I had the joy of being at a Wedding Showcase recently, and one thing that struck me was that more couples were actually aware of the difference between a celebrant and a registrar, which made my job a whole lot easier. In fact, I was able to move onto my favourite subject concerning weddings, which is that they needn't cost the earth - in fact, it became a bit of a catchphrase for me - because as anyone who has ever tried to plan and book a wedding knows, as soon as you mention the 'W' word, prices seem to take off into the stratosphere.
I was recently involved in a celebrant boot camp, during which I was encouraged to find my USP. Up until that point, I hadn't really thought about it, but when I examined what I was really all about as a celebrant, I realised two things: one, for me, it's all about the language used during the ceremony, and how it's important to me that cliches and cheesy language tropes are avoided, and two, I think that it shouldn't cost a fortune to celebrate love and marriage.
I am hoping that I will become known as the affordable celebrant - someone who will deliver a beautifully crafted script for your ceremony, but not charge you well over the odds for it. As I said to a lot of the couples who dropped by my stall on Sunday, if you check out the basic marriage ceremony at your local register office, you can spend £46 or thereabouts on the legal marriage, and after that, work with me on your celebration ceremony, which can then be whenever and wherever you like, with no restrictions on content or timings either - and if you check out my ceremony price list, you will see (all together now!) "It needn't cost the earth!"
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