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McMillan, Ken

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Location: Edinburgh
Region: East of Scotland
Covering areas: Edinburgh Lothians Borders Fife Stirling also the West Highlands and Isle of Skye
Phone: 0131 447 6319
Mobile: 07884 182 590
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

About Me

My background and experience
As an experienced wedding celebrant, I conducted over 30 legal weddings last year. To help you to prepare a meaningful, personal ceremony tailored to your wishes, I offer a professional service based on this experience to make your day really memorable. I also work as a driving instructor, so I’m used to dealing with all kinds of people – especially slightly nervous ones! You’ll find me friendly, smart and helpful at all times!

What humanism means to me
To me, Humanism means promoting a lifestyle which affirms peoples’ ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfilment and thus aspire to the greater good of humanity. Humanists are guided by reason, inspired by compassion and informed by experience.
With weddings, this means that we can prepare a wonderful, fully legal ceremony without reference to any gods and without hymns or prayers.

Funerals

Namings

Same Sex Affirmations

Weddings

How I feel about being a wedding Celebrant
Being a wedding celebrant is just fab! Meeting couples to help steer them through the most important day of their lives is the most satisfying and rewarding experience. It’s a tremendous responsibility for the three of us, but when all our preparations culminate in a well-crafted, relaxed ceremony, the joy on everyone’s faces is a delight!

My approach to weddings
After the initial contact by phone or email, I normally arrange to meet couples in their home. We discuss the legal aspects of weddings, and then discuss the sort of ceremony they’d like with the help of recent examples. The couple would then either prepare a rough draft of what they’d like, or I’d prepare an outline for them to slot in their own preferences. Over the following months, I’d offer help and advice and we’d keep in touch by emailing the draft ceremony back and forth, making wee changes as appropriate until we are all completely happy with it. Then, during the week before the wedding, I’d visit you again just to go over it in detail to make sure it’s all going to go smoothly on the day.

What I love most about conducting weddings
A wedding is such a joyous occasion and everyone is so happy. I always feel it’s a privilege to have been involved in such a jolly, although at times, formal, celebration, and to have helped the couple to have a day to remember.

My advice to you
My advice is threefold:
1. Be organised! Start your preparations early. Make lists, keep notes, liaise with all concerned and keep on top of it all.
2. Keep in touch with your Celebrant! S/he is a mine of information and is always willing to offer help and advice on the legal bits and on the creation of a good ceremony.
3. Keep calm! Don’t leave things to the last minute!

My favourite piece of wedding poetry
I think that the choice of poetry is a very personal one. I do, however, have a favourite piece – “My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns:

To me, it seems to underline the permanence of strong love and so is very appropriate at a wedding. At one wedding consisting of Americans, English and Scottish guests, the bridesmaid (who was very Scottish) read this beautifully. At the end, I quipped that I’d hoped our American guests had understood it and there was a ripple of laughter. Above the laughter was heard a very English voice, “Yes, but what about us English!”

My favourite piece of wedding music
Again, a very personal choice. I think all the favourites are fine – Highland Cathedral, Pachelbel’s Canon, Entrance of the Queen of Sheba – but some couples choose more recent music. At one recent wedding, jazz was played and the joint was fairly jumping!

My most unusual location for a wedding to date
I’ve conducted several memorable weddings in castles, stately homes and posh hotels. The one that has stuck in my mind, though, was the one at the Falkirk Wheel. It’s a very dramatic location and a sort of symbol of modern Scottish engineering at its best. The groom, guests and I got on the wee boat at the bottom and the Wheel scooped us up to the top. The bridal party was piped on board here, and the ceremony was meticulously timed so that it just finished when the boat was deposited at the bottom next to the champagne outside the visitor centre. Fab!


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