Questions, answered properly.
Celebrancy is an unregulated trade, so most people arrive with the same handful of questions and a suspicion that there is a catch. There is not, but there are things worth knowing before you book anybody, including me.
The basics
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Someone who writes and leads a ceremony. A registrar performs a legal marriage and is limited by law in what can be said. Clergy lead a religious service within their own tradition. A celebrant has neither constraint, which means the ceremony can be whatever suits you, and also means the whole thing rests on how good the celebrant is.
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A humanist celebrant leads non religious ceremonies only, and is accredited by Humanists UK or a similar body. An independent celebrant, which is what I am, can include religious content if you want it, or leave it out entirely. If you want a ceremony with a hymn in it, you need an independent. If you want a guaranteed humanist ceremony, go to Humanists UK, and I will say so rather than talk you out of it.
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No. Celebrants are not authorised to register marriages here. You complete the legal formalities at a register office in a short appointment with two witnesses, usually in the week before, and the ceremony I lead is the one your family attends. Scotland is different, which is why you will see conflicting answers online.
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Nobody has ever thought so on the day. The register office appointment takes ten minutes and reads like a bank form. The ceremony is where you say what you actually mean, in front of everyone who matters.
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No, and this is the part couples find hardest to believe. Because nothing legal happens in the room, there is no licence and no approved premises list. A field will do.
Booking, fees and practicalities
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Weddings £895. Small ceremonies and elopements £595. Namings and vow renewals £395. Funerals and memorials £295. Travel inside Sussex is included. There is no deposit until after the first meeting, and the figure I give you is the figure you pay.
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Weddings are usually booked nine to eighteen months out, because I take one ceremony a day and Saturdays in July go first. Funerals are days, not months, and I keep space for them.
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I am part of a network of celebrants across Sussex who cover each other. If I cannot be there, someone good will be, with your full script in their hand, and you will not pay twice.
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Yes, for travel at cost and sometimes an overnight stay if it is a long way. Ask and I will give you a number before you decide.
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You should. The first meeting is free, has no obligation, and is as much about whether you like me as whether I am free. If we are not right for each other it is much better to find that out over a coffee.
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Yes to both. Public liability insurance, professional indemnity insurance, and an enhanced DBS check, which venues occasionally ask to see and families with children sometimes want to know about.
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Not in full, because they belong to the people in them. I can send you openings and extracts that the couples and families concerned have agreed to share, which gives you a fair sense of the tone.
Still not sure?
Ring and ask. I would rather spend ten minutes telling you that you do not need a celebrant than take a booking that was never right.