A registrar is an official employed by your local authority with duties to register births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships. They are empowered to marry you and carry out all the necessary legal formalities. Registrars are busy people and may not be able to devote much time to the couple or the ceremony. As a result, many registrar ceremonies follow a standard template and have generic wording and vows. The time they can spend at the ceremony may be limited and they may not meet you before the day.
A celebrant is independent and focussed entirely on you and how your ceremony will run. They will meet you in the months leading up to the wedding and help you plan and develop a personal ceremony which will reflect you. You will also be able to hold your ceremony at any venue or location that you choose. You are not restricted to approved venues.
Whilst they do not have the power to marry you, your celebant can guide you through the steps you need to take to get a marriage certificate through a simple process at your registry office.
A celebrant will work with you in the run up to big day, to ensure ever aspect of the ceremony is right.
An initial meeting will provide you with a chance to meet James and explore how he can help you. There is no charge for this meeting - as you need to be sure that there is a good connection.
Once you have chosen James to work with you, he will send you a questionnaire to gather the key facts and to find out about you as people. It will also ask about any interests you wish to reflect in the ceremony.
Based on the information you have provided, James will draft a script for the ceremony including any words - like your vows - which you have written yourself. It will also include the rituals you have chosen for your ceremony.
You will be provided with a draft of the script allowing you the chance to read through and feedback any amends and additional things you want to include. We will aim to finalise the script 3 weeks before the wedding day, so it's one less thing to worry about.
It is beneficial to hold a rehearsal of the ceremony, so that all the participants are clear of their roles and where they need to stand. This doesn't need to be in the wedding venue, but ideally should include the key participants, with James on hand to guide you.
James will arrive ahead of the ceremony to ensure the room setting is correct, and check that people taking part are clear on what they need to do. The ceremony will then be conducted with your choice of words and music.
If you are planning your wedding, contact James to find out how a celebrant can help you create something very unique and very special.
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