There are lots of reasons why I love a celebrant led wedding and this wedding was all of them!
Emily & Jake got married in her parent’s beautiful garden in Hertfordshire and it was a true family affair. Emily’s Mum built a wooden playground and tipi for the little guests. Emily made festival sticks and love hearts for the seats. Her sister-in-law made macrame decorations for the ceremony area trees. Emily even reupholstered beautiful chaise lounges for the garden – how talented!
Of course, it looked stunning and the details were next level like the amazing flower arrangement hanging from the huge tree that Emily and Jake said their vows under and the Cuban jazz band that regaled the guests over the buddha bowl food. The garden is dual level; the bottom for the wedding ceremony, centred around a beautiful tree encircled with chairs. The top had a large tipi set up for cake cutting and dancing later on.
I had been concerned that if any rain fell they’d put zero contingency in place for wet weather, but Emily seemed super chilled out and I needn’t have worried. Emily & Jake knew something I didn’t. They got married on the absolute hottest day of the year – it was over 35 degrees all day!
There were more than a few tears shed (by both the couple and the assembled guests) during the beautiful vows when Emily eloquently talked about the passage of time and Jake professed his love for his best friend.
While melting, I watched heartfelt speeches, amazing dancing, energetic bouquet throwing and took laughter filled couple photos. This day was truly perfect. Just take a look through these happy photos.
If you’d like to see if my style of happy, relaxed photography might fit into your wedding day, let’s have a chat and we can start planning your Hertfordshire wedding day together!
Considering a celebrant led wedding?
Celebrant led weddings are growing in popularity in the UK for good reason. They are such a personal way to marry your person. The celebrant you choose spends time getting to know you both and personalising your ceremony to you, something you just don’t get in a legal or religious ceremony in the same way. There also isn’t the exclusion of religion like there is at a civil ceremony which will appeal to some people as you can incorporate the believes of both parties more easily.
The current downside is that they aren’t legally binding in the UK so you do need to have a separate legal marriage either at a church or register office on a different day. This might be in the works to change however.
I’ve seen so many wonderful things incorporated into these ceremonies; singing, personalised poetry, hand fasting, sand pouring ceremonies and so much more.
I absolutely love this type of wedding. If you want to see another relaxed celebrant led wedding at Charlton House in Greenwich then Abi & Will’s was another belter of a day. Check it out and let’s chat!
