Deciding who will help you present your ceremony is a big decision. Until it comes to making your booking, you may well be in the dark about the differences between the terms clergy, registrars, Celebrants and Humanists.

All of these are types of people who perform or officiates life’s special ceremonies, and whilst commonly seen at weddings they can also conduct other ceremonies like namings, vow renewals, funerals, interments and memorials.

These days there are so many options besides traditional ceremonies for life’s events. Weddings for example can be held in unique spaces such as a couples own garden, woodlands, or fully outdoor spaces, this creates a personal ceremony which is officiated by an Independent Celebrant or a Humanist. It’s important to notes that if your perfect venue doesn’t have a Civil Marriage Licence, then Council Registrars aren’t able to perform a ceremony there.

If your venue does hold a Licence, then using the local Registrars is a viable option for many couples. However you may find that you are limited on many things in ceremony, for example choice of wording, music and spiritual content as well as the restraints over where and how it takes place. You may have come across the term ‘must happen within a “permanent structure” and not in the open air’. This is where a celebrant can help.

Perhaps a venue’s hire fees plus those of the Registrars to come out and conduct the marriage may be beyond your budget, it may be more cost effective to use a Celebrant.

There are so many options for a wedding venue, woodlands, large houses to rent, the beach even. Once you stop looking at traditional ‘wedding venues’ you will find there’s much more choice and your budget will reach further.

Simply put, no. The benefit of using a celebrant for your ceremony is that we don’t follow traditions. You can make your event completely personal to you, and you don’t even need to follow a set format. This means that every single person, couple or family I work with get their own unique, one of a kind service, never to be repeated again.

Celebrant weddings are not legal and binding, but they are beautiful, symbolic and personal. Most couples opt to do the legal bit (declaratory and contracting words) at a Register Office before celebration with family and friends. You can often book a ‘Registration only’ appointment, you’ll just need two witnesses. Once this is completed, you’ll receive your marriage certificate on the same day.

Funerals have no legal status, this means that anyone can lead a funeral ceremony. This could be a family member or a family friend, however, due to the emotions involved some people can find this hard and a huge responsibility. This is where a celebrant can step in, they could help guide you to give you the confidence you might need, or conduct the event themselves weaving in family stories to tell the story of your loved ones life, making it just right.