How to Choose a Wedding Celebrant: Three Things Every Couple Should Look For

Choosing your wedding celebrant is an incredibly personal decision.

After all, this is the person standing beside you during one of the most significant moments of your wedding day. They are telling your story, setting the tone for your ceremony and creating the moment your guests have gathered to witness.

So, how do you choose the right wedding celebrant?

Having created ceremonies for couples across London, Buckinghamshire, the UK and internationally, including weddings at some of the country’s most beautiful venues, there are three things I always encourage couples to consider.

Wedding celebrant Kathryn B Wilson at a Luxury wedding ceremony at Bodliean Library, Oxford

1. Look for someone who is genuinely trusted

A wonderful celebrant should have more than a beautiful website.

Look at who trusts them.

Which wedding planners recommend them? Which venues have they worked with? What do other respected wedding suppliers say about them?

And, most importantly, what do their couples say?

Read the reviews.

You are looking beyond whether somebody simply enjoyed their ceremony. Look for the details.

Did the couple feel listened to? Did the celebrant understand them? Did the ceremony feel completely personal? Did their guests assume the celebrant had known them for years?

Those are the comments that tell you something.

You can read some of the reviews from my couples on Hitched, where couples and a wealth of 5 star google reviews have shared their experiences of having me create and conduct their wedding ceremonies. I

For larger and more considered weddings, experience working as part of an exceptional supplier team is important too. Your celebrant will be working alongside your planner, venue, photographer, musicians and production team to ensure the ceremony feels effortless.

The best wedding professionals understand that their role is not simply to deliver their individual part of the day beautifully. It is to contribute to the experience as a whole.

2. Look for evidence, not simply the word “experienced”

One of the challenges couples face when choosing a celebrant is that experience can be difficult to quantify.

Anyone can describe themselves as experienced.

So look for the evidence.

Explore their previous weddings. Read their writing. Watch them speaking. Look at the venues and suppliers they have worked alongside and spend some time with their content.

You can see more of my previous weddings and ceremony inspiration on Facebook, but I would encourage you to do the same with any celebrant you are considering.

Their online presence can tell you far more than credentials alone.

You begin to understand their tone, their personality and the way they think about weddings. You can hear how they speak and see how they hold a room.

And that matters.

Kathryn B Wilson conducting a bespoke Humanist wedding ceremony in London

Your celebrant shouldn't simply be able to write beautifully. They need to be able to deliver those words beautifully too.

There is an enormous difference between reading a ceremony on a page and standing in front of a room filled with the people who matter most to you and making every one of them feel part of the moment.

Experience shows.

Look for it.

3. Choose the person who makes you feel most understood

Once you have found a handful of celebrants whose work you love, speak to them.

Chemistry matters enormously.

You can have the most experienced celebrant in the world, but if you don't feel completely comfortable talking to them, they probably aren't the right celebrant for you.

Your ceremony is personal.

I want to know how you met, what you love about one another, what drives you mad about one another, the stories your friends still tell and the tiny details of your relationship that nobody else notices.

To create something that genuinely feels like you, there has to be trust.

So after your calls, don't just ask yourselves who had the most impressive CV.

Ask:

Who made us feel the most heard?

Who understood the wedding we are creating?

Who made us relax?

Who could we imagine standing beside us on the day?

Because when the ceremony begins, you shouldn't be worrying about what comes next.

You should feel completely safe in the moment.

Safe enough to laugh loudly, cry unexpectedly and forget, just for a little while, that there is an entire room watching you.

Wedding celebrant Kathryn B Wilson of Love Celebrants holding the microphone for a groom during a wedding ceremony at the Natural History Museum London

The right celebrant changes the way a ceremony feels

For a long time, the wedding ceremony was treated as the formal part of the day before the celebration could really begin.

I think couples increasingly expect more than that.

A beautifully created celebrant led ceremony can be one of the most joyful, emotional and memorable parts of the entire wedding.

It should feel unmistakably yours.

Your guests should laugh because the stories are genuinely funny, not because they have been given a cue to laugh. They should recognise the two people standing in front of them in every word.

And afterwards, they should still be talking about it over dinner.

The ceremony isn't the warm up to your wedding. It is the reason everyone is there.

Choose the person you trust to make that moment count.

Kathryn B Wilson is an accredited Humanist wedding celebrant, broadcaster and wedding commentator creating bespoke wedding ceremonies across London, Buckinghamshire, the UK and internationally. Her work has taken her to some of the UK's most celebrated wedding venues, including Blenheim Palace, Hedsor House, Cliveden House, Claridge's and the Natural History Museum.