My Wedding Story: Why I Became a Celebrant

So as a celebrant I can officiate someone’s wedding and create something so perfect for each and every couple. My wedding story is filled with these beautiful moments. I can also do the same for a family who are welcoming a new member of their family… I’ve never had children – well that’s not true. I’ve been mum to 2 gorgeous doggies, and am I currently mum to a gorgeous cat called Luna. But I digress..

But I AM married, so I thought I would tell you about my own wedding story. Part of it explains one of the reasons I decided to become a celebrant. This part of my wedding story highlights that.

I met my husband Michael in 2003 when we both worked at Warrington Hospital. We both started working there at roughly the same time. Additionally, we both worked in the same sort of office and we were both booked on the 2 day staff induction for new starters.

When I arrived at the induction I noticed him sat talking to another girl but didn’t really think much about it. At lunchtime, I was at a table eating with someone else on the induction. That’s when he came and asked to sit next to me. I assumed he recognised me from the office, so I started talking to him. I asked if he was settling in, as I had been there about 3 months and he had been there only a week or two. He remembers thinking “she seems to know who I am, but I don’t know who she is!”.

We got on really well. So, on the 2nd day, we ended up having lunch together. He remembers me (not so subtly) enquiring if he had a girlfriend or boyfriend (he didn’t) 🎉 We spent the afternoon bonding over not wanting to practice mouth to mouth on the first aid dummy. On the 3rd day, I went back to work, and he had an additional day’s induction to do. On the 4th day, I was debating whether or not to email him to keep us connected. Whilst I was debating….. he emailed me.

FF ⏩ to 2011 Whiston Hospital A&E department, where Michael was hooked up to a monitor after having some health issues. He told me “I do want to get married, but I am not proposing here”… which to be honest, I agreed with. By this time, we had been living together for 6 years, had a beautiful dog Peggy, and I was fairly ambivalent about marriage. I was already blissfully happy. My wedding story had started long before our formal engagement.

In the final few months of 2011, Michael had his health scare, and my 90-year-old Gran was diagnosed with terminal cancer. So, the feeling of “maybe we should get married” started to feel bigger and bigger.

FF ⏩ again to the middle of November 2011, Michael and I were on Formby Beach walking Peggy when, without any warning, Michael proposed to me. I said yes! We were engaged!!!! 💍

Now then as it happened, the same day, Michael’s sister sent us a message to say… that whilst on holiday, she and her boyfriend had got engaged! Amazing news. However, we didn’t want to steal their thunder. Therefore, we came up with a plan.

We decided to book our entire wedding, keeping it small and very us. I spent the next 2 days booking the register office and booking our honeymoon until all was sorted. We would get married in February, 16 weeks after we had got engaged! A pivotal moment in my wedding story.

So 2 days after we got engaged, we set off on one of the best and most joyful evenings of my life. We visited or called my parents, my gran, our sisters, and Michael’s parents to tell them we were getting married. This went like this:

“We have got something to tell you”

“Are you pregnant?” (my sister)

“No”

“Are you moving house?” (my mum)

“No”

We are getting married 💒 My wedding story continued to unfold with much excitement.

“What?!” (Everyone)

“In 16 weeks, it’s all booked”

“WHAT?!”

So 16 weeks after getting engaged, we got married. Nevertheless, in that preparation was one of the reasons I became a celebrant.

You see, my husband is a Liverpool Fan. Whilst I am not a particular footie fan, I LOVE the sentiment of “You’ll never walk alone,” which is LFC’s famous anthem. When we met with the registrar, we asked if we could add it to our vows, i.e., “I promise you’ll never walk alone.” She was nonplussed. “Hmmm,” she pondered, where do you want to add that? “Hmmm.. “she pondered again… she was very reluctant. Whilst she did add it, I got the feeling it was inconvenient.

With hindsight, I sort of understand. Registrars do multiple weddings per day and don’t have time to add in personalisation. Each wedding is a legal script with very specific words that have to be said, so she probably thought what I was asking was just a pain in the bum for her. When she knew the legal script probably by heart.

Our wedding was small and intimate, but back then, we didn’t know there was any other option. If we’d had a celebrant, our wedding could have been entirely personal. The music I personally curated for us to walk back up the aisle once we were married wouldn’t have been played. Instead, I walked down the aisle with my dad 🙉… *sighs* My wedding story could have been different with a celebrant.

We have actually been together 22 years this year – maybe it’s time we did a vow renewal?

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes