Santorini Bitchez!

When Stephanie contacted me back in 2018 to ask me if I would conduct her wedding to Scott in May 2019, and that the only thing was, it was to be in Santorini, and would I be prepared to travel? I must admit to giving her request some deep thought.

Fifteen nanoseconds later, I said "Yes, of course, I'd love to!"

I first met Stephanie when I conducted her beloved dad Stephen's funeral back in May 2013. Amidst the tears, there were also a lot of laughs as he was some man.

I also conducted her gran and granda's funerals, and her cousin Charlene's wedding, so I'm pretty much the family Celebrant.

Stephanie is a fantastic organiser, so when she offered to take care of the logistics, I didn't say no.

I arrived at my hotel not long after midnight on the Thursday (technically Friday morning) and was shocked to discover there wasn't a pub open! What was a thirsty Celebrant to do? Catch up on Game of Thrones was the answer (wasn't Series 8 a complete downer?). 😀

The view along the beach from just outside the hotel next morning made up for the lack of beer the night before...

A lovely view I'm sure you'll agree.

Some might say this view is even better...

I had arranged to meet with Stephanie and Scott to do a recce of the venue called Le Ciel (http://www.leciel-santorini.com/) so we went up on the Friday afternoon.

The view from the venue is just stunning as this next pic shows:

Apparently you're looking into what used to be the centre of the island, until the 16th century BC, when a volcanic eruption devastated the place. Some say this gave rise to the legend of Atlantis, but I digress.

The only downside to the first day, is that the weather back in Scotland was also brilliant, thereby removing my ability to gloat. Can't have everything!

So onto the big day itself.

It got off to a good start with the coach up to the venue; everyone looked great, dressed up to the nines and in high spirits. No pictures though. What happens when a coachload of Glaswegians are getting bussed around Santorini, stays in Santorini. What I can say though, is that the front of the bus cannot sing. Allegedly ... 😂

A quick selfie before the ceremony. Also an excuse to stand in the shade. 

The next few pictures are of the ceremony itself, and I don't think any words are needed.

(Image by Phosart Photography Cinematography)

The ancient Scottish tradition of "tying the knot" using a piece of material that had been in the family for at least five minutes, because someone forgot to bring the actual materials out from the UK, and then the replacement materials from the local market. I'm not telling you who forgot them, because ah'm no a grass.

The beautiful violinist entertaining the guests after the ceremony. She was just in the way of the photo of the scenery, honest.

Mr and Mrs McAtear!

One of my favourite pictures of the entire trip.

My actual favourite picture of the entire trip.

 (I took this myself in case you're blown away by its brilliance. I also conduct ceremonies 😊)

Now, Santorini is famous for it's churches with the blue domes on top. Sadly, I was on the wrong part of the island for these, so this mini-church is the closest I got. Kind of cute though, no?

My chariot awaits at Santorini Airport.

The end.

p.s. A big shout-out to Stefania and her team at Ever After Events and Weddings (http://everafterdays.com/ & https://www.facebook.com/everafterdays/) who made sure the entire day ran flawlessly. If any of your clients ever express a preference for a Humanist Celebrant with a Scottish accent, a fantastic sense of humour and amazing photography skills, please pass my number on!

The best advert for a Humanist Ceremony, is a Humanist Ceremony!

It's a pleasant fact of a Celebrant's life that conducting ceremonies leads to more ceremonies.

People see a great ceremony and that helps to make their mind up that a Humanist Ceremony is the right choice for them.  They often go one step further, and decide that they want that same Celebrant as well.

This works equally for weddings and funerals, but as this is a wedding blog, I'll stick to that - although that does make me think I should start a funeral blog as well. Some of the stories that you get told are just amazing, but maybe later.

One wedding in particular that I conducted has led directly and indirectly to at least another eight ceremonies (off the top of my head) and one still to come this year. I wouldn't be surprised if this was some sort of  record. 

This ceremony took place a long time ago (September 2014) in a village hall far, far away ... (Madderty Village Hall - if you know where that is without googling it, then fair play!)

Step forward Ellanor and Ally!

An integral part of a Humanist ceremony, at least the ones I conduct anyway, is the couple's story. It's important to me that this part of the ceremony be in the couple's own words. However, if the Celebrant pauses at the wrong point, then entirely the wrong impression can be given, causing the Bride some slight embarrassment, which was captured brilliant by this pic.

Sometimes this pause can be deliberate, because the Celebrant thinks he's funny 😎

Looking back, the whole atmosphere on the day was just perfect. The hall had been decorated, the bar was well stocked and looking like it would last until at least 6pm, the weather was nice, the ceremony was brilliant, there was a hog-roast waiting outside for the hungry guests. As I say, just perfect.

To cap off a splendid day, I was able to persuade the chef to rustle up a couple of rolls and roast pork from the just that minute finished roast, with some most excellent pork-scratching which provided a hungry Celebrant with sustenance on the way back down the road. No photos of this unfortunately, as I was too busy eating. Also, I was the first to get a roll, and I didn't want to rub it in.

In recognition of her contribution to Humanism and Humanist Ceremonies, Ellanor felt very strongly (i.e. demanded) that I should refer to her as "my favourite Bride (TM)". I have registered this trademark with the Intellectual Property Office, so that no one else can use it.

Ally and my favourite Bride (TM).

Since that day, I've had the pleasure of bumping into the couple on numerous happy occasions.

For example:

There may be more in the pipeline, so long as the couple don't run out of unmarried friends. Or friends who are looking to give marriage another whirl. I'm a Humanist, so these things make no difference to me!

All the best guys and see you at the next one!

Guests? What guests?

I often get enquiries from couples who are almost apologetic about having a small ceremony with hardly any guests, perhaps just family and a few close friends.

You might be surprised to hear that this is very common. Not everyone has a large family, or a wide circle of friends.

Some couples may want to restrict the numbers during the day so as to reduce costs.

The main point is, it's your day and your ceremony, so do what you want!

When I was contacted by Ian last year, he was very clear about his plans.

"No guests Andy, just me and Amanda (the bride), and you of course!". "No fuss, no drama, just a simple ceremony and the job's a good 'un". Yes, Ian lives in Yorkshire 😊.

Now, I've conducted ceremonies with very few guest, but not one without any guests at all.

We then had a discussion that the law in Scotland also requires two witnesses to be present, but once Ian knew that any two people over the age of 16 can be a witness to a ceremony in Scotland, he was confident he'd be able to grab two strangers from the bar in the hotel!

In fact, it would only add to the romance of the occasion. I ended up bringing the witnesses with me, but that's another story....

 So, on to the big day itself.

Ian and Amanda had settled in the day before in one of the boathouses at Dundas Castle (https://dundascastle.co.uk/). By the way, I don't get paid for any of these venue shout-outs.

In keeping with the unplugged nature of the ceremony, the five of us went out onto the veranda overlooking the water.

The ceremony was just wonderful; it felt so different talking TO the couple rather than to their guests and I really enjoyed it.

As you can see from the pics, Ian and Amanda share a great sense of humour. They pretty much laughed their heads off all they way through!

The Happy Couple!

So if you're thinking of a very simply ceremony, just the two of you and your witnesses, then let's be honest, what's stopping you? 

A Humanist Ceremony can be conducted anywhere safe and dignified, so you have enormous scope in terms of venues and locations. 

You can also have a party for everyone else later on!

Everything you wanted to know about a Humanist Wedding but didn't know who to ask.

Humanist Weddings in Scotland

A Humanist Wedding Ceremony gives you the freedom to really put your stamp on one of the most important days in your life. 

The nature of the ceremony is dependent entirely on what you feel comfortable including. It can be short and simple, or it can be more expansive. It can be formal or informal, or a mixture of both; for example the light-hearted telling of the story of how you both came to be standing there on the day, contrasting with the solemnity of the vows.

What will be apparent no matter what, is your love for each other; the affection and friendship that you share and the deep and the binding commitment that you are making to each other, in the company of those you love the most; your family and close friends.

The Caledonian Humanist Association has a number of fantastic Celebrants who will make your day one to remember. 

We can be found at: http://cha.scot/ 

If you are considering asking me to conduct your ceremony, you may find it useful to have an appreciation of how I would work with you from first contact right up until the big day itself.

The first stage is contacting me to confirm availability, having a chat on the telephone then, if you are happy to proceed, confirming your booking.

Once we have done that, I would send you some ideas for the content of the ceremony, in order that you can begin the process of personalising the ceremony to your requirements. Some people have the idea that you need to write your own ceremony; that's not the case, but you do help to create the personal bits.

The Legal Bit

All couples who are intending to marry in Scotland (Humanist, Christian, Registrar etc.) must submit Marriage Notice Forms (M10 Forms) to the Registrar's Office at the local council that covers the venue. 

The forms can be obtained from National Records of Scotland by clicking the link below.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/getting-married-in-scotland/how-do-i-go-about-it

You can't submit the forms until you're within three months of the ceremony; the deadline for submission is 29 days before the ceremony. 

When you have had the opportunity to decide on the content (some brides to be even include their partner in this stage!), even if it is only rough ideas, we can then meet up and discuss how the ceremony will unfold. This would normally be 2 to 3 months before the date (this timescale can be adapted to suit the circumstances).

Approximately 2 to 3 weeks before the big day, I would send you a draft ceremony and you can advise of any changes. Once we have the final draft, all you then need to do is:

1. Turn up on the day.
2. Enjoy the occasion.
3. Live happily ever after!

Who ordered the Rainbow?

I'll begin this next blog with the TL:DR version!

Caroline and Ranald on the beach with me nearr Harvest Moon Holidays in East Lothian. I can organise the rainbow if you want one, but I'll need some notice ...

I decided to dip into my photo archives, and this one jumped out at me.

This ceremony took place in September 2017. When Caroline and Ranald first contacted me and told me they had their heart set on an outdoors ceremony (and no wonder, the beach was gorgeous) I did enquire as to their "Plan B". It goes without saying that you don't organise anything outdoors in Scotland, especially a wedding without a Plan B that kicks in if - or more likely when - it rains.

I was assured that there was indeed a Plan B. It wasn't until I arrived that I discovered that the Plan B was about half a mile from where the ceremony was taking place, as these next pictures show.

Plan B in the distance aka the Marquee.

To get from the Marquee to the beach, you have to head over the hill....

Across the dunes....

Something in the distance...

Turn left at the lone piper...

If ye walk into the river, ye've gone too far....

On a clear day, you can see the nuclear power station. Useful for getting your bearings from a fixed landmark right enough.

Finally! Plan A.

Not much shelter, as we will soon see...

But now we can begin the ceremony.

And of course, Caroline has barely arrived when it starts to rain. 

Turns out the real Plan B was a large number of assorted umbrellas - which actually someone forgot to bring over and the fittest Ushers had to bolt back to the accommodation just as it began to rain. Nice work guys!

Unfortunately, there weren't enough umbrellas for everyone. This is the closest that a Humanist Celebrant comes to martyrdom. In any case, my motto is "The Show Must Go On". 

I'm also looking remarkably sanguine, given my suit is brand new (can't resist a wee plug for Slaters Menswear in Glasgow for all of your ceremony wear needs. Hope you're reading this Ralph).

Drying out surprisingly quickly after the event!

Many of the guests had made the journey north from Englandshire, where sadly Humanist Ceremonies aren't yet legal so they hadn't experienced one before.

It has to be said, this was a fantastic introduction to the genre.

I was even asked by one of Ranald's friends and his wife to be if I would conduct their ceremony, that they were planning to have in Cornwall!

Finally, I'd like to extend a massive thanks to Andrew Ridgway, (http://ridgway.photography/) the photographer who not only captured the stunning rainbow shot, but very kindly sent these pics on for me to use.

The wedding of Sherri and Mike, Tynron, 29th June 2019

I've been getting nagged for ages now by friends and colleagues alike to get a blog going. I then remembered I had actually started one away back in the mists of time (around 2011 to be exact, so long enough) and to my surprise, was able to log back in!

So I thought I would kick this new(ish) blog off with a post detailing an amazing ceremony I conducted on Friday 28th June 2019, for Mike and Sherri in the tiny hamlet of Tynron, in deepest Dumfries and Galloway.

One of the things that made this ceremony special was the fact the couple didn't finalise their personal info for the ceremony until the Monday just before the ceremony! Thanks guys, if there's one thing that keeps a Celebrant going it's a draft copy of a ceremony that isn't finalised until three days before the big day itself...

Anyway, the 29th June was an absolute scorcher. I conducted a wedding in Santorini back in May (yes I'm name-dropping and I'll do a blog on that one later) but Tynron was even warmer than Greece. It's not often you can say that is it?

I'll let some of the photos speak for themselves.

The arrival of the bride. That 'horse' looks interesting...

My first Unicorn. 

Sherri and Mike, the happy couple.

A wee bit of history. Tynron Doon is the site of a fortification that was occupied from the Iron Age all the way up to the 1700's. More information can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tynron_Doon

The beautiful Dumfrieshire Countryside. 

Check out the classic glacier carved valley.