Luxury Wedding Ceremony at the Bodleian Library: Victoria & Andrew
Some love stories don't need an introduction, they just need telling well. Victoria and Andrew's began moments away from the Bodleian Library itself, in the cloisters of The Queen's College, Oxford, where the two of them first caught each other's eye. Bringing their ceremony back to that same corner of Oxford, inside one of the most extraordinary libraries in the world, felt like exactly the right way to close the circle.
Wedding ceremony at the Bodleian library, oxford
Two cultures, one ceremony
Victoria is from Argentina, and Andrew is Scottish, and their ceremony wove both heritages together with real care. It included a ring warming, a Scottish Quaich ritual, the traditional two-handled "cup of welcome" symbolising trust and unity, and a handfasting, the ancient ritual of binding the couple's hands together as a physical representation of their commitment. Victoria's mother gave a reading in Spanish, Argentina's national language, adding a moment of real emotional weight for Victoria's side of the family, and a beautiful reminder that a ceremony can hold more than one language, and more than one home, at once.
What Victoria and Andrew said
I have to be honest: this is one of the best reviews I have ever received, and I don't say that lightly.
"We had the privilege of having Kathryn as our wedding celebrant for our wedding in August 2025. Hiring Kathryn as our wedding celebrant was the best decision we could have made!
From our first meeting, Kathryn showed us such warmth and excitement and immediately had so many ideas of traditions and elements we could incorporate into our wedding ceremony to really make the wedding ceremony feel like us. She travelled to our neighbourhood in London so we could have brunch and talk through our love story, and she was always available for any advice on vows or any questions we had leading up to our ceremony. She then crafted a beautiful wedding speech which we could then collaborate on and really make our own.
On the day, Kathryn delivered the best wedding ceremony we could have ever hoped for and more! Kathryn brought so much energy, joy and excitement to the day. She captured our love story perfectly, cracked jokes, integrated wedding traditions such as handfasting, and kept the guests engaged throughout.
We had so many of our guests telling us that it was the best and most romantic and touching wedding ceremony they had ever seen, and others telling us that they were crying throughout the whole ceremony. Some of our guests even asked if Kathryn were a long-term friend of ours, as the ceremony felt so personal!
A wedding is a day full of joy and memories, but there's nothing more significant than the ceremony itself. Our ceremony will live as a cherished memory forever, thanks to Kathryn.
We can't thank Kathryn enough for her warmth, positivity, energy, professionalism, and magnetic stage presence! We can't recommend her highly enough! She is absolutely brilliant!!"
Victoria & Andrew
Guests wondering whether I was a long-term friend of the couple is about the biggest compliment a humanist celebrant can receive. It means the ceremony did exactly what it was supposed to: disappear into the story itself, rather than feel like a performance layered on top of it.
Watch a moment from the day
These Bodleian ceremonies have even featured on the venue's own wedding journal, along with real footage:
The Bodleian Library
Few venues in the world carry the weight of history quite like the Bodleian Library. One of the oldest libraries in Europe, it has stood at the heart of Oxford academic life for over 400 years, and hosting a wedding ceremony within its walls is a genuinely rare privilege. I'm proud to be a preferred supplier at the Bodleian Library, listed among their recommended celebrants, and ceremonies like Victoria and Andrew's are exactly why.
Read "Love Saves the Day," my interview with the Bodleian Library Weddings team about what it's like to conduct ceremonies in one of Oxford's most iconic spaces.
Every ceremony I write, whether at a centuries-old library, a countryside barn, or somewhere entirely unexpected, starts the same way: getting to properly know the two people standing in front of me. Victoria and Andrew's is one I'll be proud of for a long time.