What will weddings look like in 2021 and what is a wedding celebrant ? We talk to two Norfolk celebrants looking forward to creating magical marriages.
Most years they celebrate 40 or 50 weddings. Last year there was just one. Now Caroline Richards and Lisa Harper of The Ceremony People are looking forward to creating wonderful weddings again.
The two Norfolk wedding celebrants both worked as registrars before launching the Ceremony People to help couples create their dream wedding. "Just as all snowflakes are different, no two ceremonies are the same,” said Caroline, of Catfield, near Stalham. “It’s really lovely to see all the different elements couples select to represent themselves.”
Caroline believes many traditional aspects of weddings will remain after the pandemic – but some things might change for ever. “Weddings are a wonderful celebration of two people and with the busy lives we all lead these days they are one of the few opportunities to gather together all the people who mean the most to us. I don’t think that will ever change. One thing 2020 has shown us however, is that there are other ways of doing things! Smaller weddings are definitely here to stay. People are using their budgets to provide a more lavish event for a smaller number of people. Skype/Zoom is such a useful way of including people so no-one feels left out.”
Lisa, of East Runton, said the best bit of the job is: “Delivering the vision the couple have for their big day, creating a ceremony for them, making it reflect their personalities and telling their love story – plus having the best seat in the house – all those smiles!”
And Caroline and Lisa are happy to join in to create the perfect atmosphere. “We love an unusual request and are always up for a challenge!” said Caroline. “Amongst other things, we’ve dressed as pirates for a wedding with a swashbuckling theme, worn fairy wings and paired up with an animatronic life-sized dinosaur! And we have a comedy-packed ceremony planned for 2022, where the couple are really going all out to entertain their guests.
“Hopefully with the vaccine, we might get back to some sort of normality as we go through the year. We’ve really missed that face-to-face contact, from meeting up for tea and cake and ceremony chats to the excitement of the big day itself.
“The hardest part of 2020 (apart from the financial hit!) has been the isolation. Our industry is a wonderfully sociable one and as well as meeting and getting to know all the couples, we’re really missing our amazing colleagues – from the venues to photographers and videographers, wedding planners, musicians and singers, cake makers, florists, beauticians – the list is endless. And we have some awesome suppliers in our fabulous county of Norfolk!” www.theceremonypeople.co.uk
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