Humanist weddings are non-religious but they’re not anti-religious and I believe it’s important that everyone feels welcome. It’s a subject that comes up fairly often when I meet people for the first time and although many couples have no interest in religion themselves, I always ask them about their friends and relatives so if they are religious, we can make time to welcome and include them and respect their beliefs.

Victoria & John handled this delicate issue very sensitively in their ceremony at Dundas Castle earlier this year, and this is the form of words that they used.

“I mentioned at the start that this is not a religious service. However, many of you here today may have your own beliefs, and John and Victoria wish to acknowledge these during the ceremony. We will now take a moment to allow any of you to silently add your own thoughts, wishes, blessings or prayers to the happy couple.”

I always give people copies of our leaflet ‘Sharing the Future’ to pass on to relatives or friends who’ve never heard about Humanism. If you’d like a copy you can download one from our web site by clicking here.

My thanks for the photograph to Mairi & Neill of Neil Fordyce Photography