You’re getting married, congratulations! Your wedding day should be all about celebrating in the way that you choose with your loved ones around you, and your ceremony is no exception. As your wedding celebrant I will work with you to create a unique ceremony that suits you, your guests and your venue. Whether you are planning an intimate ceremony with just the two of you, a small gathering of close family and friends, or a big wedding with 300 guests – together we can design your perfect celebration.
Creating your own wedding ceremony
This is where the fun starts! We can plan your wedding ceremony together to include any elements you choose such as poems, songs, vows, ring exchanges or a hand fasting ceremony. If you have an idea of what you would like, I will design your ceremony around this or, I am happy to make suggestions to suit your personality as a couple. If you would prefer a more traditional style wedding ceremony that is absolutely fine too.
Below is an example of the sort of celebrant led ceremony couples often choose which would last around 30 minutes:
- Wedding party enters ceremony area to music of your choice
- Introductory words about marriage and what it means to you
- Readings or poems selected by you or a friend or relative
- Your love story, which I will create with you
- Hand blessing, a lovely lead into the heart of the ceremony
- Exchange of vows, which I can write with you
- Symbolic ring exchange
- Declaration of your marriage, and call for guests to support you
- Poem or song selected by you or a friend or relative
- Signing of your marriage certificate, accompanied by music of your choice
- Closing words
- Wedding party leaves ceremony area to music of your choice followed by guests
Contact me about your wedding
Tel: 07786 268446 or email: Stephanie@silverbeeceremonies.co.uk
for an initial chat to talk through some ideas for your ceremony with a humanist wedding celebrant,
or book at 30 mins online Initial Chat & Ideas Session with me directly via Calendly.
Download my wedding brochure
You can find out more about how I will work with you to create your personal wedding ceremony by downloading my wedding brochure.
Venues for celebrant led weddings
The joy of a humanist wedding celebration is that you can get married anywhere you want with your chosen wedding celebrant leading your service, as long as you have permission from the land owner. Lots of people select a licenced venue such as a local hotel but you are not limited to these. So how about a wedding outdoors at Painshill Park in Cobham, Surrey or your favourite spot on the South Downs in Sussex?
I mainly conduct ceremonies in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire and London but I’m happy to travel anywhere. So if you are thinking of getting married in Dartmoor, the Dales or somewhere further afield such as vineyard in the Dordogne I’d love to help.
Wedding celebrant services provided by Silver Bee Ceremonies
The best way to start is to meet up to discuss your plans and for me to learn a bit about you both. From this initial meeting I will draw up a ceremony plan free of charge. If you would like to go ahead I will ask for a deposit to secure my time as your wedding celebrant. From there I will write a detailed script for you to review and edit until you are completely happy with everything.
My fee is £750 for 2025 (£775 for 2026) and this includes:
- Personal wedding ceremony based on your wishes to create your perfect ceremony
- Support and ideas to write your own vows or other special elements if you choose
- Suggestions for poems, music and symbolic gestures to fit your style
- Contact with friends and family members for background information to add a bit of surprise fun
- Rehearsal at the venue or alternative location so every detail goes to plan
- My undivided attention as your marriage celebrant on the day to ensure your ceremony is perfect
- Marriage certificate for you to sign on the day and keep, and maybe frame?
- Presentation version of your wedding ceremony script sent to you after the day to keep forever
- All travel for meetings, rehearsals and on the day within 50 mile radius of KT11
- Professional indemnity and public liability insurance, just in case!
- Alternative Humanist wedding celebrant in the unlikely event that I am unable to perform your ceremony
Words from a few of my happy couples
“Having Stephanie as our celebrant was such a good decision. We had such an incredible experience and the way Stephanie led the ceremony was impeccable! She really knew how to put together our story in such a way that had everyone so moved. Thank you Stephanie so very much for sharing our special day with us.”
Beth and Brett, June 2024, Cissbury Barns, West Sussex
“Stephanie was the most wonderful celebrant for our intimate, personal and celebratory wedding. On the day Stephanie led the most beautiful ceremony and many of our guests told me they shed a tear at how wonderful the ceremony was. It was completely perfect and completely US! Thankyou Stephanie for being part of our most special day.”
Laura & Will, August 2023, High Billinghurst Farm
“Stephanie is extremely professional, experienced and reassuring. She made our surprise wedding really special and provides direction prior to the event and on the day. We couldn’t recommend Stephanie and Silver Bee Ceremonies highly enough. Thank you!”
Catherine & Sam, June 2023, Medstead
“We just wanted to say thank you so much for Friday. The ceremony was absolutely amazing, so meaningful and funny at the same time. Everyone commented after saying how lovely and different to the usual ceremony it was and you did an incredible job. The perfect balance of laughs and sentiment. Thank you again.”
Katie & Michael, April 2022, Gosfield Hall, Halstead
“We just want to say thank you again for the such heart-warming service you led for us and for everyone who came. I have lost count how many people have come up to us to say how much they enjoyed the ceremony. We are both really happy with how everything went and want to thank you also for your meticulous preparation beforehand with the script and the development of ideas for how our union could be represented.”
Megan and Charlie, December 2021, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park
“Stephanie was so helpful in the planning of our ceremony, together we created a ceremony that was really personal to us but still followed a familiar structure. She was brilliant on the day and made us feel totally at ease. We got so many compliments on the ceremony thank you Stephanie!”
Emily & James, July 2021, The Bingham, Richmond
“Stephanie did such a fabulous job of getting to know us and telling a brief version of our story in such a lovely way. She got the perfect level of humour and light heartedness that we wanted and offered lots of fab suggestions throughout. We would highly recommend her!! All of our guests thought she was fantastic. Thanks Stephanie x”
Fran & Charlie, June 2021, The Copse, Kidmore End
“We absolutely LOVED having you as our celebrant. We couldn’t have asked for a better ceremony thank you, you scripted and delivered it perfectly! I don’t think there was a single dry eye in the room by the end! Thank you so much for everything you did.”
Esha & Stephen, May 2021, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park
“Stephanie performed our wedding ceremony in August 2020 in our neighbours back garden, as we were coming out of lockdown, and was simply amazing. Not just on the day but throughout the process especially as we could only talk via video as opposed to in person. However Stephanie managed to create a wedding script that captured our personalities perfectly. The added challenge we posed Stephanie was that no one attending would know they were coming for a wedding! The whole ceremony was planned to take place in our neighbours garden with Stephanie waiting to carry out our service and she managed and coordinated a very excited, surprised and shocked congregation with ease. We cannot recommend Stephanie highly enough, it’s a shame the star rating doesn’t go higher than 5.”
Dee & Matt, August 2020, Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey
“Stephanie performed our wedding ceremony in early January 2020. She was fantastic from start to finish. We spent weeks trying to find the right celebrant and once we had spoken to Stephanie we knew she was the one for us. We met for an initial chat to talk about our relationship and how we wanted our ceremony to be. A couple of weeks later Stephanie returned a beautiful draft script which we then worked on together to get it just right – it was a really special process.
On the day Stephanie was calm and organised and made sure everything ran without a hitch, having answered countless questions from us and readers along the way. It was a magical ceremony which brought a tear to everyone’s eye and so many of our guests commented on how personal it was – exactly what we’d wanted to achieve. We couldn’t recommend Stephanie more as a wedding celebrant – thank you for helping to make our day so special.”
Sarah and Andy, January 2020, The Humble Grape, London
“We wanted to convey our thanks for such a touching and personal ceremony. I know that all of my friends loved the fact that they were part of it, and have even mentioned that they would do a similar ceremony now that they have seen first-hand a celebrant hand-fasting. The whole day was magical, and this was the icing on the cake.”
Shelley and Emma, October 2019, upstairs at The Joker, Brighton, Sussex
“What an amazing day we had, the ceremony was beautiful, thank you for putting it all together for us. We had so many comments about it. I think everyone really felt the love on the day and the way you told our love story was beautiful. We are so glad we choose to have a personal ceremony. Thank you so so much.”
Emma and Tom, September 2019, Ravens Ait, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey
“We were both in agreement that we wished to have a non-religious service for our wedding. When we met Stephanie we had no doubt that she was the perfect celebrant to lead our Humanist wedding. She was professional, well-spoken, sincere and made us both feel incredibly at ease. We had countless compliments from our guests, praising Stephanie on her unique and personal ceremony. One of our guests even asked if Stephanie knew us as she was so personable and delivered our story as if she were a friend. We can’t thank her enough for making our day everything that we wished for and more.”
Anita and James, August 2019, Park View Farm, Easthampstead, Berkshire
“Stephanie was warm, professional and supportive throughout our whole wedding experience. She gave us the ceremony we were truly hoping for and we got so many lovely comments from our guests about our wedding ceremony. It was tasteful, inclusive and reflected what is most important to us as a couple, with the odd moments of humour delivered perfectly! Stephanie helped us throughout the whole process from deciding how we would like our ceremony to look and feel to writing our vows and making sure it all fit together perfectly.”
Rachel & Simon, July 2019, Great Fosters, Egham, Surrey
“The ceremony went perfectly and I think you were the highlight of everyone’s day and also wedding history for most of them! Everyone was so complementary of you and Tom and I couldn’t have asked for anything else. I think one of the nicest things ones of Tom’s friends said was that you made him understand what marriage was about.”
Tess and Tom, August 2019, Tom’s Kitchen, Chelsea
“We loved our day and are so thankful for your part in it. So many of our guests commented on how fun and relaxed the ceremony was, and the ring warming was hugely popular with everyone! The handfasting was such a lovely way to get the girls involved, and again we have had many comments on this too. Thank you for your support on the run up to it as well, it was lovely getting to know you during the process.”
Danae and Nick, July 2019, Henfield, West Sussex
“On our first meeting with Stephanie, we immediately felt at ease and completely confident that she would be able to craft and lead our humanist ceremony. She helped us establish what was important to us as a couple by asking questions we hadn’t thought to ask ourselves. Those Saturday mornings spent with Stephanie were a lovely moment to indulge in our history, reflect on our relationship and look forward to our future together as husband and wife.
We had so many comments from friends about how much they enjoyed the ceremony – there was so much love and laughter throughout. It wouldn’t have been the same without Stephanie’s guidance, support and friendship as we made our journey to married life.”
Laura and Sam, May 2019, Newdigate, Surrey
“We couldn’t have been happier with how Stephanie delivered our humanist ceremony – it was exactly what we were hoping for. Her personable nature and the time spent getting to know us before the big day ensured the ceremony truly captured our story and values. Stephanie’s professionalism and preparation let us know we were in safe hands and meant everything flowed smoothly. We’ve had countless family and friends tell us how much they loved the ceremony, with Stephanie conducting it with exactly the right of balance of solemnity and light-heartedness.”
Tash and Laurence, September 2018, Winchfield, Hampshire
“It was a pleasure entrusting our ceremony at the capable hands of Stephanie Forster. She was extremely supportive in our bid to have a warm and intimate feel to our wedding. Stephanie incorporated beautifully and comprehensively the Bulgarian traditions that we chose to share with our guests. This was very important to us as our families come from different cultures. She made everyone feel involved and engaged with the ceremony, and we received compliments from many of our guests. We would thoroughly recommend her!”
Miglena and Michael, August 2018, Petersham Nurseries, Richmond-upon-Thames
“We had the best day on 14th July! We were obviously very concerned that the day went well for our children and parents (having already been officially married on our own in Las Vegas) but had comparatively few expectations for ourselves! However, we felt the proceedings were the perfect blend of emotion and ceremony. You managed to capture the essence of our relationship and our journey in just a few conversations, in person but mainly online as we live in NYC. I was particularly impressed that our coffee meeting translated so faithfully into the story which you eventually used in the ceremony. It needed very few tweaks! Our vows and secret words, plus additional “standard” exchanges which we were able to choose, made it very much about us as a couple.
Although the four children were initially sceptical about the “tying the knot” part of the ceremony, they enjoyed being such an integral part of the day and were moved by its symbolic nature. A little bit of magic thrown in for the other guests too!”
Karen and Andy, July 2018, The Bingham, Richmond-upon-Thames
Legal ceremonies
Currently in England humanist wedding ceremonies are not legally binding, but we’re working on it! If you would like your marriage to be legally recognised you’ll need to make arrangements with a registrar to register this for you. This will involve you exchanging a few words in front of two witnesses but you don’t need to say your vows, exchange rings at this time or get dressed up – you can save all of that for your humanist celebration!
Contact me about wedding celebrant services
Let’s talk! I’m happy to chat through ideas and give you some tips for your wedding ceremony so do get in touch.
07786 268446
Stephanie@silverbeeceremonies.co.uk
Book an online Initial Chat & Ideas session via Calendly
Visit my about me page to, well, learn more about me!