Letter from London Wedding Celebrant Mair Garland to The Guardian: Humanist weddings are deeply personal and meaningful (02/08/2026)

As a London wedding celebrant, I was so pleased to have a letter published in The Guardian this month, highlighting the joys and benefits of a humanist wedding ceremony.

'Humanist celebrants are knowledgeable, passionate and unashamedly geeky about creating meaningful non-religious ceremonies.' Photograph: Alamo

Letter by London Wedding Celebrant Mair Garland

As a humanist celebrant, I was saddened by Rachel Connolly’s conclusion about humanist weddings (What makes a good wedding these days? I say flirting and chaos, but not three days in a French castle, 29 July). She writes: “The idea of being married in a humanist service by someone wearing, say, skinny jeans and a black T-shirt gives me willies.” I must disclose my ownership of several pairs of skinny jeans, but I have not worn these in my role as a celebrant (though never say never – I’m always guided by couples’ dress codes).

Ms Connolly seems to have the impression that a humanist ceremony represents a compromise to the formal and ceremonial rituals we’d traditionally associate with a religious wedding. On the contrary, humanist celebrants are knowledgable, passionate and unashamedly geeky about creating meaningful non-religious ceremonies that are deeply personal to couples and their families.

A non-religious ceremony needn’t be unceremonious or casual. I’d love for Ms Connolly to come to one of our weddings to see what the fuss is about, especially with the forthcoming legalisation of humanist marriage ceremonies.

Mair Garland, London

Mair Garland is an experienced humanist London wedding celebrant , leading weddings as well as baby naming ceremonies, funerals and celebration of life ceremonies in London, the South East and beyond. Mair specialises in bilingual ceremonies in Welsh and French.

This letter was originally published in The Guardian, which can be found here . You can also follow Mair on Instagram here and subscribe to her newsletter on Substack.