Humanist Wedding Celebrant Scotland - Karen Dickson

FULLY BOOKED FOR 2020 and 2021
I am a registered Humanist Wedding Celebrant with Humanist Society Scotland. My job is to make sure your ceremony is everything you dreamed it would be.

I see my role as a wedding celebrant as enabling you to have the perfect ceremony for you and whether you know what that is at the start is not important. I will provide you with lots of ideas, advice, tips and often this also prompts couples to sometimes come up with their own ideas, which I always encourage. One of my favourite parts of being a wedding celebrant is when couples first come to me and are unsure of what exactly they want, then we chat through all the ideas and then getting the email back from writing the script saying that they love it and they are so excited for their day! .

In terms of how I do things once you have contacted me and quite often I meet up with couples first and often do Skype calls with those further away (I used to live abroad so I am very used to using Skype and dealing with couples abroad). Once we confirm the booking I will send you lots of information and examples. My approach is to firstly find out all about you and your partner (usually over a cup of tea and a biscuit) and then discuss ideas and styles with you. The ceremony is all about you and what is right and meaningful for both of you and that is different for every couple. I try to remind couples that aside from a few legal declarations and the ceremony being humanist in content, the rest is entirely up to you. If there are other ceremonies you have been to that you liked, think about why and if there are specific reasons you wanted a humanist wedding in particular I will also make sure they are part of the ceremony.

Doing this job is a constant reminder of how important love is and how much joy that relationship can bring not only to the two people involved but also to their family and friends. In a humanist wedding there is the opportunity to include family and friends whether it be through poems and readings or symbolic gestures such as wedding band warming and hand fasting (an ever increasing popular tradition of ‘tying the knot’). Or just asking them to join in at parts – it’s often one of the nicest parts of the ceremony that the people most special to you are also part of the most important day of your life. And it’s my job to make sure that your day is everything you dreamed it would be! .

In terms of practicalities, once a couple have secured the booking I usually meet them about 3 months before the big day to make sure you are also on track with your legal paperwork. This timing can be adapted to each couple and I am also happy to do this over skype for couples who are abroad or long distance. I would then send you your personalised wedding script within 2 weeks of our final meeting and a month before the special day you let me know any changes. Then all you have to do is relax and enjoy all the excitement in the run up to the big day !

What I love most about conducting weddings .
It’s such an amazing day to be part of it’s hard to think of a favourite part but I love telling the story of how the couple met (however romantic or funny)and what took them up to this day – the parts where you can see the guests smiling thinking ‘ yes I remember that’ and making them feel part of your story and your special day is a real pleasure. I also love the vows and promises where most of the couples have usually written part or all of them themselves (with my help) and the moment where they share these with their guests is really moving. .

My advice to you.
Enjoy every minute, the day goes so fast! Take 20 minutes on your own as a couple during the day to stop and take it all in. I love the moment where the groom sees the bride for the first time– no matter how relaxed they seem beforehand joking around with their best man, this moment always gets them.

My favourite piece of wedding poetry.
Poetry is very much a personal choice and I have heard some great choices at many weddings, made even more special by the person who reads it. One of my favourites recently is the one below that a couple who had been friends for many years and then their friendship blossomed into romance and then marriage:
There is no better way .
To live on this earth.
Than to be friends, .
Friends who will always.
Love and stand by each other.
‘til life’s end. .
Friends, who will share their lives together.
Through good times and bad, .
And who will bring joy and comfort.
To each other when times are sad. .
Friends who will always stand together.
, And stand strong. .
To help share life’s burdens, .
To help each other carry on, .
Through the tears, through the pain, .
Through the sun, through the rain, .
No matter what happens to them .
As friends, they will always remain. .
And so it is that your friendship.
Now has grown into love and into marriage .
Into a love that is so beautiful to see. .
So may your love and your friendship.
As you begin your life together.
Last you for an eternity.
And as friends may you both forever be .

My favourite piece of wedding music .
There are so many beautiful wedding and love songs it’s difficult to choose but one that surprised me but was lovely was a couple who chose the theme tune for Forrest Gump by Alan Silvestri for walking down the aisle. Quite unusual but a lovey piece of music: http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=FcOt6mfjxeA .

What people say about my ceremonies
"Thank you SO much for Saturday. I think from the moment we met you you 'got' that we wanted our wedding day to be as relaxed as possible and to involve our guests where we could. You did a fantastic job. We had a lovely rest of the day and lots of fun. .
"Thank you so much for marrying us on Friday! We are so glad we had such a wonderful Humanist ceremony, and we can't imagine a better celebrant! Thank you so much for all your hard work and help with our day, we had loads of positive comments about how personal and relaxed the ceremony was. We cannot thank you enough for making our wedding day so meaningful to us. " .
"Thank you so much for the lovely personalised ceremony , and for being a very important part of our special day , everyone has said its the best wedding service they have seen"
“We had an amazing day and had so many positive comments about what a great ceremony it was, my Uncle even asked if you knew us, as it was so personal to us, we’re very happy. ”

PRICES

Prices for a humanist wedding ceremony are -
2015 - £390
2016 - £400
2017 - £410

Travel expenses are also charged. Couples are also required to join the humanist society and we are the only humanist organisation to offer the ceremony promise. For more information see - https://www. humanism. scot /humanist-ceremonies /weddings_civil_partnerships /