Ceremonies by Nicola West

Passionate, Caring, Calm, Creative,

That I am able to share my love of weddings, experience and also my enthusiasm with my couples.

Book your Celebrant at the same time, your book your Venue! A great Celebrant (such as myself) will have bookings as much as 24 months ahead of time so be sure not to leave contacting me to the end of the list...

The couple included their own cultural rituals as part of the ceremony. The bride asked to jump the broom and the groom was from Thailand and his parents in a part of the ceremony.

I am always on hand as much or as little as my couples would you like me to be and after an introduction Zoom call (or facetime, teams or just over the phone.. whatever suits the couple) once a couple has asked me to be their Celebrant I start by sending out the booking confirmation and deposit invoice. From there I then send out their " Homework" it's a fun set of questions that I ask a couple to go away and work on either together or separately if they wish many of my couples make this a fun date night and love spending time going through the questions. Once I have their homework back I start working on the first draft of the wedding ceremony introduction which I like to call the love story! This thing gets sent back to the couple I'm from there if we can we meet and go through changes in the suggestions but it's also a chance for me to get to know my couple better. Of course, not all of my couples are very local or even some of them aren't even in the same country so we do this by zoom or FaceTime. I love this time working with the couples because I get to find out so much about them and these little nuggets are then entwined through the ceremony making it even more personal. Of course, not all of my couples want to work like this some of my couples go away do the homework send it back to me and then put together their first draft and they send me the information that they'd like corrected or additional bits they'd like to include. Each couple that I work with is very different and I always say I'm here to work with you as much or as little as you wish. Of course, the more information I have about you both the more personal and bespoke your ceremony is. If a couple would like to include rituals such as unity candle or handfasting within chat in detail about the different ways that this can be included within their ceremony, I also work with couples to create their own vows some like to write their own and ask for my help some asked me to write them for them based on the information that I have. However, others like to stick to the more traditional vows which is fine... As I always say it's your ceremony your way! I then spent time writing the rest of the ceremony before sending it over to my couples at least two months before their wedding day however sometimes it could be closer to that depending on the timeframe is that I am working with. I have been known to write and conduct a wedding ceremony within two weeks of being contacted by the couple, so never worry as I am sure I can help no matter how quickly your wedding date is approaching. My Couples always get to read everything I am going to say on the day, they final say on what is going to be said because it's so important they feel comfortable happy and excited about their wedding ceremony and know that everything that I am talking about and I will say during it is based around their love story & their journey. I then go away and create a beautiful wedding certificate for a couple to sign at the ceremony spend time work practising and reading to make sure that I have everything spot-on and ready for this wedding ceremony and then I also create a beautiful keepsake version of the script. On the day itself, I always love to get to a venue between 90 minutes to an hour before the ceremony I make sure everything is exactly how my couples have said it should be and I get ready to conduct the ceremony. There is nothing more magical than the moment the groom or bride is waiting for their loved one to walk down the aisle. From the moment the doors open and they walk down the aisle, to the moment I send my couple back down the aisle together their ceremony is full of love, laughter, happiness and is a truly beautiful moment on their wedding day. One that captures their love story and journey, and one that their guests will remember forever as being one of the most beautiful ceremonies they've seen.

The entrance of an owl who was the ringbearer!

I am naturally calm and I have over 20 years of experience in and around the wedding industry from running my own award-winning wedding planning business to working within large events I know exactly what makes the perfect ceremony. Unlike some other celebrants, I never book more than one ceremony a day. Meaning I do not have to rush off so if there is a delay my couples can relax knowing that their ceremony will take place exactly how they would like and I don't have to worry. I'm always prepared I always get to a venue well ahead of time I'll make sure that my couples know from the outset I'm working for them and I will be there to help them get through to calm nerves to sort any little issues out that may arise