The beauty of a humanist wedding is that there are no set rules. This is about crafting your wedding ceremony, your way.

It can take place anywhere that is right for you, in front of anyone you would like.

My ceremonies tend to follow the general principle that we should live our lives in the fullest, happiest and kindest way we can, surrounded by those people who are most important to us.

What this means in practice is a ceremony that is relaxed, inclusive of everyone present, often quite emotional and always lots of fun.

Humanist weddings are not legal in England at the moment, so you may want to take care of the legal bit at your local registry office. Many couples choose to do this first, but then see their humanist ceremony as their proper wedding (and the one they remember!), with everyone there who they would like to be and in the place that they choose. There’s some more useful info about this in the wedding ceremonies FAQ.

How we will work together

Getting in touch

The first step is to get in touch for a chat. The best way is to email me at meg.rowley@humanistceremonies.org.uk and I will get back to you promptly.

We can then arrange an initial meeting (usually via video call), with no obligation and absolutely no pressure. This is just a chance for us to meet and for you to figure out if I am the right celebrant for you.

Planning and getting to know you

If you decide you’d like to go ahead, we’ll arrange a further call where we will do lots more planning and chatting.

At this second meeting, I’ll spend a good amount of time getting to know you. I will ask you lots of questions to get a sense of who you both are, and what you would like your ceremony to be like.

I can talk you through the sorts of things you might want to include, for example, vows or promises, symbolic acts such as exchanging rings or hand fasting. I can also give you lots of ideas for things like readings and music, and ways that you can involve family and friends if that’s something important to you. And I might even give you a bit of homework, but I promise it will be really fun and not at all like school.

Writing your ceremony

Then I’ll work with you to write a ceremony that tells your story in the best way possible. You can be as involved as you would like in this and of course, you are very welcome to edit, change, suggest anything you would like as we go along.

The whole process can take anything from a few months to a year or more in advance of your wedding, it depends on how early you would like to get started.

I hope that working with me will be a very lovely and enjoyable part of your wedding planning.

Delivering the ceremony

I can meet you at the venue beforehand if you would like to run through things, it’s entirely up to you.

On the big day I will of course be there nice and early, to make sure everything is just right.

I’ll be there with you to deliver the ceremony, and will also be prepared to handle any of life’s unplanned moments too – whether it’s noisy kids (or adults, or animals), unexpected weather or anything else that might occur. (In fact, it can be things that make a wedding extra special and memorable).

After the ceremony itself, I will provide you with a presentation copy of the script for you to look back on in years to come.

Costs

My fee is £625, which includes a £100 deposit to secure the booking (this just means I will mark myself as unavailable in my calendar for anyone else.)

There’s no other hidden fees – this covers all our meetings, delivering the ceremony on the day and providing you with your script afterwards.