I have to start this blog with a clear disclaimer

This is personal!
My own personal opinion, feathered with some anecdotal evidence and sprinkled with a few hard cold facts.
It’s not (all) about decrying any particular individual, but rather a system that deprives people of personal choice with no good reason.

Individual members of the clergy, registration services and humanist celebrants that I have come into contact with over my many years as a celebrant, as a whole, have been nothing but charming. This is not aimed at them per se, but rather their powers that be. They are striving to curtail us and denigrate our very vital role as they try to erase us from the wedding landscape.

Within this blog I am naming the latest individual who has personally attacked me and my fellow independent celebrants as well as our role as celebrants. This is his attempt to persuade government not to allow us, and in turn the couples and families we work with the same rights to conduct our legal business.

Why am I naming him?
Because I am fed up of taking this lying down!

I AM happy to have discourse with him, and for him, and all in the palaces of Westminster, to hear a different take. Because right now, we have been silenced by louder voices, and let’s face it deeper pockets.
Money as we all know…talks.

STOP ATTACKING INDEPENDENT CELEBRANTS

The Church doesn’t want us.
The Registrars don’t want us.
The Humanists don’t want us!

It begs the question…WHY?

Whether you like it or not, independent celebrants have formed part of the UK wedding landscape for over 20 years now.

Some History

in 1974 the then Australian Attorney General appointed the first civil celebrants in Australia who were able to legally register marriages, when he took from the marriage act three simple words ‘other suitable persons’ were able to legally solemnise a marriage in addition to clergy and registrars.
Yet here we are over 50 years later, with our equivalent colleagues in Australia, New Zealand and USA all able to legally register marriages, yet here in the U.K. (a country with an ever increasing blended, diverse and secular society) still not able to offer the same.

Celebrancy In The UK

Terri Negus, founder and director of the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants (FPC) was one of the pioneers growing celebrancy to the UK after she trained in 2003 with Carole Poole who at the time was the U.K. President of the International College of Celebrancy in Australia. As a result Terri started her own training company in 2007 as there was no one else here doing training for wedding celebrants, and this evolved into the first full training programme which was truly Independent for both funeral and wedding celebrants.
Terri completed some further training in Oklahoma when she studied with Doug Manning in 2007, before going to Australia in Feb 2011 where she trained with Dally Messenger III Already an experienced celebrant and trainer, she started her diploma course.

Terri says that in her 22+ years as a celebrant she has seen huge growth in the number of couples wanting celebrant led weddings, from just a handful in her first few years, to now 1000’s of ceremonies conducted by Independent Celebrants each year. Clear evidence that more and more couples are already choosing exactly what they want for themselves in relation to their wedding ceremonies.

My History

Anyone who has followed me for any length of time, will know that I trained with Terri back in 2011 as a wedding celebrant, and over the course of these past 14years I have conducted hundreds of ceremonies.
I am a multi award winning celebrant, as well as a trainer, mentor and advocate for our industry.
I stay relevant with ongoing CPD, and this year alone I am studying for my next qualification in Understanding Autism, to stand alongside the certificated training I have completed in relation to Dementia Awareness and Dying Matters.
I am a diversity champion as well as a Sustainable Wedding Alliance Ambassador.
I believe in putting people and the planet at the heart of everything I do.

So Why All The Vitriol?

The trend towards more personalised weddings, at a time, in a place and in a way of your choosing has grown exponentially, as we have definitely filled a gap in the market for couples AND in the process ruffled a few feathers.

Let’s break it down…

Church:-

Specifically, the Anglican Ministers (whilst there are other religious bodies in the UK they are mostly, other than the Quakers and Jews, in the same position as celebrants, i.e. not able to conduct legal stand-alone ceremonies, (so they will not form any further part of this blog.)

It’s all about God, not the couple, their families or their wider community, but about a man-made construct.
I was married first time around in a church having been raised in a C of E household.
It was lovely and all that, but it wasn’t personal, and to be fair, back then it was one of 2 options, church or register office.

Other Barriers:-

Vicars will not marry, for instance, a Pagan and a Christian within a church building
Some vicars will not marry a divorcee.
The Anglican church does not allow same sex marriage, it will not permit clergy to officiate same sex marriage and frowns upon its own clergy being in such unions. In 2023 did agree to allow blessings for same sex civil union, but there is still no parity /equality in marriage for many in the LGBTQIA+ community who are practicing Christians.
The church still upholds, despite fierce debate, the traditional doctrine that marriage is between one man and one woman.
While the Church of England has apparently taken tentative steps to affirm and welcome trans people, it stops short of fully embracing gender diversity theologically or doctrinally.

And when it comes to disability inclusion, apparently the vision is there. Websites are definitely more inclusive…but in practice, anecdotal lived experience of parishioners is patchy.

So, how does the church embrace a modern diverse and inclusive Britain, when it is not serving all of its community?

Not every person marrying in the UK is Christian, many are from other faiths, with interfaith couples making up a large proportion of independent celebrant ceremonies. Even more people identify as having no faith.

Most marriages in 2022 took place outside of a religious setting , only 17 % were religious with 83% being civil.

Office of National Statistics (ONS -2022)

So taking that into account, why is the church so against the inclusion of Independent celebrants under any proposed Marriage Act reform ?

We take away some of their income, simple as.

The Lord Bishop of Guildford, Andrew Watson, (@cofeguildford on Instagram, if you’d like to let him know your opinion) stood up in the House of Lords on the 30th June 2025 to argue differently during the debate on legalising Humanist Marriage in England and Wales.
“My Lords, noble Lords will not be surprised to hear from these Benches that I am thoroughly in favour of marriage. I want to stress the many benefits of getting married in church, but I am also in favour of encouraging more people to marry wherever, provided that the ceremony reflects the seriousness of the commitment being entered into and the love that lies at its core.
“To that end, does the Minister agree that if adjustments were to be made to our current premises-based system to enable legal humanist marriages, the door should not be opened so wide that it brings in a free market in commercial celebrants that will cheapen and devalue what is such a vital and foundational institution?”
He feels we cheapen the institution of marriage as ‘commercial celebrants.’
Interestingly I posed the question to ChatGPT as to what a commercial celebrant is…not surprisingly it has a completely different take to him.
A commercial celebrant is a professional who creates and delivers non-religious or semi-religious ceremonies for businesses or public events, rather than personal life events like weddings or funerals. Their work focuses on corporate, civic, or community settings, and can include:
Examples of Commercial Ceremonies:
Business launches or rebrands
Award ceremonies
Company anniversaries
Groundbreaking or ribbon-cutting events
Retirement or leaving dos for senior staff
Seasonal celebrations (e.g., Winter Solstice, Christmas parties)
Public commemorations or unveilings

A commercial celebrant brings the same skills as a wedding or funeral celebrant, storytelling, public speaking, personalisation…but adapts them to a more corporate or public-facing context. These ceremonies are often tailored to reflect a company’s values, culture, or achievements and are becoming increasingly popular as businesses seek more meaningful ways to mark milestones.

So whilst I can personally do both, I concentrate on weddings and funerals, so I am most definitely a wedding celebrant and I do not identify as a commercial one.
Church fees are not dissimilar to a celebrant fee, and when you add in the fee for the flowers, the bells, the choir, even the heating, the final payment will probably be over £1000.
The difference is, our fee pays to keep a roof over our heads and food on our tables, their fee is for the upkeep of the church, once wages and taxes have been paid.
https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2024-11/parochial-fees-a4_25_0.pdf

Registrars:-

Employed by local authorities normally at County Council level or as part of a Unitary Authority.
They are council workers who are authorised in law to conduct legally binding marriage ceremonies.
As we all know all local authorities are cashed strapped, some are in debt to the tune millions and they need to make money.

The easy way for them to make money…commercially I may add, is to up their portfolio of add-ons to couples who are getting married.

Prior to 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic. The local authorities and therefore the
registrars were slightly more tolerant of celebrants of all flavours doing our ‘thing’.
They still had the monopoly on civil marriages and ceremonies outside of the church scenario.

Registration Districts were getting agitated at the number of couples opting for a basic registration and coming to a celebrant for their wedding ceremony in front of family and friends, we know this because our couples have told us. (I tried to obtain statistics earlier this year from my immediate local authorities in relation to statutory/ basic registration ceremonies as opposed to full marriage ceremonies conducted by registrars, but conveniently they are exempt from providing this information under the Freedom of information Act 2000).

Since the pandemic and following a quick addition into the Marriage Act, so that couples could still get married despite the lockdowns, registrars can now conduct ceremonies outside in certain venues above and beyond those they could prior to Covid.
That has opened the floodgates for them adding certain rituals into their ceremonies, such as sand ceremonies. They will even now do a legal ceremony at the register office and then attend a 2nd venue to conduct a 2nd ‘personal’ ceremony in an unauthorised venue in front of family and friends, claiming they can do just as much in the way of personalisation as an independent celebrant can…
Oh so, (sarcasm dripping from my tongue here…) they can spend hours personally crafting a ceremony between a Wiccan and a Norse Pagan then can they?

Or how about blending a Hindu & Muslim couples beliefs and practice?

Or a ceremony at sunrise/ sunset on a beach or in the woods?

Nope thought not!

The most time they have may be an hour, after a 30-minute zoom to ‘prepare’ a script (probably not written by them). With no rehearsal, no organic processes and no wriggle room if someone is running late …

And yet according to them, there is still no room for us, the content creators, the imagineers and the ones who offer the couples we work with the exact ceremony they request. Delivered with flair, style and heart.

There is a celebrant that fits every brief imaginable and just because it might be a bit more ‘out there,’ it does not and never will take away the importance or sanctity of marriage. It just makes their day and their ‘I do’s’ that little bit more fun, and a whole lot more about them, not the law, not religion…them!

So taking that into account, why are local authorities so against the inclusion of Independent celebrants under any proposed Marriage Act reform?

Yup…. It’s all about the money and nothing at all to do with choice!
I get it, and I don’t blame them for upping their game, however as local authorities they are monopolising the marriage market, and surely even if this is not against the law, with their anti-competitive practices, it is totally unethical.

Humanists UK:-

And finally humanist celebrants, or more specifically the institution…Humanists UK.

Again, recent history documents them frequently referring to independent celebrants as commercial celebrants…How disingenuous from an organisation that promotes human connections AND human rights above all else.
Whether they like it or not they are a faith-based organisation, promoting humanism and secularism around the country and the globe.
Members have humanist beliefs, and a strong support network.
Humanist celebrants can currently legally marry people in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands as they fall into the faith-based category of officiants.

Humanist celebrants just like independent celebrants offer couples a choice, albeit as an independent I would argue our choices are the broadest of them all, because we can cater as a group, for all needs, desires, beliefs and circumstances, unlike humanists who should not, back to my Pagan couple…be conducting a handfasting for a Wiccan and a Norse Pagan, because these are ancient beliefs and religions.

Independent celebrants are members of all faiths and none, all beliefs and none and are as a consequence more inclusive in what they can offer couples.

However by calling us commercial celebrants too and attempting to erase us from the debate around the reform of the Marriage Act, Humanists UK are actively trying to monopolise the market for themselves.

They charge for their services, and in fact when I have conducted research, the majority charge far more for their services than a lot of independent celebrants, does this not make them commercial too by their very own definitions?

In fact all officiants, be we employed or self-employed, by the definitions of the church and Humanists UK ARE COMMERCIAL CELEBRANTS!

So, let’s even the playing field out here, let’s debate the change in law, with us all having a fair and equal voice.
Let’s do what we all intended when we chose these roles as our vocations, let’s serve our couples, our families and our communities with compassion, verve and show each other a little bit more love.

Want to know more about what I do, get in touch soon, let’s talk.

For more information and ideas about how we can work together get in touch now

I can’t wait to work with you and create something funky and magical.

Let’s talk