what is a humanist wedding?
Your wedding, your way
A humanist wedding or partnership ceremony is a non-religious ceremony that is personal to you. It’s full of love, truth and celebration.
It’s all about you getting to make a commitment to each other in front of your friends & family and in a way that is truly meaningful.
It’s about not having any rules imposed on you about what you can and can’t do by any faith, registry office or insistent relatives.
Make it stand out.
Happiness is at the heart of all good relationships and it's at the heat of a humanist wedding
You deserve to have a ceremony that is a highlight of one of the most important days of your life.
And you should get to declare your love in words that are authentic to who you are.
After spending time and getting to know you I’ll create a ceremony script from scratch for you that is unique to you, your love and your story as a couple.
Thanks to Rob we had the most lovely ceremony we could have ever imagined. It was heartwarming, but also funny and as I am from Germany and we had many German guests there too, he even included some German sentences as a surprise for us! Absolutely incredible.
— Sarah & Henry
Are humanist weddings legally binding?
At the moment, in England and Wales the only way to legally get married is either by a registrar or a religious figure at a licenced venue or building.
Find out about and support the campaign for Humanist marriage.
In order to have their ideal ceremony many couples are now choosing to do the legal bit separately for a cost of around £50 . They then celebrate getting married with a Humanist wedding. And if you don’t want to do the legal bit at all? That is fine as well!
Celebrating your wedding
So, is it a ‘real’ wedding? Yes!
Your real wedding is the one where you get to declare your love for each other surrounded by all the other people you love.
Legally registering your marriage is just the paperwork.
With a Humanist wedding, you then get to celebrate your marriage in whatever way you want to.
What is humanism?
Put simply Humanism is for everyone.
It is a non-religious view of the world, but not anti-religious.
In summary it says:
this life is the only one we have and that we should make the most of it
we should treat each other with kindness, empathy and respect
being a good person is about valuing the welfare of human beings, other animals and the planet
Beyond this humanism does not say there are certain teachers you must follow, practices you must observe or ways of living you must commit to.
Learn more about humanism with Humanists UK. Or if you want to ask me I’m happy to chat about it and my role as group co-ordinator for Leeds Humanists.
“Think for yourself, act for everyone.”
Do I have to be a humanist?
No, humanist ceremonies are also for everyone.
The ceremony will be written by a humanist (me!) and will therefore reflect some of the above values but how much or how little actual talk of humanism that is included is completely up to you.
The ceremony will be about you and your values. As a humanist ceremony it will celebrate what the past, present and future me to you.
