A day in the life of a celebrant: Wedding day

Your phone alarm buzzes at the ungodly hour of 5:30am. It’s officially here – the day you’ll officiate your first wedding!

Bleary-eyed but already feeling the adrenaline coursing through your body, you sit up and flip open Instagram, looking for the cute animal video fix that’s your answer to anyone else’s cup of coffee. Instead, the first Reel you’re greeted with is the wedding scene in Schitt’s Creek! You take this as a sign that today you will be channeling your inner Moira, and smile to yourself.

https://giphy.com/gifs/schittscreek-MaP7y4CDIv3C0LjQ95

You’ve worked hard to prepare yourself for this moment, reciting your script every night for a week so that it trips off your tongue. Your bags are packed, the rehearsal yesterday went great, and you’re set up in accommodation 10 minutes down the road from Llanthony Secunda Priory, today’s venue for a beautiful handfasting ceremony. You’re in the same accommodation as the bride, one of your dear friends from uni, Tones, who is marrying the love of her life, Alex, in a few short hours.

Parking is limited here, and so you’ve offered to move your car so that the make up artist can have your spot. Shrugging a coat on over your pyjamas, you grab your keys and get the car over to a car park across the street. As you wander back, swinging a bag for life containing your heels, you spot a car hovering on the corner of the road, with someone inside looking a little puzzled. You chance it and bob over and peer into the window. “Hi, are you Antonia’s make up artist?”

The woman looks mildly alarmed but nods. “I’m Aliya. Do you want me to show you where to go? It’s a bit tricky.” She says yes, and you open the passenger door and hop in. It is only at this point that you suddenly realise the absurdity of the situation for what it is – a total stranger wandering the the streets in pyjamas and a coat with unbrushed hair, swinging a Tesco bag and humming to herself randomly gets into person’s car. Ah well, too late now! There isn’t time to blabber an explanation as you guide the make up artist round the side street and tap in the security code to access the accommodation’s parking. You pray that somehow you’ve still managed to make an overall positive impression.

As the car pulls up, you find Tones stood outside. You hug joyfully. Tones looks beautiful as per, but there is an extra aura of radiance about her today. You make a mental note to research this phenomenon that seems to happen at every wedding.

The wedding isn’t until the early afternoon, and normally you might be crawling back into bed for a little extra sleep before getting ready, but you’re too excited. You hop in the shower, dress, and zoom off to a local hairdressers. Most people would think it a risky move to go to a new salon hours before a wedding, but you’re just going for a trim and to get it styled and you’re confident that your hair would look much better done by anyone else but you. You pull up to the salon a few minutes early, and so sit and re-read your script one last time. It flows, it works. Tones and Alex love it. You’re ready.

An hour later, you emerge from the salon, feeling a lot more put together. While you were at your appointment, you were sat next to someone getting their haircut for their wedding taking place next week! There is a lot of joy in the air, and it lifts your spirits even higher.

You return and dress. It’ll soon be time to head off to the venue as you need to arrive an hour early to do final checks and welcome guests. A little bit of pre-ceremony anxiety kicks in. You want to do the very best for your friends, these people that have cheered you on to become a celebrant and taken a chance on you on this incredibly important day in their lives. You think about tweaking one or two words in the script to make them a bit more colloquial – unnecessary overthinking – and then have a mini panic when your e-reader doesn’t seem to want to upload it. You have a printout too, so it really is ok, but you’re scared this is an omen. Then you check again to find the change has been uploaded successfully. You just needed to breathe and be patient. You check your bag and packing list for the third time: supplies all in check.

Time to visit the bridal party before setting off. It’s here that you meet the photographer, Ali (Ali Horton Photography), who is very supportive and offers to do all he can to help you forget about the camera. You remember the importance of having colleagues who cheer you on in this industry and feel thankful, offering in return to do what you can to be of help. Everyone looks beautiful and you’re regretting not opting for waterproof mascara.

It is a beautiful crisp Spring day. The priory is looking gorgeous in the sunlight, and the ceremony room is ready, as you and the wedding party had set it up the day before as part of the rehearsal process. The venue team are on hand, ready to help with anything. You test the sound system and connect your phone up, which is loaded with the couple’s ceremony playlist. You’re nervous, and that’s ok. You check in with Alex, make sure the best man has the rings, and show early guests to their seats.

At most celebrant-led weddings, couples will have completed their legal registration of marriage separately, before their big day. Tones and Alex have opted to combine both the legal and independent celebrant ceremonies – first, the legal portion will be completed, then it’s over to you to share the couple’s love story, promises and ring exchange, guide the readings and end with a joyful, symbolic handfasting. You’ve spent days networking with the couple’s friends and family to create a truly bespoke ceremony that is true to them, and in a few moments it’s all about to come together.

It’s time to check in with the registrars. You are warm and welcoming and run through the ceremony plan. A new registrar, who has just completed his training, is being observed by his mentors today. You think of your own mentor, Roxy, who cheered you on as a trainee, and smile. She’s so cool and you feel she’d be proud of you. You wish him well. It’s time to take your place. Let the ceremony begin!

The ceremony is a joyful blur that goes off without a hitch. Tones and Alex leave to Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered and there’s a euphoric atmosphere as people exit to collect their post-ceremony samosas and bubbly. Side note, all ceremonies should be followed by samosas!

People come up to you and thank you, share that they’ve never been to a ceremony like yours. You feel so happy, but the confirmation you’re looking for the most is, of course, that of your couple. They are beaming – you know you’ve nailed it.

You have the privilege of staying for the whole wedding. Time for outdoor games, tacos and pizza, laughing with friends and dancing the night away. It’s been a beautiful day which you will remember forever.

You feel so proud that you took a chance on yourself to become a celebrant. It was totally worth it, and this is just the start.

Photography credit: All photos by Ali Horton photography. Moira Rose GIF by Giphy.