How to Choose a Wedding Celebrant for your North Wales Wedding
Choosing the right wedding celebrant for your North Wales wedding means choosing someone to lead what should be the best part of your day. Getting married is a meaningful threshold into a new chapter of your lives, and having a ceremony that feels like it could only ever have been yours transforms it from formality to cherished experience. I’ll help you consider how to choose your celebrant, what you need to keep in mind, and everything you get working with me - so there’ll be no doubt as to whether we’re the perfect fit.
Things to consider when choosing your wedding celebrant:
Looking for your wedding celebrant in North Wales, you might be wondering where on earth you should even start. The five most important things to consider are:
What kind of vibe do you want for your wedding? You need to work with a celebrant who can deliver it, whether that means a humorous ceremony, a very traditional or very non traditional one, one with religious elements, special cultural elements, specific rituals such as handfasting and so on.
Understand the difference between your legal and symbolic ceremony. Will you need to have both, or is the place you’ve chosen to get married licensed? Humanist Celebrants* like myself are set to become personally licensed for marriage in the coming years, meaning your options for your legal wedding will get wider - I’ll be happy to talk you through this when we work together, to understand what it means for you
Choose someone with local knowledge, who knows North Wales and can help you with recommendations and connecting to the location
Do you like them as a person? It’s vital you meet your celebrant, on a call or in person, before booking. They’re going to need to get to know you quite well, and will be an important figure in one of the most meaningful moments of your shared lives.
Will this person give you the ceremony you want, and everyone present a warm welcome? Are they willing and able to embrace everyone present, and make them feel comfortable, celebrated and delighted?
“We wanted a personalised ceremony that wasn’t religious, and were attracted to the idea of a celebrant who made the effort to get to know us as a couple, whilst still bringing experience and professionalism. We also wanted someone based in North Wales, who values it as a special place just like we do.”
Daisy & JP
You may have already found your North Wales wedding celebrant in me if you value these things:
An Amazing Ceremony Experience
Not only will I deliver your ceremony with presence and hold the space for you and your guests (you can be assured I’m fully in control of proceedings), I’ll also do much more than just read what I’ve written. Everything I say has a cadence, intertwining moments of lightness with more serious sections, varying the pace to keep things interesting, and dealing with unexpected moments calmly.
I really want your ceremony to be meaningful and transformative, and for it to genuinely be the best part of your day. It is allowed to be fun, and I’d go as far as to say it should be fun, but there should also be moments that are more meaningful and solemn. We’ll figure that balance out together, bringing you over this important threshold in a way that feels truly celebratory for everyone involved.
If you’d like to get your friends, family (chosen or blood) and loved ones involved in your wedding ceremony, we can do that too - in whatever way feels right, from asking them to take part in a handfasting to adding words in different languages for non-English speakers. Take some inspiration here.
Professionalism - but not the stuffy kind
It sounds like it should go without saying, but you’ll find working with me to be a professional, easy process. When I say this, I mean professional in a ‘communicates clearly, has streamlined systems, and is trustworthy and reliable’ way, not in a ‘corporate and traditional’ way. I mention this first because, on your wedding day in particular, it’s very important that your suppliers all do what they say they’re going to do, when they say they’re going to do it.
I’m a full time wedding celebrant in North Wales, and I take on a select number of weddings each year. This means you have my full attention, and that I take my role as your celebrant very seriously - I fully understand what a privilege it is, and the weight it holds.
Mind-reading (kind of)
As Adam, one of my previous grooms, once said, “Kate gave us a ceremony that we wanted, and then made it better than we thought was possible.”. You don't always know exactly what you want your wedding ceremony to look and feel like, or how to articulate the love between you, the family dynamics that exist, and any anxieties you have about the day.
Luckily, reading is one of my talents - the room, between the lines, and all the unspoken things that I need to be aware of. This ‘mind-reading’ is rooted in a genuine care and interest for and about you, as individuals and a couple.
Adam & Hayley's ceremony had moments that were full of meaning and gravitas, alongside moments of joy
Curiosity & Storytelling
Great storytelling starts with a deep understanding of the characters - and on your wedding day, that’s you. I am quite literally the author of your ceremony, since I create every script bespoke, and in order to tell the tale of you in the most empathetic, considered way and create exactly the atmosphere you’re hoping for, I need to be professionally nosy. Luckily, I’m naturally fascinated by people, and I will ask you how you met, how you fell in love, and how you have woven your lives together - not because it’s part of a questionnaire, but because I actually really want to know.
This curiosity means I can write you a ceremony that takes you and your guests on a journey, leaving everyone feeling like they know you in a slightly new way by the time they leave.
So much of the wedding industry still assumes that two people getting married are a bride and groom. I try hard not to make these assumptions, and to create a space where you can feel safe and welcome - regardless of who you are and who you love. My aim is to make the experience of working with me as LGBTQ+ affirming as possible, and to be flexible with my systems and processes for neurodiverse couples who need something different.
Couples often ask me “is it okay to do this?”, so please take this as your permission slip to do absolutely whatever you want on your wedding day. With me as your celebrant, you have total freedom to shape your ceremony to suit and reflect you - there’s no I Do Police watching, I promise! Traditions exist, and it’s up to you to decide what serves you and what doesn’t, and what just needs updating or reimagining to make it feel more like yours.
If your wedding doesn’t look like all the others you’ve been to, then great! It might just be the inspiration for your family and friends to see how good a wedding can be, when expectations are removed.
Forget the rulebook. Michelle & Jenna sat and drank their favourite beer, dat on a sofa together during their wedding
How to have the wedding of your dreams when you hate the idea of everyone looking at you:
Feeling apprehensive about being the centre of attention while getting married is more common than you think, and so normal - even I hated it when I was planning my own wedding, and I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as an introvert. Working together, we can work out what exactly makes you feel nervous about the whole thing, then figure out ways to alleviate that stress during your ceremony.
Don’t like the idea of everyone staring at you during your ceremony? No problem, we’ll change the layout of the space so your guests’ focus is mostly on whoever is speaking (that’ll mostly be me) rather than on you. You don’t have to stand facing one another, or stand at all for that matter! Michelle and Jenna actually sat on a sofa with a beer in hand until it was time to say their vows, and I think there’s something lovely about watching your guests’ reactions unfold rather than the other way around.
Maybe you hate the idea of getting emotional during the ceremony. We can work on that too, either keeping things more lighthearted and not dwelling too long on the emotive parts, or by giving you the ceremony script in advance so you can read it through and not feel so vulnerable on the day. If the emotions are coming from mentions of loved ones who can’t be there, there are ways we can work with this too - there is always a balance to be struck between a ceremony feeling celebratory, but also acknowledging the feelings in the room.
Whether you shudder at the thought of traditional “I do”s, are worried about family dynamics and how people will respond, or just want your ceremony to feel relaxed and low-pressure, I’ll create a script, a space and an atmosphere that you can relax into and fully enjoy.
“You made both of us feel very comfortable. You gave me confidence to express my love, something that I feel very deeply but is not always easy to express to others, especially a crowd.”
Michael
North-Wales Based
I live in and love North Wales, and am always up for hiking up a mountain, wandering through woodland, or standing on a blustery beach to lead your ceremony. My familiarity with the area, plus my recommended celebrant status at venues like Llyn Gwynant Barns mean that I can weave your surroundings into your ceremony, if that feels right for you.
As Ann & Cameron said;
“You’re familiar with the natural and relaxed aesthetic we want, and you look like you’re willing to get involved in an outdoor setting.”
Many of my couples like to somehow involve the elements or scenery in their script, sometimes drawing on the symbolism of the mountains, rivers, lakes and coastline of North Wales. Others just like to feel connected to nature and embrace their outdoorsy side, like Janine and Clair - October dip in a Snowdonia lake, anyone!?
Someone to design you an eccentric, throw-away-the-rule-book ceremony and turn up in a quirky outfit. My job is to deliver a deeply personal ceremony that feels like you, but for you to remain firmly the centre of attention - I’m just the vessel to make it all happen, and I’ll remain professional in all the right ways whilst doing so.
A ceremony built around whimsy and Donna Ashworth poems, by default. I’m all for romance and creating space for emotion, but will only write you a delicate, sentimental service if that’s truly what feels right - and for many of my couples, it’s not quite the right approach.
Symbolic rituals for symbolic rituals’ sake. We don’t have to do a handfasting, a sand blending or even an exchange of rings. If it’s not meaningful, we won’t do it, and if it is then we’ll do it really well - no half measures and no token rituals just to pad things out.
Ceremonies that drag on beyond what’s enjoyable. I’d rather write an amazing ceremony that comes in around the 30 minute mark, and see your guests hanging off every word and the two of you fully present, than self-indulgently talk for an hour and lose you all along the way.
My attention divided. I take only a certain number of weddings each year, and I’ll definitely never accept multiple weddings in one day. This means I can give your ceremony the attention and love it deserves, and pour the right amount of thought and care into it. I’m not in it for popularity, but I do strive to be the best.
Cheap and cheerful. You’ll find cheaper celebrants, but what I charge reflects years of experience and a genuine emotional investment in you and your wedding. I’m upfront and transparent about my pricing.
I’m not the right celebrant for everyone, which I see as a positive and even a privilege. It means that the couples I work with are those that really click with me, and that’s why our intro call is so important. Choosing a celebrant is not a small decision to be taken lightly - you’re choosing the person to stand with you in one of the most meaningful moments of your life.
To find out whether we’re each others cups of tea, start by getting in touch - I just ask for a bit of info to get us started, and then I can check my availability and go from there.
Kate Rostance is a humanist wedding celebrant based in North Wales. She creates ceremonies that are relaxed and full of meaning - with a touch of humour and plenty of heart. She works across North Wales, including Snowdonia, Anglesey, Gwynedd, the Llyn Peninsula, Cheshire and beyond.
