I had an interesting discussion this morning with a potential client about why more and more people are using celebrants for the key life-cycle events in our lives, such as weddings.
This particular couple, to me, were not unusual - I have come across people in their circumstances many times as a Toastmaster. One of them is nominally Christian, but doesn't go to church, and the other is an atheist. They each have a child from previous relationships, and so this is not just about them "tie-ing the knot" with each other, but about creating a new family unit, where all 4 of them will have a say and a status.
So as I said, they were not unusual... although I guess 100 years ago it would have been very out of the ordinary. With the exceptions of the laws about civil partnerships in 2005 and potentially a new Marriage act for same sex couples nothing has changed in relation to wedding law since 1931 (at least according to Wikipedia!)
What this couple were looking for is a wedding ceremony that can both be traditional and yet accommodating for the needs of a modern family living in 21st Century Britain. I really liked that being a definition of why you might wish to use a Celebrant for your big day, and so asked them if I could steal it for this blog!
