Image by Matthew Priestley Photography

There are so many of you I know that wish to have a flexible and meaningful personal wedding ceremony. This is where Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings come in, who create bespoke wedding ceremonies in your dream location.

Your ceremony is the most important part of your wedding day, so why compromise? Whether you would like a ceremony in the woods or at home it is achievable with Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings.

Big hello everyone! I'm Jan Shillito and my company Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings helps couples make their ceremony and wedding experience unique & personal. We specialise in writing, designing and conducting personal wedding ceremonies that have heart, soul and personality that can be held in of the beaten track venues, private gardens & estates, teepees & yurts and outdoor locations; or even at home, you don't get more personal than that!!

Home is Yorkshire but we travel the UK; we'll always go the extra mile to give our couples a personal and unique ceremony!

We do wedding & renewal of vows ceremonies for woodland weddings, festival weddings, English country garden weddings, weddings in barns, farms, lavender fields, buttercup meadows, beaches, the list goes on practically anywhere, any time, the choice is yours.

We consider ourselves VERY privileged and I have to say, we really do have the best job in the world! Most wedding suppliers don't get to know their couples quite like we do and are not there to see that heart-melting moment when they say "we do". We are always the friendly face at the end of the aisle!

I love that couples are free to choose words, content and traditions that mean something to them and the variety and the creativity that comes with it.

I love being out and about discovering new hidden gems and because each of our couples are all different so are our ceremonies and locations, which means I NEVER get bored!!

But my favourite part of my job is the challenge of capturing the essence of what couples are about and their reaction after their "first read" of their ceremony script.

What frustrates me about my job, rather than dislike, is when couples are not aware that they really can do it their way and instead have to settle for a production-line ceremony. If only they knew the difference it makes.....

Image by Opal Desires

In a round and about way! If someone had told me when I was seven years old that I'd be creating wedding ceremonies for a living, I'd have probably have said "no way"!

I'd never dreamed of being the princess with the big white wedding or even getting married for that matter!! But a few decades later when I was actually getting married (!) I realised why it had never appealed to me; getting married in church or at a licensed venue/Register Office just didn't feel "this is us". The ceremonies were all very formal and inflexible with no room to express our commitment to each other. We wanted an alternative to the traditional wedding venue, a bank canvas that allowed us to really do things our way and be more creative.

You could say I'm a bit of a pioneer as our concept of personal wedding ceremonies just didn't exist then and for me there only was one way- my way! Following a quick visit to our local Register Office to complete the legal bits with just our two witnesses, we had our ceremony and reception at home in our garden. It was just the best thing ever!!

Needless to say this became my inspiration and when I had the opportunity to take voluntary redundancy I grabbed it with two hands. I became one of the first in the UK to be nationally qualified and approved by Government training body Ofqual in wedding and naming ceremonies and set up Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings to inspire a new wave of brides and grooms looking for alternative. The rest as they say is history!!

Image by Rachael Edwards

To create a personal ceremony and experience that reflects their beliefs and values, what's important to them and their personalities and style. A ceremony that allows them to tell their own story and say and promise what they want to say and promise to each other in a location that makes them feel "this is us".

Image by Annmarie King

Our style is our couples style. We're quite used to "getting into their shoes", not literally though(!) and creating ceremonies that reflect their style and personality.

Whether it's vintage, boho, country, festival, classic & chic or eclectic we'll make sure the "words" and the "pictures" are singing the same tune!

I'd describe my own personal style as an eclectic mix; I'm inspired by beautiful and unusual things. old and new, as you can see in our recent House Beautiful feature. My Glasgow School of Art design background instilled in me a desire to make creative personal statements which I now do for my clients. When styling ceremonies we try to source quirky and more creative props to create an "alter" and ceremony design.

Image by Opal Desires

The future is bright! The concept of being able to have a personal wedding ceremony ANYWHERE is relatively new but we do like to be at the forefront of new trends and being the next best kept secret!

Couples today are becoming more confident about breaking the mould and doing things their way. Even grooms, who would traditionally steer clear of any decision making, are now sharing and dare I say enjoying wedding planning!

Most brides worry about being "different", our brides worry about being "the same" and are actively seeking unique places and wedding experiences, one of those being their ceremony so we're happy about the future!

We don't really follow "trends" as such, we like to set them! So would say woodland Treehouse weddings and traditional, seasonal British cut flowers.

Image by Rachael Edwards

Our ceremonies are all tailored to your requirements so we don't have a one-fits-all price. It also depends on season, day of the week, number of guests, location and any additional ceremony or design services you may want to include. So please do feel free to call for natter about your plans, we're a friendly bunch!

If you're a savvy bride & groom, we do offer a 15% discount for couples having their ceremony on a weekday, including a Friday.

It's a fact. Everyone's got a budget. So it's VERY important to get your priorities in order before you do a thing.

1.Sit down together with a cuppa or glass of whatever you fancy.

2.Get a pen and paper each and separately write down how you envisage your wedding, what you want it to say about you, what's the most important element of your wedding, what you think you will remember the most and what you want guests to say about your wedding experience.

3. Compare, discuss and agree on a single list of priorities. Then let your fingers loose for inspiration starting with the things that are the top of your list.

4. If your ceremony is high up on your list of priorities, which we hope it is, then we do have our "wedding companion" guide to planning personal ceremony & outdoor wedding to help, just drop me a line.

Image by Opal Desires

Weddings and children don't leave me with too much spare time on my hands so I have learned to enjoy the small things in life that can often be just as rewarding; like the first cup of tea of the day, baking Yorkshire parkin, kicking off my heels and dancing to the jukebox, taking photos, watching short films and taking a head-clearing walk through the woods.

Drop us a line [email protected]

Visit our world www.thememorybox.com/ceremonies/

Say hello 07745 385 981

Join us on Twitter @CelebrationW

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Wow what a wonderful service. I still dream of marrying in the woods, one of my favourite places to be. Thanks so much Jan for sharing all about Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings today XOXO Lou

Image by John Steel

* Celebration Ceremonies & Weddings is a Whimsical Wonderland Weddings sponsor.