The ceremonies I lead in Derbyshire run the full arc of a life: the joy of a new name, the promise of a marriage, the steadiness of vows renewed after years together, the dignity of a farewell. Below is a guide to the five kinds of ceremony I most often write, though many families come to me wanting something none of them quite covers, and that's good news. Bespoke is the default; the list is just a starting point.

Handfasting in Derbyshire

From £300

Enquire about a handfasting
Hands bound with cord during a handfasting ceremony

Handfasting is one of the oldest ceremonies these islands know, the literal binding of two people's hands with cords, and the origin of the phrase "tying the knot." For some couples it is the whole ceremony; for others it is the central symbolic moment inside a wedding. Either way, the craft is in the words: a handfasting flat-read from a script feels like theatre, but a handfasting written for the two people getting bound feels like exactly what it has always been, a promise made in front of witnesses.

What it includes

  • A first conversation to hear what handfasting means to you (heritage, aesthetics, faith, none of the above), and what you want the day around it to feel like.
  • A second consultation to read the draft and choose the cords, the colours, the order, and who ties.
  • All the writing: opening welcome, the meaning of the binding, the vows spoken as the cords are tied, the unwinding (if the cords are unwound at the end of the ceremony) or the keeping (if you keep them tied).
  • The ceremony itself, led on the day, with all materials.

Standalone or woven in

Many couples ask for a handfasting as the heart of a wedding ceremony; some ask for it as the entire ceremony, usually outdoors, sometimes with the cords tied by a parent or grandparent. Both work; the planning conversation is the same.