Here’s some ideas:

Last weekend I went to a wedding!

You’re probably thinking, “well, of course you did Leah, you’re a celebrant”.

And to that, I say you are correct, but I went to a wedding as a plus one! I went with no idea and no expectations and let me tell you, it was spectacular!

Firstly, I had never met my the groom or bride. My partner works with the groom and whilst I had met many of his colleagues, I had not met him. So I felt awkward saying yes to the invite but from what I was told, it was going to be a really low key type wedding. In fact the invitation said, bring a plate of food instead of presents! Sorry, what?!!?

Now I was intrigued.

The invitation also read, a suburban Town Hall as the venue and to wear whatever you wanted to wear – sparkles, velvet, jeans, whatever. I had no idea what sort of wedding I was going to go to!

When we arrived at 4pm, the Town Hall was buzzing with activity. Apparently, 220 people had been invited and I think all 220 were there. Along the walls were tables full of of the BYO food and coding system had been set up for you to code your food – vegetarian, vegan, meat, etc. The hall had been set up with tables and chairs decorated with white tablecloths and a few glass jars of flowers. The stage was ceremony ready, signing table and the musicians to the side. There were no set tables, it was just open to anyone so whatever chair was left we took them.

Once we were all sitting down, the celebrant got our attention and started the housekeeping. It was so good to watch another celebrant in action! I felt for her when it took her a while to quieten the crowd and took notes on different approaches to the way she did things. I loved the way she opened the ceremony. She started hard on the feels and told a bit of the couple’s love story before she even introduced herself. It was such a unique spin to a standard ceremony.

Straight after the ceremony, the MC announced it was food time so we all lined up buffet style and served ourselves. If you wanted sushi, you got sushi. Pasta? Yep there were 6 kinds. Salad? Sure, what type? Dip? You betcha, every flavour. Didn’t want to wait for cake? No problems, the dessert table was already on display so you could mix your savoury pastizzi with your brownies. Oh and it was self serving booze too.

No cocktail hour, no canapes, no photo time for the bride and groom, just straight to the main course right after the ceremony, then a few speeches and finally we were taught how to ceilidh. Say what? Ceilidh is traditional Scottish dancing and instead of having an open dancefloor, DJ or band to shake your week away, we learnt how to ceilidh! There was a teacher who stood on the stage, explained the moves and got us to do a run through before the music started and then we were off! By the second time round, you had some sort of rhythm going and by the end of the song you were a pro!

Everything about this wedding was different to most weddings I attend. The bride said their theme was “community and chaos” and it truely was a mishmash of everyone coming together to contribute to their wedding as well as a bit chaotic in learning how to dance, not really knowing what was going to happen next and just the uniqueness of the event.

It was such a feat to think outside the box of tradition. Control would have to have been relinquished, given the couple were relying on guests to contribute someway to the food. But I have to say, it left such an impression on me that I am writing this blog.

I always encourage my clients to think outside the box with their ceremony, and in fact, their whole wedding and even though this couple were not my clients it was awesome to see a wedding done differently.

If you’ve made it this far in my article, then I hope you’re someone looking for inspiration to have an unconventional wedding. It really can be fun for all involved.

Finally if you’re looking for a celebrant who will support your unique wedding vision, then sign me up! I am here for it. Send me an email or DM and let’s start the brainstorm!