Registrar vs Celebrant

Registrars

A registrar is someone appointed by the local authority to conduct wedding ceremonies.

Pros:

Your ceremony is legally binding.

Cons:

• The ceremony is standardised
• Personalisation options are limited
• Ceremonies are required to take place in registry offices or licensed venues
• You won't know who will be conducting your ceremony until the day
• The time booked for the wedding is set in stone, meaning if it's forecast to rain at 2pm but it sunny at 2:30pm, your wedding is going ahead at 2pm regardless

Celebrants

A celebrant wedding is pretty much the opposite of a registrar wedding. It's deeply personal, utterly flexible and completely "you" whatever that looks like. That's exactly what Catherine and Ashley did. As the groom was a die hard romantic comedy fan, I created a ceremony which included their story as if it was a romantic comedy. Here's what they had to say about their experience

"Our guests couldn’t believe how relaxed, personal and fun the ceremony was…completely different to a normal registrar ceremony. I couldn’t recommend anyone more highly to trust with your special day."

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Celebrants come under a few names including "Independent Celebrants", "Civil Celebrants" and "Humanist Celebrants". I'm a Humanist Celebrant, trained and accredited by Humanists UK to lead meaningful non-religious ceremonies.

Pros

• You can get married wherever you want, which means a big YES to weddings in your back garden, a local pub, a beach, a mountain top or anywhere else that’s personal and meaningful to you
• It also gives couples full freedom to celebrate their relationship in a way that feels right to them, meaning a completely unique and bespoke ceremony
• That means you can incorporate your love story and what you mean to one another into the ceremony itself, meaning your ceremony becomes incredibly personal and heartfelt, for you and your guests
• The power to choose. With a celebrant you get to choose exactly who will leading your ceremony, and means they can really get to know you in the months leading up to the ceremony
• Couples and guests comment how relaxed and stress free celebrant ceremonies are with no time constraints
• Couples can include their friends, family, children, dogs or any one or anything else that matters to them

Cons

• Celebrant-led ceremonies are not legally binding in England or Wales. In Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey and Guernsey you can be legally married by a Humanist Celebrant. However, at the time of writing this, Wales, England and the Isle of Man are a little slower on the uptake, and are not legally binding. Humanists UK are campaigning to change that, watch this space.
  

For most couples choosing a celebrant to marry them, that means registering your marriage with the local authority in the weeks before or after your big day in a similar way to registering the birth of a new baby. In my local authority, this costs £54 + certificates.

If you've decided a celebrant wedding is for you, find out more about Kate Rostance here, or if you've heard enough, head over to the Contact page to book a call.