Unfortunately, at this present moment in England and Wales there are only two types of people who can officially marry you is a government official registrar or a religious minister. There are currently cogs in motion for this law to change so watch this space. For now, though, it’s not a problem, many people get their legal paperwork done at a register office before having the ceremony they want.

Gosh, there are absolutely loads of reasons a person might choose a celebrant, it mainly comes down to personal choice and how much you want the ceremony to reflect you. Do you want the ceremony to tell the story of you, to be entertaining and emotional to allow your friends and family an insight into your relationship and love for each other? A registrar is restricted by certain legal wording which they must use, they may say you have a choice in the wording but it’s usually a case of picking which sentences you want them to say out of a list they supply. With a celebrant the whole ceremony is designed around you, you have complete control, we can include funny stories, meaningful moments, family and friends can be involved, elements from different religions or cultures, whichever songs you like, there really are no restrictions. I think the main thing for me is that a celebrant ceremony is deeply personal. We will have met and gotten to know each other, I like to hope it will feel like a friend is conducting your ceremony with the aim to make you feel more relaxed and really enjoy yourselves. Unfortunately, with a Registrar, you will only meet them moments before the ceremony begins, they will not know anything about you and will just read from the script.

Ah, now that really is the beauty of a celebrant led ceremony, there really are no restrictions (are you getting a bit sick of me saying ‘no restrictions’ yet?) If you have gained permission from the person who owns the land then you really can have your ceremony anywhere, a family home, woodlands, on a farm, somewhere with meaning to the both of you (maybe where you got engaged) Have you thought about having a very different ceremony? In a hot air balloon, on a boat the choice is yours!

Here it comes again – there are no restrictions on what time of day your ceremony can take place, what about a beautiful sunrise or sunset ceremony on the beach or another stunning outdoor location, or have you thought saying your vows by moonlight under a canopy of stars.