More and more couples are choosing to ask their guests to make promises to them before they exchange their own.
Emma & Candy’s Humanist Wedding at The Royal Botanical Gardens
The John Muir Grove at The Royal Botanical Gardens is one of my favourite venues, but being outdoors it’s not available all year round. A few years back, I conducted a wedding in February that the Cairn String Quartet will never forget, because it was so bitterly cold, and by a strange coincidence, they were … Continue Reading
Lauren and David’s humanist wedding at The Hub
It’s not often my stories lead with the honeymoon, but this one is special! I hadn’t come across the ‘Trash The Dress’ idea before, but Stuart Craig who shot the wedding travelled all the way to the Hebrides with Lauren and David to record this as well, and here’s Lauren’s account of their trip. David … Continue Reading
Project Elpis: Giving Hope to Refugees
As the humanist chaplain at the University of Edinburgh, I get to meet some inspiring people and I was amazed to see what second-year students Alexandros Angelopoulos and Sam Kellerhals have made happen with their Project Elpis. The word elpis means ‘hope’ in Greek. These two environmental sciences undergraduates have created solar-powered mobile phone charging … Continue Reading
Chelsea & Ally’s Humanist Wedding at The Vu
It’s almost two years since I first met Chelsea and Ally: like most young couples, they had to save long and hard for their big day, but it was worth the wait. This is what they looked like then… And they don’t seem to have got any older in the intervening period! It’s hard to … Continue Reading
Karina and Mark’s Humanist Wedding at Carlowrie Castle
I still remember when Mark got in touch with me earlier this year all the way from Hong Kong. Hi Tim! This is Mark. I believe my boss Karina has been in touch with you. Apparently we’re getting married, and we know nothing about how it all goes down during the ceremony. We’ve heard great things about … Continue Reading
A Light For Aleppo
Watching the war in Syria for the last four years has been depressing, frustrating and disempowering, but Harriet Harris, my friend and colleague at the University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy Centre, has come up with a great initiative, which we launched this evening on the beach in North Berwick. It’s called A Light For Aleppo, and … Continue Reading
Are you a Humanist?
There are lots of definitions of what humanists believe. The Amsterdam Declaration is the best known, but when we at the CHA decided to give free membership to anyone who wants it, we decided to give a simpler definition, and here it is. Most humanist organisations define themselves by what they’re not and what they … Continue Reading
Holly and Craig’s Humanist Wedding at The Signet Library
Thank you very much for everything Tim. It was definitely the hardest homework I have done! But a fantastic exercise to dig deep!
Jacqui & Rick’s Humanist Wedding at The Waldorf Astoria, Edinburgh
We thoroughly enjoyed it despite all the tears and our guests all said its the best wedding ceremony they had ever been to!