Spring Newsletter 2026 by Helen

Welcome to the Pitch Perfect Ceremonies Spring Newsletter 2026!

Hello! I’m Helen and I am an Independent Wedding Celebrant (and hopeless romantic) based in Oxfordshire. I have the most incredible role within the wedding industry (in my opinion!) as I get to marry the best couples in the most epic venues across the whole of the UK. 2025 was my first full season within weddings, and as a dual-qualified Independent Celebrant I was also privileged to officiate many funerals, memorials and celebrations of life too. This year is looking to be even more busy, and I am so genuinely grateful to everyone who chooses to trust me to lead ceremonies celebrating the most important milestones of their lives. It is the most amazing feeling.

There is a lot happening in the world of Celebrants currently, namely marriage reform, so I thought it may be useful for me to tell you a bit more about it, and how it is going to benefit wedding venues.

Marriage Reform

Give Couples Choice – Give Couples Choice Movement

The marriage law in England and Wales is very outdated and is no longer fit for purpose in modern times. In 2018 The Law Commission began their review with the aim of modernising the marriage law to provide all couples with a greater choice within a simple, fair and consistent structure, so they can have a legal wedding ceremony that is meaningful to them. A recent study estimated that Independent Celebrants in England and Wales conduct approximately 10,000 ceremonies each year and Humanist Celebrants around 1,000 ceremonies each year.  Couples choose to have a Celebrant wedding because they want a meaningful wedding ceremony in the location of their choice.  As things stand, they are required to complete the legal registration of marriage separately to their Celebrant ceremony.  The Law Commission review is proposing that these ceremonies are legally binding.

What are the proposals from the Law Commission that affect Celebrants?

• Approved Independent Celebrants would be required to apply to the General Register Office for authorisation who will hold a list of all approved Independent Officiants.  They will need to prove that they are a “Fit and proper person” and undertake relevant training with either the General Register Office or approved by the Register General.
• Humanist Celebrants would be nominated by Humanists UK and will be required to undertake the relevant training.
• To allow weddings to take place outdoors such as woodlands, beaches, fields, private gardens and also in the grounds of current wedding venues.  
• To allow weddings to take place in a greater variety of venues, such as cruise ships and also private homes.
• To give couples flexibility and choice over the form and content of their wedding ceremony
• To streamline the entire process to make it simpler and fairer for couples to follow, such as allowing notice to be given online or by post.
• To ensure that more religious weddings that are conducted according to religious rites are legally recognised.

All couples deserve the right to choose the content of their ceremony, whether they have a belief, no faith, mixed faiths, spirituality or wish to include cultural traditions.  Celebrants write and deliver bespoke, ceremonies that are tailor-made to each couple, reflecting their ideas, beliefs, values and personalities.   All couples should be able to choose an approved Celebrant who is right for them, including both Independent Celebrants, Humanists and those belonging to other approved belief organisations to carry out their legal wedding ceremony. It is so important that couples are able to choose where their wedding ceremony is held and should not be restricted to licensed venues or licensed structures.  

Humanist Celebrants and Independent Celebrants

Both Independent and Humanist Celebrants specialise in creating personal, meaningful ceremonies. Unlike a Registrar, who must follow a set script, or a minister, who represents a faith tradition, a celebrant focuses entirely on you – your story, your relationship, and what marriage means to you as a couple.

Both types of celebrants will:

• Take time to get to know you
• Write a bespoke ceremony that reflects your personalities and values
• Deliver it with warmth and authenticity on the day

However, there are some important differences in their background, approach and flexibility.

Humanist Celebrants

A Humanist Celebrant is usually trained and accredited by Humanists UK (or a similar humanist organisation). Their ceremonies are grounded in humanist philosophy – a non-religious worldview that celebrates reason, compassion, and living well without reference to religion or the supernatural.

A Humanist wedding ceremony will be:

• Entirely non-religious – no hymns, prayers, or religious readings
• Values-based – celebrating love, kindness, equality and shared humanity
• Personalised and tailored to the couple
• Held in any location the couple chooses. 

Humanist weddings are legally recognised in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but not yet in England or Wales.

Independent Celebrants – (Like Me!)

An Independent Celebrant isn’t tied to any organisation or belief system – and that freedom allows for complete flexibility in style, tone and content.

An Independent Celebrant can create a ceremony that is:

• Completely non-religious, lightly spiritual or with faith-based elements 
• Blended and inclusive, incorporating different cultural or family traditions
• Totally bespoke to the couple, without needing to fit within a particular philosophical framework
• Held in any location the couple chooses.

Marriage Reform and the benefits for your Venue

Here are 5 clear reasons why your venues could benefit from wedding law reform in a big way.

More weddings means more business

The marriage law overhaul is expected to unlock millions in economic growth, boosting the wedding sector and helping venues welcome more bookings. 

For venues, that would mean:

• a greater number of couples seeking ceremony space
• more choice on offer to the couples they work with
• higher demand for unlicensed venues such as woodlands and fields. 

Couples will have the freedom to hold weddings anywhere

Under current law, legal weddings are restricted to licensed premises or certified places of worship. But the upcoming law reform will change that, with the Government confirming it will move to an Officiant-based system for marriages in England and Wales. Under this new scheme, approved Officiants will be authorised to conduct legal marriages, which will completely do away with the current licensing system run by register offices. This opens the doors to venue types that are not currently licensed, including:

• gardens and woodlands
• farms and fields
• beaches and boats 
• private homes

Furthermore, established licensed venues will be able to offer even more freedom to couples, as they could offer multiple spaces for wedding ceremonies. If the venue is large enough, this could potentially mean the ability to host more than one wedding per day.  

Wedding law reform will mean more celebrant ceremonies 

Venue staff frequently tell us they LOVE Celebrant-led ceremonies. But a huge drawback is that Celebrants cannot legally marry couples, so a separate ceremony is required beforehand. 

However, this could all change under the reformed law.

Currently, couples who want a personalised ceremony in England and Wales need:

• a civil ceremony with a Registrar at an approved venue or register office 
• a separate Celebrant-led ceremony with family and friends at a venue of their choice. 

This two-step process can limit venue bookings, with many couples focusing their spend on the legal wedding due to budget constraints or the hassle of needing to have two ceremonies. Reform would remove this split entirely — meaning couples can hold a meaningful and legal marriage ceremony in a venue that they love. For venues, that’s a less fragmented wedding experience and more seamless bookings.

Personalised ceremonies means happier couples 

Modern couples want weddings that feel authentic and personalised, blending traditions, values and storytelling. Gone are the days when all weddings looked and felt the same — couples want to put their own stamp on their day and make it uniquely them. Most venues will have seen a rapid rise in the number of weddings led by Independent celebrants over the last decade. That’s because celebrants are uniquely placed to meet these personalisation needs by crafting ceremonies that reflect couples’ identities. These ceremonies can be longer in length than Registrar-led weddings (as Celebrants won’t need to rush off to the next wedding) and can include elements such as:

• personalised vows
• readings
• music
• symbolic elements
• religious, spiritual or cultural elements.

Reform would celebrate equality, inclusion and freedom of expression

One of the most powerful benefits of wedding law reform is the impact on religious freedom, cultural expression and equality. Under the current system, couples who wish to express their beliefs in their wedding ceremony face stark limitations. Legal marriage is largely tied to civil ceremonies with prescribed wording, or to specific places of worship — leaving many couples excluded from full, meaningful participation in their own wedding.

Independent celebrants offer a solution. They are trained to create ceremonies that reflect a couple’s religion, faith, culture or worldview. This is particularly important for:

• mixed-faith couples, who may want to honour both traditions equally
• couples who are religious or spiritual, but do not want to marry in a place of worship
• couples from communities whose cultural marriage practices are not recognised under current law. 

If you would like to know more about how venues can help, get in touch using my contact details at the bottom of this newsletter.

Wedding Fairs and Recommended Suppliers

I have had the best Spring wedding fair season, exhibiting at some incredible venues, meeting couples and securing bookings for 2026, 2027 and even 2028! Wedding fairs are one of my favourite things to do as  Celebrant, I love to talk (a lot!) and it’s great to chat with couples about their plans and ceremony options as well as spending time with venue teams and networking with amazing suppliers. I am just completing my own recommended supplier list, and I take pride in recommending those who I trust to provide an excellent and reliable service within their field of expertise. I am also honoured to be a recommended supplier across many venues now and if this were something you would like to discuss with me, drop me an email and we can arrange a time for me to come and visit to chat more – I will aways bring cake!.

If you are planning your Autumn/Winter wedding fairs, I would love to come along and exhibit as a supplier with you bringing my very own energy, passion, enthusiasm and fun! Please drop me an email so I can see if I am available on your date.

What’s Coming up

As I finish my wedding fairs, I head straight into wedding season with so many exciting ceremonies planned full of love, laughter and with a few surprises along the way! I also have several styled shoots booked in for this year some of which I have completed but with more to come. Styled shoots are a great way of showcasing your venues and suppliers with incredible content and for me as a Celebrant I get to know ceremony spaces which is great for booked couples and also for me to be able to recommend venues to potential couples.

I hope you are enjoying the lighter Spring evenings and taking care of yourselves. I also hope that you all have a fantastic season ahead and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support and recommendations to your couples it means so much and this trust is something I won’t take for granted. Fingers crossed we get to work together very soon,

Lots of Love, Helen xx