Carrie Celebrates - Bringing joy & fun to celebrant wedding ceremonies | Sussex, Kent & London

WEDDING, CIVIL CEREMONY OR VOW RENEWAL

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

I’m assuming you’re here because you’re getting married, having a civil partnership or renewing your vows, so firstly - yaaaas, that’s some exciting stuff. Cheers to you!

Carrie drinks a pint of beer while planning a celebrant wedding ceremony

I’m also assuming you’ve done a bit of research and know the deal with a celebrant-led ceremony. But just in case, here’s a quick rundown of the key things you need to know.

(Vow renewal folks - obvs the legal bit doesn’t apply for you, but everything about the freedom, creativity and connection we’ll build totally does!)

The first rule is, there are no rules

With a wedding ceremony or civil partnership created by me, you’re free from lots of the constraints you’d face with a traditional religious or registry office ceremony.

You can do your thing pretty much anywhere you want, rather than the limited options you get when it comes to licensed venues. So whether the location of your dreams is on paddle boards in the sea, in your nan’s garden, or down your local, we can do that.

Your ceremony will be created with you and for you. No standard ‘insert name here’ script, no traditional elements that you’d rather leave out, and no strangers conducting one of the biggest moments of your life. Everything in the ceremony will be completely original and included because you want it to be.

Did we just become best friends?

I’ll get to know you and your story, so I can create the perfect ceremony that feels like a true reflection of who you are and what matters to you. We’ll spend time together (beer anyone?), get creative, and share ideas so you’re a part of the process and feel seen. By the time the big day rolls around, it’ll feel like a friend is leading your ceremony!

You can probably tell from what you’ve read so far that my style is pretty chill, fun, upbeat, and creative. And I love to create ceremonies for people who feel that vibe and want their people to feel part of it too. I want you to bring your maddest ideas to the table. My number one rule is no dream squashing, so I’ll do whatever I can to make your dreams reality.

A couple doing the legal bit at the registrars office before their celebrant wedding ceremony

Here comes the legal stuff…

Now, the only catch to all that awesomeness is that independent celebrant led ceremonies aren't currently legal in the UK. Don’t let that put you off though! Some couples don’t really care about the legal bit and just enjoy the excitement of their celebrant-led ceremony.

But if you do want to make it legal, you’ll just need to have a separate civil ceremony at a Registry Office. It’s cheap (about £50 - £100) and you can do it any time before or after your celebrant ceremony.

When I got married we did the book signing thing with our closest family in the morning, then had the big fun celebrant ceremony with all our people in the afternoon. If you like, we can talk about this more if you choose to have a call with me.

MONEY STUFF

And so we must come to the subject of money. I hate this bit, but unfortunately being a creative genius is hungry work and a girl’s gotta eat!

I keep my pricing pretty simple. My fee is £900 for a ceremony and that’s for everything from our first chat right through to sending you a fancy copy of your script after your wedding.

I charge 45p per mile for travel and if your venue is a bit of a trek from Hastings, I might also need you to cover accommodation.

If you decide to include any extra elements in your ceremony (such as hand fasting or bingo) that I need to create or source stuff for I’ll also charge you the cost for those. But we can talk about all that during the planning process.

Phew, so glad that’s over. And that’s a taster of just how awkward I’ll be asking for money if you book me!