Series: Celebrant or Registrar? 1. With a Celebrant it’s all about you!

Celebrants’ focus on what marriage is all about! The meaning, your love, your story, your achievements and your happiness. As you well know the choice to marry is a very personal one; you might want to proclaim your love for your special other to the world, you might want to bind your family with promises and ritual that marks your union, you might even want a blooming good knees up to celebrate your relationship and love - none of those things are what a registrar does. The Register Office is a department of your local Council and a Registrar is often allocated to your ceremony by a council administrator to handle the legalities, to solemnise your marriage and sort the paperwork. Registrar's ceremonies are standardised, formal and restrictive. Registrars are often allocated a tight schedule of ceremonies each day, they will have perhaps another four or five ceremonies on the same day as yours, so for them efficiency and clock watching is often a factor. Confusingly for couples some register offices have changed the moniker of Registrar to Celebrant but their role and obligations, to the law and the local authority, remains unchanged. Independent Celebrants are not bound by bureaucratic obligations, there is far greater opportunity in our offer to express your charms, your connection and character because starting from a blank page we write every word for you. We are focused on the experience of you and your guests, registrars have to focus on the law. If you have read my other blog about where to start, you’ll know I am big on couples being very clear and in agreement about their values and mission for the day, before you step foot into a wedding fair or leaf through wedding magazines. So if at the top of your list of reasons for marrying is that you want to be recognised by law as one another’s spouse then the registrar option is likely an obvious choice for you. If though, your reason for marrying is to express your love, to make heartfelt vows, to blend your families in a joyful, charismatic, relatable and comfortable way, to create meaningful memories, to celebrate your happiness, or something along those lines, then a Celebrant is the perfect choice for you.