Humanist Wedding Ceremony - What Is It & Why Have One?
Joyful. Unique. Exceptional. A Your Three Days humanist wedding ceremony, handfasting or vow renewal delightfully defines your day. HUK Humanist Wedding Celebrant since 2010. 500+ 5 star reviews. Loved ones' words added as standard. Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Yorkshire, Peak District, North West. Fabulous Your Three Days humanist wedding, hand-fasting and vow renewal ceremonies by experienced Humanist Wedding Celebrant Hannah Wroe Gill in Manchester, across the North West and beyond. LGBTQ+ inclusive. ‘Choosing a wedding Celebrant seemed an impossible task. We both knew deep down we wouldn’t know we’d made the right choice until it was all over. Yes, we had cheaper quotes, but after a lovely chat with Hannah we decided to trust our instincts. BEST. DECISION. EVER! Personal, emotional and warm, our humanist wedding ceremony was just perfection. We were completely blown away. An amazing (and extremely critical) professional cellist we’re friends with literally goes to 100s of weddings every year, so when he said ours was THE best he’s ever seen, we knew we’d nailed it!’ Jen + Jon So, what’s different about a Your Three Days wedding? The short answer? Everything: my distinctive method, care of my clients, attention to detail, the quality of my writing and my passion for what I do.
Alternative
Hand Fasting
Humanist
Civil Ceremony
‘It was so, so touching - how you phrased your words and how they were delivered. I have to say your ceremony was the most beautiful ceremony we have heard at a wedding. It was absolutely perfect.’ Tobiah - Tobiah Tayo Photography (Top 50 UK) | One of the key ways I differ from other Celebrants is that I don’t rely on a planning meeting or recorded answers to create my scripts. Instead, together we would work through a genuinely unique creative process with three enjoyable, manageable and rewarding phases to it. I would then write our script with your actual words, words you'd have had the time and space to write both separately and together, with my help every step of the way. I also include loved ones' words in every script, something nobody else does. There really is a fundamental difference in how I do things, a quality and depth that’s shown in every one of my 500+ testimonials. See the Approach section on my site to learn more.
‘Hannah is more than a Celebrant: part wedding planner, bride counsellor and chief calmer-downer. There was never a time when she didn’t deliver great advice to any kind of drama! I think she has probably seen it all. It showed.’ Rachel | Back in 2010 I trained with the British Humanist Association (now Humanists UK) in weddings, namings and funerals and have been accredited with them ever since. This was long before online Celebrant training was a thing, with pre-selected entry and in-person training taking place over a period of months. I’ve since designed, written and led nearly 400 Your Three Days ceremonies, 250+ of which have been weddings and vow renewals, becoming a wedding specialist in the process. Offering a full ceremony range not only considerably enriches your performance experience but, as you’ll see from my testimonials, means you also have the privilege of returning to some clients multiple times. My Celebrancy has led to a complementary writing career and all-in-all I have over 25 years' public speaking experience.
‘It was everything we could have wished for: kick starting the day and setting the tone. You’re brilliant. So many said it was the best wedding ceremony they’d been part of: the perfect mix of love, sincerity and humour. Magical.’ Jo + Sam | Based in the characterful Pennine village of Marsden, West Yorkshire, I regularly work throughout Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire. I’ve led Your Three Days ceremonies in myriad places: castles, 5* hotels and country estates; tipis, tents and a polytunnel; a windswept Northumberland beach and at sea on a historic boat; a recording studio, art gallery and palm house; a brewery, zoos and the deep end of a swimming pool (empty) and at 30 St Mary Axe (aka the ‘Gherkin’) and ‘Swan at the Globe’ in London. As I explain in my last answer below, the wider bespoke writing I also create travels nationwide – from toasts and speeches to wedding videography scripts and wedding photo book texts – all written with clients’ own words.
‘It was the epitome of bespoke and consequently meant all the more. We’ll treasure the words forever, knowing they were just for us and true to us. The vows we made in our humanist ceremony were unquestionably our wedding vows.’ Becky + Ric | No, I’m not a Registrar, but don’t worry, I can easily talk you through the straightforward options that are available to you. These days it’s not so uncommon to have a separate legal ceremony - after all, ‘popping to the Reg’ was good enough for Amal and George Clooney back in 2014, after their main wedding ceremony the day before which was a religious blessing led by a friend. Granted, said Registry Office was in fabulous Venice, but you can’t win them all can you? Whatever’s chosen, nothing detracts from the incomparable beauty of your bespoke ceremony experience. Clients often say they actually preferred having two separate ceremonies, for all sorts of reasons. The two ceremonies can become very happy halves of one rewarding whole.
‘I KNEW you would do an incredible job the moment I called. If you’d charged 5 times as much, I’d have paid without flinching. I just don’t think we could have imagined how perfect it would be on the day.’ Layal + Rob | As you’ll see from the Investment page on my site, my pricing revolves around the idea of a core fee. For weddings, this is usually between £600-£750 (plus travel). Vow renewals tend to be £500+. You can pay flexibly, if time allows, with 25% deposits and monthly instalments possible, meaning your initial payment to secure the date could be as low as £160 all in (see the examples on the same page). If you’re understandably tempted to prejudge these numbers, perhaps comparing me with another Celebrant who charges less, do first explore my website and my 500+ 5* testimonials. I say that not out of arrogance, but 14 years earning a reputation for value for money that I’m very proud of. Some of my payment plans have been as individual as my clients.
‘Just read it! Now crying with the boiler repair man wondering what on earth is wrong with me. It’s beautiful. I don’t want to change anything. Those words beat everything - the best bit of the wedding by a mile.’ Caroline | I certainly do. I’m first and foremost a Celebrant, but the more ceremonies I’ve designed, the more people have asked me to write for them in different ways and the more I’ve realised the wider potential my writing has. So now Your Three Days has 2 sister businesses - Words and Wisdom (writing to enhance any ceremony, reception and videography) and Portraits in Prose (photo book texts). All 3 sites are linked so you can easily move between them. Whereas Your Three Days ceremonies are usually limited by geography and my availability, with my other writing I don’t need to be physically present at any point. I can write for anyone, anywhere. If you’ve questions, just let me know, it would be a pleasure to hear from you.
‘Our humanist wedding ceremony was the highlight of our entire day: emotional, personal and encapsulating our relationship perfectly. It lasted 43 minutes: 43 minutes of pure joy, everyone captivated from start to finish. We didn’t want it to end. For us, it was such an important and symbolic part of our day that we really wanted something extraordinary. The level of emotion, mixed with both sincerity and humour, made for a magical ceremony that truly represented us as people. It would not have been possible without Hannah's expertise, knowledge and amazing presence. She goes above and beyond her role as a humanist wedding Celebrant and we cannot recommend her enough. At the start of the process she is your Celebrant, but by the end she leaves a friend.’
‘Our heads are still spinning with the wonderfulness of it all: our wedding day was far and away the best day of our lives and you were a massive part of that as our Celebrant. You guided us through with utter calm and the humanist wedding ceremony you put together was overwhelmingly beautiful, as evidenced by barely a dry eye in the tent. So many people have commented how you must have known us for ages to have been able to put together something so personal and fitting. The time, care and attention you put in was overwhelming, even down to timing arrivals so the songs we’d chosen had maximum impact. You are so, so good at what you do as a Humanist Celebrant Hannah and clearly believe in it completely. No amount of thanks is enough.’
‘We cannot thank you enough for making our dream wedding come true. The wedding quite honestly would not have been what it was without you as our Celebrant: your recommendations on room layout, logistics, your amazing delivery of the ceremony and stage presence and not least your crowd control skills. From the moment we entered the room the atmosphere was electric: our humanist wedding ceremony was so personal to them and us there was not a dry eye in the congregation. There was so much love in that room. We played the ceremony out with you and in our heads many times, but on the day it was one million times better than we could have ever imagined. Everyone is still talking about it. It will forever be the best day of our lives.’
‘Where on earth do I begin? There aren’t enough superlatives to describe how we both feel about the humanist wedding ceremony you gave us and yourself as our Celebrant. It was everything we had dreamed of and to say that is quite something. The whole process was wonderful and we looked forward to our ‘homework’ every time, becoming an incredibly enjoyable part of the run up. I was bowled over by the compliments I received about the humanist ceremony and yourself. You are an absolute delight and we were honoured to have you conduct our wedding ceremony. I could go on and on and on and on and on but I won’t. Except to say that your support has been invaluable and you did the most sensational job. Hannah, it has been our absolute pleasure.'
‘There aren’t really enough superlatives! Our humanist wedding ceremony was a huge success and wouldn't have been as good without Hannah as our Celebrant. She helped us put into words what we both mean to each other and the importance of our marriage, guiding us with kindness, humour and sensitivity. With great skill and attention to detail she then wove together individual contributions to bring our love story to life. On the day she led the ceremony superbly: articulate, with a great presence and the ability to capture everyone’s attention. How very special we found it and what a wonderful bond we built. Couples will get out as much as they put into it. If you put in as much time and thought as Hannah does, your ceremony will be the best it can be.’
'Hiring Hannah as our Celebrant was the best choice we made other than deciding to get married in the first place. She came very highly recommended yet exceeded those expectations tenfold. Attentive, diligent and kind, Hannah worked some kind of special magic to tease our ceremony out of our heads. Then she worked superbly well on the day with the staff who had incredible respect for her. She also engaged expertly with unexpected situations. When I arrived, I had forgotten my beautiful bouquet. Hannah calmed my nerves and encouraged us to just go with it, pulling the situation together and helping sort out a new one. Our guests were incredibly moved by our heartfelt humanist ceremony. It was absolutely perfect. Honestly, if we could add more stars we would! Hannah made it the best day ever.'
‘We were lucky enough to have Hannah recommended by our wedding venue as we were searching for a non-religious, intimate ceremony that was about us. Hannah made our ‘homework’ enjoyable and exciting so it didn’t feel like work at all. Her questions captured so much and the time and dedication she put in was just incomparable. Nothing was ever too much. It was the core of preparing for our big day and we thoroughly enjoyed it. On the day Hannah exceeded all expectations. We’ve had so many compliments from family and friends on how amazing our humanist wedding ceremony was, that they’ve never been to one like it. There wasn't a dry eye in the barn! We wish we could do it again and miss Hannah in a funny way. We don’t know what we’d have done without her.’
