What is a marriage celebrant & why should you have a personalised celebrant led ceremony?

What is a celebrant?

A celebrant is simply defined as a “person who leads a ceremony such as a marriage or a funeral”. In Aotearoa New Zealand a celebrant can only solemnise marriages or civil unions once they have been appointed by the Registrar-General.

Independent Celebrants were introduced in New Zealand in 1976 which allowed huge freedom for couples wanting to get married outside of traditional settings

There are 3 different types of Celebrants in NZ:

Independent

Ministers of religious bodies

Organisational

Couples have the choice of a registry ceremony or a personalised ceremony, but I will only be referring to personalised ceremonies in this case. A personalised ceremony is just as it sounds. It can happen anywhere, any time and the script can be entirely personalised to the couple.

Authenticity

Personalised celebrant ceremonies allow you to work with your celebrant to create a wedding ceremony that is meaningful and authentic to your relationship. Aside from a few legal requirements, the options are limitless for what you can include in your ceremony. 

Typically a celebrant will meet you to learn all about your relationship and often use a questionnaire. From all that information, they will put together a script that encapsulates you as a couple. Your love story is told with as many ( or as few!) details as you’d like. Your relationship ideology shared and your hopes and dreams for your lives together. 

Flexibility

When it comes to independent celebrants, you have huge flexibility over elements you’d like to include in your personalised ceremony.

If for example you are religious but want to write your own vows, a celebrant ceremony is the perfect way to honour your religious customs, while still having the opportunity to create your own promises for your marriage. 

You can work one to one with your celebrant to adopt a multitude of different religious or cultural customs into your ceremony which allows you the flexibility to create a ceremony that is entirely personal to you both. 

 A celebrant can also advise you on other elements to include in your ceremony like readings or rituals. These are beautiful ways to add another layer of personalisation, unique moments and to include important people in your lives. Again there are no limits to what you could choose to include!

Putting YOU into your ceremony

One of the best parts of having a personalised celebrant ceremony is the involvement it can facilitate. The meeting & planning process with your celebrant allows you to engage in the most important part of your day!

Somehow the ceremony is often forgotten about in the rush of wedding planning. It is the boring ‘admin' part at the start of the day……and everyone is just waiting for the reception!

By investing in writing your personal vows, sharing your favourite stories for your celebrant to read on the day or deciding what readings or music to include, you are consciously making your ceremony a priority. 

This is the moment that matters most on your day and we’ve all been to so many weddings where the ceremony just feels like an afterthought!

By finding the right celebrant who gets you, they will work hard to make sure that everyone leaves that ceremony having understood just what it is about your relationship that is so special and unique.