“That was so much fun—I want to do it again!”

That’s what Niamh said to Greg the moment their ceremony ended – as she told me in the lovely email she sent me the other day.

What I loved about it most was that they decided to involve their guests by playing a game. Those of a certain age may remember a TV programme called “Mr and Mrs” where the audience had to guess which member of a couple had said or done something, and it was so popular it ran for 20 years. In a wedding, when you turn your guests from spectators into participants, something magical happens – and you can really see that in these great photos from Beate of BBPicture Photography!

Here’s what Niamh wrote on my profile on the Humankind website.

“When planning our wedding, we met with a few celebrants—but as soon as we spoke with Tim, we knew he was the one for us. With Tim as a celebrant, our wedding was unique as we wrote our ceremony ourselves. This was initially daunting but it was actually a lovely opportunity to reflect on our relationship and consider the parts that were most important to our story.

With Tim’s support, we created a ceremony that was truly unique, as we wrote it ourselves. While that felt a little daunting at first, it turned out to be a lovely opportunity to reflect on our relationship and highlight the moments that mattered most to us.

We wanted the ceremony to be joyous, upbeat, and full of fun – and Tim completely embraced that vision. He shared some fantastic ideas, which we were able to personalise and shape into something that felt truly “us.”

Afterwards, I turned to my new husband and said, “That was so much fun—I want to do it again!”

So many of our friends and family commented on how happy and joyful the ceremony felt. Thank you Tim for being our celebrant. You played an important part in making our day so special.

There’s no need to thank me, Niamh – I should be thanking you for really embracing the possibilities with such imagination – and I can’t sign off without saying how much I loved your twist on the Quaich Ceremony. I was really touched that you chose a gin distilled on the shores of Lough Erne – Boatyard, from County Fermanagh – which coincidentally, is the homeland of the Maguire clan too!

There are two reasons I’m particularly pleased to be posting this story today.

The first is that today is the 20th anniversary of the very first ceremony I ever conducted, back in October 2005.

The second is that I’m going to be seeing Niamh and Greg again tomorrow – at the wedding of their friends Erin & Robert. What a fantastic way that will be to celebrate my first 20 years as a Humanist Celebrant!