What do you want to talk about in your wedding ceremony?

Rebecca and Andrew were very clear from the start.

They didn’t want a ‘soppy’ ceremony.

They didn’t want tradition or formality either, and they didn’t want to tell their story.

Instead, they did some other things, the first of which was to acknowledge the role of Rebecca’s father.

“As we saw just a moment ago, Rebecca made her entrance, accompanied by her dad, Mike. A moment, she’s told me, that she will cherish forever. Mike is here today as a representative of the family, to signify in public not only their pride in Rebecca but also their affirmation of Rebecca’s choice to spend her life with Andrew.”     

Not soppy. Just thoughtful.

Rather than tell their story, they talked about the reasons they love each other.

Among other things, Andrew said, “Rebecca always makes me feel loved and is always there for me and the others around us. I love her strength; she’s been through her fair share and I love being the one who’s there for her and enjoy what we have. And I love when she laughs at my jokes – even when they are terrible – and when she makes me laugh from doing silly things.”

Rebecca said, “Andrew is so affectionate and loving; I have never felt more beautiful than how he makes me feel. He also makes me laugh and I can be my nerdy, ridiculous and weird self, always.”

Not soppy. Just real.

They also made some very personal vows. Andrew promised “always to carry Rebecca’s skis, for as long as the sun sets and the moon rises”, while Rebecca promised “to remember the butter in the crumble, and to never move a Lego set without supervision ever again.”

And after exchanging rings and making their legal declaration, that was it.

No quaich ceremony, no handfasting, no blessing; just a few words from me before they headed off to spend the rest of the day celebrating with their family and friends. I was really pleased this morning to discover the review they’d posted to my profile on Humankind – here’s an excerpt.

“We were both incredibly nervous about the ceremony, but from the very beginning, Tim put us completely at ease… He turned our trepidation into excitement, and we both have such wonderful memories of that part of the wedding day.

Tim delivered a beautiful ceremony that felt personal, relaxed, informal (we really didn’t want tradition and formality) and heartfelt. His composed presence gave us so much confidence, and so many of our guests commented on how lovely the ceremony was.

Mainly, we want to thank Tim; he really will go above and beyond to create a beautifully curated ceremony.

We didn’t want anything soppy, we wanted to be finished in 30 mins or less (due to roasting hot stage lighting in the venue), we wanted to have personal vows with our own silly promises – he embraced us warmly and openly, kindly and knowledgeably and we could not be more grateful.”

So am I, Rebecca and Andrew! Thank you so much for your kind words and for having the courage to create exactly the ceremony you wanted.

Thank you too for sending me this great shots – Dave Fallon did a great job, didn’t he, and The Caves have never looked quite so magical!