As Bella and Mark’s wedding celebrant, my mission was this – to give them a ceremony that respected their evolution into parents, but told their story as a couple. It was a family wedding ceremony. We had a lot of young children at the wedding – about a quarter of the guests. The Frogmill was wriggling with their excited, brilliant contributions from start to finish. Children at weddings are not something to worry about, especially if your celebrant has secret plans to get them to join in.
I designed their wedding celebrant as a series of moments, breaking it up into shorter, almost more emotional bursts to ensure it was easily felt and heard by them, as well as being entertaining and beautiful for guests of all ages. Bella and Mark were in a long-term love story already. I focused on how it had felt when they met and fell for one another, and what those early years had continued to give to them in terms of foundational values, core memories, and anchor points into parenthood. Their love for music, their great group of friends, and for adventure, shone through.
Before the ceremony, I met all the guests as they gathered in the gorgeous gardens of the Frogmill, and asked the children to write down on big cards the answer to one question, “how do you know when two people are in love?”. During the ceremony I collected their answers and reflected them back on Bella and Mark to show them what their love looks like from the outside. We then used the first three on my pile as impromptu wedding vows, which was excellent.
Their wedding reading was a children’s story that I picked for them to reflect their family values, and by this point, they had been joined in their seats by their gorgeous two kids, who had sat so beautifully watching, and then came to be a part of the rest of the ceremony. This wasn’t planned, but it was an essential and very emotional moment, as if the magnetism suddenly kicked in and being together as a four became the most natural and important thing in the room.
The children gave their parents their wedding rings, and then stayed by their side whilst they exchanged them. Like their relationship, what began as two people falling in love and finding everything they wanted ended with four people holding each other in forever promises, and it was completely perfect. Not planned, but the best just married aisle-walk possible.
And then we were outside to confetti, incredible music from a live DJ right from the start, and a bouncy castle. The most appropriate, giddy, carefree apparatus became a symbol of how fun this day was. So much love and laughter.
Thanks to Bella and Mark for their view on working with me as their wedding celebrant:
Thank you for a unique and personal ceremony! Eleanor’s script was a brilliant conversation starter all day long and set the tone for the rest of our day with perfection. We were greatful for how you included our children in the ceremony and the surprise audience participation will be a lasting memory for us.
In the run up to wedding we really valued the the teams calls and WhatsApp group, feel like we’ve made a new friend.
100% recommend Eleanor as a wedding celebrant, would use againAll photos courtesy of Bella and Mark and Jane and Oli of Cotswold Weddings
