Love, Marriage and Weddings – thoughts of a Celebrant
Love, Marriage and Weddings … Thoughts of a celebrant – by Susie Figgis …
Everyone’s ideal wedding is different, and most couples choose to create an experience that defines and celebrates them as a unique couple. With all the incredible options in Byron’s community of wedding professionals, one of the best ways to keep your wedding authentic, is to focus on creating an awesome personalised ceremony. (Byron has a healthy amount of wonderful Celebrants, and I’m lucky to be one of them.)?
Working with couples and tuning into their love story, and their thoughts about intimate relating is always a privilege. I find that this conversation often prompts people to get clarity on why they are getting married. As one couple shared “Susie’s process in shaping our ceremony was instrumental in helping us voice our true reasons for marriage, and made us reflect on the why we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with each other.” This is the stuff that family and friends love to hear about; the love story, reasons why they love each other, and a funny story or two. If it’s an elopement, it’s just as important to nail it in terms of personalisation, because it’s so intimate that generic material isn’t likely to resonate.
Making a ceremony a true representation of each unique couple is what it’s all about. Everyone loves a wedding, and there are some elements that are reliable emotional highlights, like the Brides entrance and the Vows, but there are so many different ways to add personal flavour. Some popular ideas include; a musical performance by a friend or family member, some kind of ceremonial ritual, having a cute ring bearers or flower girl/s, and involving all the guests in a big celebratory exit. These are all ways to add to the magic of the ceremony, and the sky really is the limit.
Marriage will always have an ebb and flow and with this in mind, when you go beyond the beauty and joy of the wedding…. it’s actually about how people step up to become Husbands and Wives they say they are going to be in their ceremony. Inviting family and friends, as witnesses to the marriage, to support them on this journey is a nice touch.
Whilst still believing in the dream.. the best ceremonies, in my humble opinion, are optimistic yet realistic about love. They can be fun and reverent, realistic, romantic and relaxed all at the same time, and this is the flavour that I think Byron Weddings are becoming famous for.