A topic we don’t cover enough here in the Celebrant Institute membership is ceremony presentation and style. It’s such a personal topic and each of us has our own style.

But today we thought we’d lift the cover and show you all how Sarah and I both present a ceremony. Presented below are two videos, full recordings of a recent ceremony we have both presented recently.

We’d ask you to stay kind and respectful in the comments, whilst also sharing some of your instant reactions to each one.

How did each ceremony make you feel?

How do you think the couple felt?

How do you think the crowd felt?

What are things you saw that you would like to replicate?

Josh’s ceremony

Notes: I wouldn’t normally play the music, but it turned out I was from my phone … and the audio is straight from my handheld microphone into my camera, so at the start when the music is playing, it’s just being picked up by my mic.

Sarah’s ceremony

How did we get these videos?

Josh: I offer a video recording of the ceremony as part of my package, it’s recorded on a Sony A6400 with kit 18-55mm lens, and the audio is received straight onto the camera via the Sennheiser wireless receiver attached to the camera. This receiver is tuned into the same channel as my microphone, in the same way the receiver on my PA system is. I also give a receiver to a videographer if there is one.

Sarah: Whenever there’s a videographer present I email asking if I can pay them to edit together the full ceremony for them. They normally charge $80-$100. (Josh: Genius! I’ve never thought of doing this!)