Why do celebrants enter industry awards and attend wedding fairs? I’m celebrating, but I have mixed feelings about awards. Just as I have mixed thoughts about wedding fairs. It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?
I am, of course, highly delighted to have won the Eastern Region final of The Wedding Industry Awards – pretty prestigious though I say so myself. Anyone who saw my prance to the podium on the night will have seen how happy I was!
The final is in London at The Cafe de Paris, in January #watchthisspace!
The best thing about this award is that winners are chosen on recommendation from couples. So there’s no chance of ‘you scratch my back’ etc – it is genuinely based on couple feedback. So I am hugely grateful to my couples for recommending me as a celebrant. What could be a better recommendation?
The next best thing is that you’re in a position to promote a personalised secular ceremony.
The next best thing about this award is that you get to meet loads of suppliers, which of course increases the professional network. And as we all know, networking is where it’s at.
Being busy doesn’t just ‘happen’
Being a Humanist celebrant is a pretty stunning job I have to say.
If you love people, love writing, love performing and love adjusting each and every ceremony to each couple; if you don’t mind being on show, ad-libbing, dealing with the odd heckler, providing tissues, inventing a unique method for the grand entrance or always having a sewing kit, sellotape and pain killers in your bag – then this is the job for you.
However, couples don’t just arrive at my doorstep. I have to encourage them. I talk to people, have a Facebook page, an Instagram page, a Twitter account. I always carry cards and a few promotional materials in my bag. You never know who might want one. Like the couple on the campsite, the man in the pub, the woman sitting behind us when I was meeting a wedding couple in an exclusive bar.
But what about the wedding fairs?
It’s an opportunity to be different, to stand out from everyone else; it’s hard work and you need a few original ideas to attract couples. Most couples don’t go to wedding fairs to find a celebrant. Why go then? For the same reason – you can’t win it if you’re not in it. You just have to choose the right wedding fair.
In 2020 I will be at The Most Curious Wedding Fair at The Fire Pit on March 29th, billed as ‘the wedding fayre for the style-savvy couple’ and Norfolk Creative Wedding Fair at Waxham Barns for a bit of ‘industrial romance’ on March 1st. There will be loads of suppliers from florists, magicians, printers and wedding planners, marquees and teepees, vintage crockery, flower arches, wedding gowns and designers. And me!
Why not come and find me to find out more?
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