Kirknewton House Stables Wedding

Kirknewton House Stables is another venue I seem to visit fairly regularly. I really like it as it is lovely whatever the weather - it's both bright and airy but still cosy.

I was delighted to meet this talented group of musicians, the Capriccio Quartet. As the bride was running ten minutes late they humoured me by playing me the Pizzicato Polka.



Here are the bride and groom, Laura and George. Laura's dress is stunning and so unusua! They make a gorgeous couple and were very open and sweet in expressing how much they loved one another.

Napier University Wedding

I've been to Napier University's Craighouse Campus a few times now and always receive a warm welcome from Moira the wedding coordinator, who runs a very tight ship! It was a lovely day for Susan and Peter and they had the best dressed snapper I've ever seen:



After the ceremony the guests went out onto the terrace for drinks and enjoyed the view.



I think they look fabulous together! Peter is a magician and although there wasn't any magic in the ceremony (apart from the romantic kind, of course) he did lots at the reception. When I first met them, he did lots of tricks including making me think of a certain card, pulling a coin from behind my ear then putting it in my hand and making it disappear. "Awesome" is a very overused word but it was! I'm thinking of advertising my services in the Magic Circle newsletter now.

Barony Castle Wedding

I thought Barony Castle sounded very romantic when Lindsey and Graham asked me to marry them there but i had no idea the 'aisle' would be as pretty as this.



There was a big stone 'altar' at the end and it was covered in the most lovely flowers which looked like they had grown there (or would do if real life was like a fairy story).



Here we are during the wedding. It was a bit rainy so the guests stood under the trees with loads of big umbrellas.



Here is a pic of the bridesmaid and Graham's best friend who was the Best Woman!



And just when the ceremony finished, what should happen? The sun came out, and Graham and Lindsey had some lovely photos taken with the sunlight streaming through the trees.

Last minute wedding!

Usually I meet couples a year in advance before I marry them but that's not always the case. Stephanie and Gary originally planned to get married at another venue by a registrar but as they had to change their plans at the last minute, they moved the ceremony to Harburn House which isn't licensed. I was called in at the 11th hour and we got the whole ceremony completed in a week.

Here are the mothers of the bride and groom looking very elegant in their wedding finery:



Here is Gary hanging out with his friends.



Here are the newlyweds, Stephanie and Gary. It was a lovely surprise having this last minute wedding as they are a terrific couple and the ceremony was a real celebration of their relationship.

Harburn House Wedding

Moira and Douglas had a lovely wedding at Harburn House. Although it was a lovely day the ceremony was inside but the room was pretty and bright.



Doug’s niece, Karen sang Song to the Moon by Dvorzak from the opera, Rusalka. She was fabulous! Bravo Karen!



I thought this wedding cake was really cute and it has little pigs and a hedgehogs on it.



In the ceremony I said that one of the (many) things Doug loves about Moira is that he can rest his chin on her head when they are having a hug. Here they are enjoying a post wedding cuddle.

Humanist weddings up 64%!

I'm a bit past being excited about the pop charts these days (or the 'hit parade' as my dad calls it) but one chart we humanist celebrants have been looking forward to is the annual Registrar General of Scotland's marriage statistics.

In the year of 2007 The Humanist Society of Scotland married 710 couples last year, up from 434 in 2006. This figure puts us at number 4 in the wedding charts. The Church of Scotland are still at number one, the Catholic Church at two and the Episcopalians, with only 38 more weddings than us at number three. We still have a long way to go - this chart is for the 'faith' groups and registrar weddings are by far the most popular of all.

The press coverage in the last week has been awesome. My favourite piece of coverage is a thoughtful article by one of my favourite philosophers Julian Baginni in The Herald. I was interviewed by Craig McQueen in The Daily Record and Shan Ross in The Scotsman.

Of course, not everyone is pleased that our weddings are becomming more popular...

On Tuesday's Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland, contributor Alistair McIntosh, a Quaker said that he felt our ceremonies were 'missing something'. I think Alistair Mackintosh himself missed an important point when he said:

"Marriage poses fundamental questions about what it really means to be in a profound relationship with another human being."

In a humanist wedding we don't give couples reasons for getting married but ask them to work out why is is they feel marriage and commitment are important to them. Humanists think that marriage is a choice not a necessity and don't think that a couple who choose not to marry would be living in sin. Therefore couples who marry in a humanist ceremony are making a commitment for reasons that are, deeply considered and 100% positive.

Alistair Mackintosh goes on to say that Humanist weddings have no 'spiritual element'. It is true that humanist weddings do not focus on spirituality but that doesn't mean some humanists wouldn't describe their thoughts on the world around them and their feelings towards their fellow man as 'spiritual'. However it is described, we think that being thoughtful about the world and open to new ideas is a more positive lifestance than accepting dogma.

The Registrar General defines Humanist Society of Scotland weddings in its faith group for statistical purposes. It is ironic that if Alistair Mackintosh was criticising any of the faith groups in those statistics they would have a chance to answer him on Thought for the Day, but we don't because we think rather than believe.

Of course Alistair wouldn't talk about any of the others because their marriage figures are falling or at best stagnant. Perhaps with more people choosing humanism as a positive way of life, it is time for the BBC to rethink its Thought for the Day policy.

I will look forward to tuning into Thought for the Day in 2010, because we estimate that by then we will be a more popular wedding provider than the Catholic Church. I wonder what their contributors will think of that and whether there will be a humanist on talking about it?

Hey, its better to be criticised than ignored, don't you think?

Dirleton Castle Wedding

Only the lonely...dum, dum, dum, dummi-doo-waah...



Sometimes a piper's place is outdoors as they will be too loud in the actual venue. This piper was great and the sound coming through the open spaces of the vault in Dirleton Castle was haunting and atmospheric.



What a setting! This vault looks amazing as it is but with all the tea-lights is was so romantic. I personally lit at least 20. I really like helping out that way - it is nice to get another job and be useful! Though I got told off later by the photographer for looking the wrong way when he was doing a group shot, so I'm not good at everything.



And here is the happy couple Janine and James. They expressed in the ceremony about how much they wanted to BE married, not just to GET married and as a celebrant I can't ask for more than that.



Personally, I prefer the vault for a wedding but you can get married on the roof and as it was a nice day we all went up there for a toast. Here are the lovely bridesmaid Anne and usher Kevin who both did a reading.