In short, you can't. Celebrants cannot legally officiate marriage ceremonies at the moment, so you need to have a registrar perform the legal part of the ceremony. BUT (and that's a big but) you don't have to do that part on your actual wedding day. More on that later!
Let's rewind for a sec... A celebrant is a person who performs ceremonies such as weddings, vow renewals, baby naming ceremonies and funerals.
A registrar is someone who can officiate your legal civil ceremony at a licensed venue. You can get married at various venues, not just a registry office. Use this website to find licenced venues across England and Wales.
When having a registrar ceremony for a marriage, there are many details that need to be addressed in order to complete the legal requirements for the union of two people. Although in England and Wales it's the only way to legally recognise a couple's marriage, it's not the only way it can be celebrated.
I haven't forgotten about you, Scotland! Celebrants can legally perform ceremonies across the border, so you're already covered!
Research by The Academy of Modern Celebrancy found a 49% increase in online searches for 'celebrant wedding' in 2023. Hitched also listed "celebrant-led weddings" as the top trend for 2024 in their annual wedding report. This goes to show that celebrants are in so much demand these days. Let's dig a but further into why...
So, why do couples opt for a celebrant ceremony? We asked celebrant Beth Kirkham, one of our recommended suppliers, for comment on this...
"There are all sorts of reasons that a couple might choose to have a celebrant; perhaps they have chosen a venue without a licence, they want to celebrate more than one faith within their ceremony, they don't want a template ceremony which is delivered multiple times the same day for different couples (and can often lead to the wrong names being used!)
But I think often it is the fact that you can choose the person who delivers your ceremony on the day. If you opt for a registrar, you have no say in who delivers this most special part of your day; you will meet them approximately 30 minutes before your ceremony and it will be whoever is on duty for the council that day. By opting to have a celebrant, you choose the person that you feel will best represent you two. You go through a fun journey of planning your ceremony and by the time the big day comes around, it truly feels like you have a friend leading your ceremony!"
In true Inclusive Events style, the main reason why we love celebrant weddings is the ability to truly personalise your ceremony - blending cultural diversity, ethnicity, religion and more. You have so much control over the most important part of your day, including the person who performs the ceremony! They get to know you so well before the wedding day that they feel like part of the family. Beth said "Having a celebrant led ceremony elevates your ceremony and takes it from the 'expected' element of your wedding day to the unexpected highlight! It allows you to fully personalise your ceremony - the tone, the content, the time, the length, the location - all of it! There are no rules, it can be exactly as you wish it to be and totally unique to you."
The day you class as your 'wedding day' does not have to be the day that you legally get married. A wedding is a celebration of the union of 2 people, and that's the day that you spend with your friends and family (unless you're eloping, obvs). In some Asian cultures, wedding celebrations can last multiple days or even, weeks! So it's up to the couple to decide which date is going to be their anniversary.
We know plenty of couples who had their legal ceremony a week or so before the actual wedding day where they also had a celebrant-led ceremony. That's what your guests will remember, and that's what will be personal and unique to you.
One thing I've noticed since moving into this industry space and meeting a LOT of suppliers, is what all celebrants have in common is that they REALLY love their job. Like, really. Beth said "My favourite thing about being a celebrant is the people. The couples that I get to meet; taking an initial conversation about what they envision for their ceremony, helping them craft and refine that and becoming wedding besties in the process.
I also love the amazing fellow suppliers that I get to be inspired by constantly; everyone that works successfully in the wedding world is so committed and passionate about what they do, I love it!
And not forgetting, the guests on the day; taking the nervous energy that they arrive with, shaking it off and seeing their faces go through all the emotions of the ceremony, finishing on a total high ready to continue the day's celebrations (I particularly like surprising Auntie Doris who didn't think it was going to be a 'proper' ceremony but who inevitably comes up to me afterwards raving about how beautifully personal it was!!)"
You may be thinking to yourself "Ok, so in order to get legally married we have to do the registrar anyway? Why can't we just do that?" Well, no one is saying you can't, but if you want to really elevate your ceremony, and make it really personal to you, then it's definitely something to consider.
There is some work happening to change the law to give celebrants the ability to perform legal ceremonies. This is aimed as being inclusive of all-faiths and non-religious weddings. You can read about it here. To very poorly summarise, it looks great, but there's no time frames of any legal changes at the time of publishing this article!
In summary, registrars in England and Wales currently are the only ones able to perform legal wedding ceremonies, and these can only happen at licensed venues and registry offices. (Yes, I'm ignoring religious wedding for the moment, we'll talk about those another time!) There is limited choice in what happens at your ceremony and you also don't know who is going to be performing the ceremony until the day of the wedding.
Celebrants perform a ceremony unique to the couple and can go to any venue. They work with the couples to understand what is important to them
We'd love for you to check out Beth's work - you can find her links here:
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