Emma & Kellie celebrate their wedding

For many people, the word ‘wedding’ probably triggers an image of a beautiful wedding dress. It may be white (a tradition popularised by Queen Victoria), or red and white (India), or yellow (Morocco), or green (Korea), or even black (a Catholic tradition in Spain).

Whatever the colour or culture, it seems to be a common theme that much time and money is spent on wedding outfits. And not just for the bridal couple. There are special outfits to be bought or made for bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls, and page boys. The end result is often a truly magnificent sight, making the wedding day a very special one for all involved.

Royal weddings have produced some iconic wedding gowns over the years, and have influenced wedding fashion trends. Remember the gorgeous Alexander McQueen dress designed by Sarah Burton for the wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William in 2011? And the beautiful dress designed by Claire Waight Keller at Givenchy for Meghan Markle’s big day?

Photo credit: hellomagazine.com

But a dress isn’t the most important ingredient of a wedding – love is. The danger of focusing too much on the dress is that is that just might overshadow the wedding itself, as it did for the heiress, Victoria Swarovski, who wore a dress covered with 500,000 Swarovski crystals.

Traditional wedding outfits just don’t sit well for some couples. They’d rather focus on their mutual love and commitment, the ceremony itself, and on having the people that matter most to them present to witness their special day and then party into the night.

I was privileged to conduct a humanist same-sex wedding ceremony for Emma and Kellie, whose only instruction for wedding attire was ‘just wear what you like’. They both wore stylish jeans and white tops and looked wonderful.

Their love and happiness shone through the day and the ceremony itself, conducted in The Prince Albert pub in Camden, was all about their story, their love, and the commitment they were making to each other. They both started crying well before we got to exchanging the rings and vows!

The beauty of having a humanist wedding ceremony is that you can have it where you like, when you like, and you can wear whatever suits your personality. It’s all about witnessing and supporting two people’s love for each other.