Unofficial Officiant

I read this and all I thought was Joey Tribbiani - sorry lol

Are registered celebrants all that expensive? I thought you'd be able to get them cheaper.

Or ask a minister from an independent church if they could do it? If it's not a civil ceremony it can have religious content.

I haven't found many online and the ones I've found charge between £400 to £500. It won't be a religious ceremony.

Https://humanism.org.uk/ceremonies/fees/ Did you try this site?

The other option is to get a friend to train as a celebrant.

I think you're looking at it the wrong way.

Fiance and I wanted a Humanist ceremony, which isn't currently legal in England (but is in Scotland, annoyingly!) We debated having the wedding in Scotland but ruled that out and decided to have a legal bit at our local registry office with two witnesses and then a Humanist celebrant at the ceremony everyone is invited to.

As far as we and all our friends and family are concerned, the Humanist ceremony is the real wedding. In fact, aside from our witnesses, no-one else is aware the ceremony they're invited to is not a legal marriage.

You're paying for a venue and presumably food for the guests, a wedding dress, suits, flowers, cake, etc. all at your unofficial wedding, so why wouldn't you pay for the celebrant too? They're no more expensive than getting a registrar to a registered venue would be and it only costs £45 to do the legal bit separately so it's not like you're shelling out twice.

We are going to go down the friend route as we can't fit a celebrant into our budget (£2.5k wedding). We've chosen to do the legal bit seperate to save money!

Do you have a friend of a friend who could be good at it?

One other thing: it's not 20 minutes work. One of the great things about having a celebrant rather than a legal ceremony is that there is no wording you have to have. The celebrant writes a bespoke ceremony for you. Ours has already put in at least 3 hours with us and we haven't even got to first draft stage yet.

Having been to my nieces naming ceremony last weekend, I think a good celebrant would be worth every penny of that £500! We're having a traditional registrar because we booked our wedding before the party, but if we hadn't I'd definitely have booked Cath Sutherland who my sister used because little Molly's service was phenomenal, very touching and incredibly personal. Cath is Nottingham based (google Cath Sutherland Humanist Nottingham) but I am sure she would be able to recommend someone local to you if you dropped her an email and mentioned that Molly Rose's Aunty sent you!

Also, I agree with the comment about it NOT being 20 minutes work. Cath worked extensively with my Sister and her partner to plan the service and also spent a great deal of time liaising with Molly's guardians... and the service on the day lasted at least 45 minutes!

I'm getting married in France and doing the legal bit in the uk. Our celebrant was 400euros, but it is definately more than 20 mins work. She has tailored a ceremony to us and has spent quite a bit of time doing this. Of course this can be done by a friend/ family, but it is the most important part of the day- when you say your vows to one another. We did consider asking a friend or someone in the family to do it but decided to get a professional in. We've booked with celebrantsinfrance.com - they are English who now live in France and do visit the uk so might be worth asking. Would be nearer to £350 x

We're another English couple doing things the Humanist way, doing the legal bits the day before at the registry office for £45. We are both Humanist in our worldviews and love the fact that, even if it's not legal, we can do things our way. I remember someone on here saying they couldn't have Florence and the Machine's 'You Got The Love' due to the line 'Oh Lord, what's the use' at their civil ceremony for example. In a Humanist ceremony, anything goes. They will draw the line at singing hymns but other than that it's your own bespoke service. Even better is I have a contact through work who is a Humanist celebrant and she has offered to marry us for free apart from travel expenses and a night in a hotel! I think she normally charges around £400 but not 100% sure.

My humanist celebrant friend also keeps up to date with all the legal developments, she has given us the heads up that the legislation making Humanist ceremonies not legally recognised is being reviewed in parliament, most likely at the end of this year. So yours could well be legal by the time your date comes round. Fingers crossed!

I recently shot a wedding where the independent celebrant was called River Jones- no idea about her prices but worth a google she was very nice.

Just been to my FBIL's wedding yesterday. They didn't get legally married, just had an unofficial hand-fasting ceremony. They were going to pay for someone but then decided to ask my FSIL to deliver the ceremony. It was in the woods and it cost them nothing. You could get a close friend/family member to do it.