Weddings
So, you want to get married… well that’s great, let’s chat!
Congratulations!
There are not too many things in life more exciting than planning a wedding, and the marriage ceremony is one part of the big day, but it is the most important part and I’d love to help you make it as special as possible.
As your Celebrant it is my job to listen to your hopes and dreams and to help you plan the perfect ceremony for the two of you.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE! As a Humanist Wedding Celebrant trained and accredited by Humanists UK, I can legally marry you anywhere in Northern Ireland (anywhere except a church or a registry office), so you do not need to do the legal bit before or after!
This change in the law only came into effect in 2018 after a long and hard-fought battle in the courts. It was such exciting news for myself and the other newly trained Wedding Celebrants, as we had literally just completed our training that same summer. Humanist Weddings are still not yet legal in England and Wales, but Humanists UK are continuing to campaign for the law to be changed…
The beauty of a humanist ceremony is that it is uniquely personal to you, the couple in question, and your personalities can be stamped all over it. It can be as elaborate or as simple as you want. You may be full of ideas and be feeling very creative or, you may be drawing a complete blank.
Either way, we will meet together to discuss everything that is entailed – who you want to be involved, favourite poems, songs, music, readings and symbolic rituals. All these elements can all be incorporated to craft and create your very own meaningful and beautiful marriage ceremony.
You’ve got your date and venue sorted… what now?
In order to book my services as your Celebrant, you will need to complete a simple Booking Form with your contact details. You will also be asked to pay a deposit of £225 to secure your date.
The next step
Depending on when you are getting married, I will advise you about when you should apply to the council office closest to where you are getting married, for your marriage licence. The council will charge you £22 per person and this is the link for the forms you need
https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/marriage-notice-form-gro446.pdf .
There is a one-off £40 processing fee payable directly to Humanists UK for all legal weddings conducted by Humanist UK accredited Celebrants.
Planning your wedding ceremony
Four or five months before your wedding day we will have a planning meeting. You should allow approx. 60 mins for this meeting and we will discuss all aspects of your ceremony in detail.
I will put together a script from all the information that I gather from you and based on all the discussions that we have. We will work together then over the next while to make any edits necessary and will end up with your very own unique Wedding Ceremony script that you will hopefully be absolutely delighted with! Once you are totally happy with the finalised script, a further **£375 will be payable (which is the balance of my total fee **£600).
**(please note that a further £85 is payable for weddings over 60 miles from Dromore, Co Down)
At some point close to your wedding day, we will meet up at your venue to briefly run through the main points of the script. This should help to reduce any nerves and make everything more relaxed on the day. I personally find it invaluable to just work out where each of us are going to stand; where chairs are placed; and where the table for signing the marriage schedule will be. Apart from all that, it just all starts to get very exciting as the anticipation builds!
And then finally… on the day itself, everything will hopefully be all that you dreamed and hoped for… and more!
