for you to give to your guests
• A presentation copy of the celebration and a small gift by which to remember the day
• Leadership of the ceremony on the day

 

For all meetings, preparation of the script, rehearsal, leading of the ceremony, travel and insurance, my fee is £500

 

 Testimonials

We are so grateful that you agreed to officiate our ceremony. Your warm words and your ability to connect with our friends and family made the ceremony all the more special. We would happily recommend you to anyone we know.

Thank you so much for helping make our wedding such a special occasion.

J and H, 2017

 

A heartfelt thank you from both of us for crafting our story into a wonderful, meaningful and memorable ceremony.

Every one of our friends and family who attended have commented on your beautiful words and delivery. I think everyone was spellbound and carried away to a simple place of nature, simplicity, kindness and love which is exactly what we wanted. Everyone will take away a deep appreciation of our ceremony.

P and S, 2017

 

We would like to thank you so much for our ceremony.  It was a beautiful service and was, well, just us.  The reflection had our guests in giggles, tears and happiness.  So many of our friends and family came up to us after to tell us how amazing they thought you were and how heart felt the ceremony was.  We’ve really enjoyed meeting with you and arranging the service over the last year and would like to thank you so much for making it the perfect service for us.

B and N, 2016

 

A huge thank-you for Saturday! Everyone really enjoyed the ceremony and particularly the reflection – loads of people came to us to say how good it was, so thank you for all the work you did in putting it all together. It was exactly what we wanted….We’re very happy, and really enjoyed the rest of the day.

C and G, 2017

 

Thank you once again for your wonderful contribution to our day. You really did help to make it as amazing as it was. A great day and everyone said you helped to make it so much fun and so personal.

G and H, 2016

 

Thanks again for all you did for us. It was a memorable occasion that we will cherish forever.

H and G, 2016

 

Thank you so much for being so great. The ceremony was gorgeous, and you did it perfectly.

R and S, 2017

 

We would both like to say thank you very much for your help, efforts and support in making our wedding day a special and personalised event that we had both fun, tears, laughter and joy in. It’s a day that will stay in our hearts and minds forever and we are very thankful that you helped us make the ceremony a fun filled, humorous and beautifully personalised thing that will stay with us dearly.

We would love to keep in touch, and cannot say thank you enough for making us both feel so at ease throughout the day and hope that you enjoyed yourself as well.

S and R, 2016

 

MEMORIES OF SOME VERY SPECIAL DAYS