'Hello' magazine gives examples of garden weddings!

It was another capuccino moment that sparked this latest blog! I put my hands up to admitting that I work best when I'm in 'thinking' and reflective mode!

I'd been having a chat that morning with a mum whose daughter is getting married next year - and explaining how using a celebrant for the wedding ceremony can give you something different. Then I opened the October issue of 'Hello'. Now if you have one to hand - then turn to the pages which celebrate the different weddings.

You'll read about how Mr and Mrs - "....got married in the gardens of the father of the bride......"

So how can you get married in your own gardens and exchange vows anywhere?

Let's put the record straight. Only a registrar from the Council or the member of your clergy can legally marry you here in England - that's when we start talking about church weddings or licensed civil venues. It's different in Scotland and in other countries, but that's where we are in England so let's just work with it. But how you 'celebrate' that wedding is entirely within your own gift.

So there's nothing stopping couples going to 'register' their marriage at the Register Office and doing the bare, basic legal minimum requirements - and then coming away to hold their wedding ceremony complete with the exchange of vows - at a place and time that matters most to them!

So why would you take this approach? Well if any of the following appeals to you, then have a chat with me!

• Complete freedom to design readings, vows and the whole content of your ceremony - you don't have to go along with what's offered to you and every other couple that comes through the doors!
• The opportunity to have the ceremony outdoors, in your own gardens, on your nearest beach, perhaps even at the place where the proposal took place - you can hold the ceremony anywhere and at anytime and aren't restricted to licensed venues.
• The choice of personalising this most significant chapter of your life - and having a photo album like no other!

If you think about it - when a child is born we register the birth and celebrate it through a christening or baby naming ceremony some weeks or months later. When someone dies, we register the death and hold the service a week or so later. You can register the marriage using this same approach and then come away and hold the ceremony afterwards.

Next time you read about someone getting married in their landscaped gardens, on the top of woodland or underneath their favourite 200 year old oak tree - chances are they used a Celebrant!

The approach doesn't appeal to everyone - but if you're getting married for the second, third or fourth time then something different like this could be quite exciting for you. And if you've had enough of the corporate and 'like-for-like' wedding packages, then this way of getting married is right up your street!