Fun celebrant - worth it or overrated?
There are two very respectable approaches to planning your wedding ceremony; one prioritises it and does everything it can to make the ceremony fun, like the rest of the day while the other says “heck, let’s just do what we need to get married. The day will get good after the ceremony”.
Let’s unpack.
We’ll begin with approach #2, the one that isn’t fussed with having an enjoyable ceremony.
What are some benefits to this? Less pressure, less worry about finding the ideal celebrant and low-stakes for expectations to be met.
What are some disadvantages to this approach? Well, you lose out on a significant part of your day. In fact, if you’re invested in the getting married bit, the ceremony is really the most important part. Pouring some energy into your ceremony will add another beautiful hour of joy to your day and will set the tone for a fabulous celebration. Not paying attention to the important details of your marriage ceremony can take it to icksville reaaaalllll quick.
Also, if you don’t invest in a quality celebrant, you might find yourself with stresses you definitely did not need! (I’ll explore this more below).
On the flipside, let’s look at what happens when you prioritise your ceremony, chiefly through hiring a fun, experienced and professional celebrant ie take approach #1.
Obviously, you’re more likely to have a really fun ceremony. That much is clear. But what about some other benefits?
Well, investing in your ceremony and planning it well will give you an opportunity to enjoy more of your day, and give you some wonderful memories.
If you’ve gone and hired a fun celebrant, you’ll likely be laughing and crying and enjoying the heck out of your ceremony. You’ll be engaging with your guests, having fun and also feeling all warm and fuzzy as you hear your story reflected back to you.
But, if you book a really good celebrant, you’ll also have a professional on board to make everything run smoothly. A pro will have seen it all and know how to handle crises or mishaps so that you don’t have to. They’ll know how to warm up your guests and help them feel welcome and engaged. A really good celebrant will have prepared you for your day and you will be feeling so amped up in readiness for this big moment.
Your celebrant will have written a ceremony that not only reflects who you are but which supports you to feel good - not pushing your boundaries, not upsetting sensitive family dynamics and only going where you want it to. But they’ll also surprise you with anecdotes or in-jokes. You’ll feel seen and understood.
There are just two downsides to putting in effort and care to your wedding ceremony:
you probably will spend more money on your TOTAL PRO CELEBRANT than on the first available person you found.
your cheeks will hurt quite a lot from smiling.
You always knew I was going to root for the first approach, right? I am a modern and fun-loving celebrant after all…I’m not going to try very hard to convince to you to plan a crappy, half-baked ceremony when you could actually have so much fun and so much joy, right from the start of your wedding.
So, what are you waiting for?1 Go and book the important people; the professionals who will make your day AMAZING!