My Ceremonies – What You Get For Your Hard-Earned Money!I provide two main types of ceremony:
My ‘Sky’s The Limit’ ceremony which is an approximately hour-long ceremony filled with goodies!
My ‘Bijou’ ceremony is a twenty-minutes to half-hour ceremony, centred around your love story and vows.
It’s all about you, and you alone. And all about love.It’s the opposite of impersonal or administrative. We celebrants tend to pride ourselves on the following – and I am no exception in this! – in that we create entirely personalised ceremonies. Whether it’s an hour or a half-hour, a monolingual or bi/multilingual ceremony that I’m designing, that means no filler. All the writing is focused 100% on you, your relationship, your story.
Relevant, amusing, meaningful elements inspired by youWhen I’m designing a ceremony, I take inspiration from the interests and passions of the couple; in recent ceremonies I’ve used the following in order to illustrate the couple’s relationship/love story:
Questionnaires, all about youAs a crucial part of our ceremony preparations, I provide several questionnaires, which are in-depth explorations of:
All the different elements the couple might like us to include in the ceremony – readings, speeches, songs etcetera by guests; supplementary symbolic rituals, the different types of vows; the music (recorded and/or live) they’d like to include; what kind of atmosphere they’d like us to create; whether they’d like the ceremony to have a theme … and much more.
The personal history of each partner in the couple, their values, their interests, leading on to how they feel about their partner, the history of the relationship, what the relationship is like today and what they hope it will be in the future. The couple don’t show their answers to these questionnaires to each other.
What the relationship is about – the ‘personality’ of the relationship. This questionnaire is filled out by the couple together.
When I get the completed questionnaires back from the couple, I discuss their answers with them, separately and together, and then I ask them specific questions related to their answers, to find out about what makes them unique, in even more detail.
These further questionnaires are therefore never the same, they are only ever given to the couple in question as they only concern that particular relationship.
Logistics and my contact with your fab other suppliersIn France, the celebrant tends to be very involved in the logistics around the ceremony. I work in tandem with the wedding planner (or the on-the-day coordinator), when there is one. When there isn’t a wedding planner, I effectively ‘wedding-plan’ the ceremony myself, sometimes with the help of the venue owner or manager.
There are many things to consider – here are just a few examples: the ceremony area itself; placement of myself and the couple in the ceremony area; guest seating; any particular needs on the part of the guests; child/pet guests/ participants in the ceremony; the crucial job of the ring-bearer (I gently insist that they carry the rings on their person, preferably from the morning of the wedding day, to avoid all possibility of the rings being mislaid); ceremony timings, and what is scheduled immediately before and after the ceremony (eg photos, cocktail…); whether the ceremony will be taking place outdoors or indoors – and the all-important Plan B in case of high heat or torrential rain, which isn’t usually a problem, but there needs to be an alternative and acceptable plan, just in case…
Sometime before the ceremony, I get in touch with the DJ/music technician, if there is one, and ask them a set of questions regarding everything to do with the ceremony sound. Ahead of the ceremony, I send them the running order of the ceremony, which I check with them when I arrive (usually 2 to 3 hours before the guests arrive) on the wedding day, when I do my sound check with them.
If a guest is to be responsible for the sound, I make sure they are comfortable with their role and that they – and I – know exactly what they are to do, and when, and with what equipment, and that the equipment is working. They also receive the ceremony running order.
I also contact the photographer, sending them the running order of the ceremony with the elements likely to interest them for photographs, clearly marked.
I like to text immediate family members a couple of days before the wedding, to introduce myself and say that I’m looking forward to meeting them on the day
Guest ParticipationConcerning ‘contributions’ (speeches, songs etc) – if the couple would like us to include these in their ceremony, I contact their contributors, ideally 6 months before the ceremony, discussing what sort of contribution they’d like to perform (unless the couple have asked them to do something specific). I am available to the contributors for advice and proof-reading, and encouragement 
For the big day, I print all the contributions on thick paper so that they don’t drop from nervous fingers, or blow around while the person is trying to read, if the ceremony is taking place outdoors.
There are many rituals which can be adapted to the couple’s requirements, origins, personalities …
One example – I’m Scottish-French, so I often offer the couple the use of a quaich during my ceremonies – a traditional cup with two handles for the couple to drink from or from which they can pick up the rings; I also do ring-warming and Scottish hand-fasting.
Another example – a personalised version of the French ‘Ritual du vin’ is very popular (for a recent ceremony my couple chose to have a red Bordeaux wine – Caipirinha ritual, reflecting their French and Brazilian heritage … mixed together, those drinks didn’t taste very nice! But when I broached that, the couple said it was a great representation of their relationship, really light and playful full of laughter. They were delighted with this ritual during their ceremony and it was a lovely and funny moment for the guests).
There are lots of rituals that I haven’t performed before, such as the Scottish oathing stone ritual: https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/marriage/2021/11/oathing-stone-ceremony/
I’m looking forward to meeting a couple who choose this one, I think it looks lovely
Vow writing
I also provide an extensive vow-writing workshop for the couple, with advice, suggestions and exercises, and lots and lots of examples, so that they may mix, match, create and craft vows that are uniquely personal to them and their love.
I offer vow proof-reading and individual calls if the couple would like to practise reading their vows with me. I translate their vows or parts of their vows for them, if required.
Sky’s The Limit or Bijou?
The fee for my Sky’s The Limit Ceremony, which usually lasts around an hour, is 1250 euros for a monolingual (English or French) ceremony and 1350 for a bi/multilingual ceremony, including a booking fee (included in the price of the ceremony) to block the date in my calendar.
This ceremony is for couples who really want to have this part of the wedding be very important, significant and memorable.
It’s a considerable amount of work, and not just on my side – the couple also have to invest time and energy in our meetings (we have four preparation sessions for this ceremony) in their questionnaire answers, in their vow-writing, in considering who they might like to contribute, and why, and possibly what (up to 5 contributions), and in thinking about possible rituals (up to 4 rituals) that they may have discovered or which I suggest to them (or we can also invent a new, totally personalised ritual).
And for my Bijou Ceremony, it’s 880 euros for a monolingual ceremony and 980 for a bi/multilingual ceremony.
The Bijou Ceremony is centred around the love story and the vows. Time constraints means that this ceremony doesn’t tend to include many contributions or rituals (I should call these supplementary rituals, as of course the vows and the rings and the ceremony itself are already rituals in their own right).
However, if you wish to have a couple of readings/speeches/songs from loved ones, a supplementary ritual or two, and/or to make hand-fasting part of your vows, that’s no problem at all (I encourage couples to include at least one guest contribution in their ceremony as it’s such a nice moment for the couple, the contributor(s) and the guests, and great for the rhythm of the ceremony). We have two preparation meetings for the Bijou Ceremony as it’s less complex with fewer elements.
And … I also provide a third ceremony option, my Runaway Paris Ceremony, exclusively for couples celebrating in Paris intra muros. The couples who choose my Runaway Paris Ceremony often come to Paris from London on the Eurostar for their celebration (sometimes even in the morning of the day, heading back to the UK on the last, late train). It tends just to be the couple at the ceremony, with myself and perhaps a photographer; other times, two or three loved ones attend. It’s a ten- to fifteen-minute, simple ceremony centred around the vows, somewhere of the couple’s choosing in this lovely city. I send them a short questionnaire focused on the love between them and what marriage means to them; we have one preparation meeting and then usually quite soon after that, it’s their special day The fee for my Runaway Paris Ceremony, with a duration of 10/15 minutes, and a maximum of 6 guests, is: 550 euros in English or French / 650 euros in two or more languages, on weekends from November through February, and weekdays all year round, each with a 150-euro booking fee (included in the price). And 750 euros in English or French / 850 euros in two or more languages, on weekends from March to October, each with a 200-euro booking fee (included in the price).
My Ceremony Travel (because lovely as Paris, where I live, is, not all of you want to be married there; many of you prefer other glorious parts of France)
When the ceremony takes place outside the Île-de-France area (Paris and suburbs), travel is extra. I make every effort to ensure that it’s as inexpensive as possible whilst not jeopardising the ceremony or my performance of it.
Based in Paris, I’ve worked all over France in all kinds of venues: beaches to vineyards to châteaux to an airfield for a skydiver wedding (the couple actually parachuted onto the runway beside the château garden where the ceremony took place – it was kind of amazing).
I’ve worked with all kinds of couples from across the globe. The one thing they all had in common was that they really loved each other and they really wanted to marry each other
And I’ve got lots more info on what I do, my experience and my approach, if you’d like to have a video chat 🙂
Call me on 0033 6 66 03 54 49 or email me at ouiidoceremonies@gmail.com or via my Instagram @ouiidoceremonies and tell me about your exciting plans!
