Looking for inspiration on the different ways you can say ‘I do’? Three couples tell us how they personalised their wedding ceremonies with the help of their celebrants
Jennifer Thomson and Alistair Kay
The couple married on 14th October 2023 at Seamill Hydro, with George McLean of Fuze Ceremonies there with them to tie the knot. Their day was captured by Gary James Photography...
“We chose a humanist ceremony. We really wanted the event to be all about us and our story, and had found that all the humanist ceremonies we’d been to in the past ticked that box. We also wanted there to be an element of humour in the ceremony to match our personalities, and this worked so well.
We searched through different humanism websites and watched several videos before we stumbled across George McLean’s profile. We had a look at his social media, and his ceremonies looked amazing. He delivered the ceremonies beautifully, and with lots of personality. Meeting him for this first time just cemented that view. He seemed to get our sense of humour and we knew he was the celebrant for us.
Our ceremony felt really personal with George telling our story. On his advice, we had our parents sitting on the opposite side from where they would traditionally have been. It meant my mum and dad could see me throughout the ceremony and Ally’s parents could see him.
We used a Thomson tartan scarf for the handfasting, which was a lovely surprise for my parents – they only have two daughters, and I was the last to have the Thomson name. We also included my gran’s scarf – she had sadly passed away the year before and had been desperate to see me getting married. It was a family handfasting and we involved Ally’s two children – it felt like a lovely way to make them part of it without too much pressure.
We placed a Highland cow teddy on the table where we signed the register. This was another nod to my gran, who had loved drawing and colouring Steven Brown’s famous McCoos.
When we were preparing the ceremony during the lead-up, George did a section with the two of us individually, which was kept a secret from the other. We each gave him a list of three things we loved about one another, as well as one thing we found annoying. This gave the ceremony a really personal, romantic element – followed by a bit of fun. Ally and I loved it, and I think the guests really enjoyed it.
Our celebrant definitely shaped the ceremony for us. We knew we wanted it to be personal and to involve the kids in some way – so George listened to us and then advised us on some options.”
Hannah Roney and Jay Allan
Hannah and Jay married on 8th March this year at Lochside House Hotel. The new Mrs Allan recounts how the two of them worked with their celebrant, Louize Hollywood from Independent Humanist Ceremonies, to create their ceremony. The day was lensed by Carrie Roy Photography
“We both wanted to get married somewhere local. Jay and I were born and raised in Ayrshire and neither of us wanted to go outside the area.
We were in agreement about having a humanist ceremony too. We’re not religious or typically traditional people, so it made sense to go for something that would be very relaxed and personal to the pair of us. We certainly got that with our celebrant, Louize Hollywood from Independent Humanist Ceremonies.
Jay and I were very clear that we didn’t want to do our own vows – we tend to be very emotional, so it was important to have someone who’d be able to express our love and affection towards each other. Louize articulated that love beautifully, expressing it in a way neither of us would have been capable of at such an emotional moment. All of our guests thoroughly enjoyed her telling the story of our life together.
We had asked Jay’s mum, Alana Dick, to read a poem that Louize had provided for us that really captured her pride and excitement as mother of the groom. We also asked our mums to be our witnesses; it was an incredible moment for Jay and for me, and one that we will treasure for the rest of our lives.
It really mattered to us that we would have somebody local who could tell our story in a way and manner that we would have done ourselves, and also for the celebrant to be someone who chimed with our personalities. Louize certainly provided plenty of humorous moments as well as emotional ones.
When we met with her for the first time, it didn’t take long to realise that she ticked all our boxes and was exactly what we were looking for. The conversation was very informal, and she was interested and enthusiastic in learning all the details about how we met and how we got to where we were today.
After that meeting, Louize wrote up a first draft of everything she was going to say at the ceremony and involved us as much as possible throughout the process. Based on that first draft, it was extremely evident that she is incredibly talented at what she does as next to nothing required changing and it captured all of our feelings perfectly.”
Lorna Campbell and Garry Wallace
The couple married on 10th June last year at The Inn at Charlestown, with their day captured by Corona Photographic. The new Mrs Wallace talks us through their ceremony, which was led by Natalie Stevenson
“Garry and I met through friends. He was looking for a flatmate and I was looking for a place to stay, so I moved in. We were just friends for around a year until one day he asked me out on a date. It’s funny – we completely broke the normal order of things. We shared a dog and lived together before we actually began dating!
The Inn at Charlestown was the first venue we went to see. We fell in love with it straight away. We did view a few other venues just to make sure, but none was the right fit or tempted us away from our first choice.
We’re not religious people so we went for a humanist ceremony. Humanist values fitted what we were looking for. We spent a lot of time on the Humanism in Scotland website, trying to work out which celebrant would be the right one for us. That’s where we found Natalie. She is lovely – so friendly and easy to talk to. We still check in with each other to this day.
The help she gave us was fantastic. We met her at a coffee shop, where she asked us questions and got to know us. She helped us relax and find our way to tell our story on the day. Natalie discovered I am a huge fan of the TV show Friends so included a few quotes in the ceremony. It was a lovely touch.
Natalie was an amazing celebrant. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better
Garry and I really did ‘tie the knot’ with a handfasting ceremony. We also drank from the quaich (gin, rather than whisky). We had a few ‘love me, love me nots’ – neither of us knew the other’s answers for this part. After the traditional kiss as husband and wife, we also shared a fist bump as we do normally. I would have preferred just the fist bump to the public display of affection!
The ushers were my nephews from Australia – they loved being over in Scotland and wearing kilts for the day.
For the walk up the aisle, our performer Amy Gunn played ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ by Jet. As we signed the register it was ‘Still Into You’ by Paramore, and then we walked down the aisle as husband and wife to ‘Paper Rings’ by Taylor Swift. Garry says seeing me walk up the aisle looking beautiful and being only six minutes late was definitely the highlight of the ceremony for him!
The day was amazing from start to finish but it was over in a flash. So many people told us that it was the best wedding they’d been to.
Natalie was an amazing celebrant. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better.”
