Independent Celebrant-Led Wedding Ceremonies: Translating, Tweaking, and Innovating Traditions

Sharon Blake, Rebecca Probert, Tania Barton and Rajnaara Akhtar
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Sharon Blake: University of Exeter, UK
Rebecca Probert: University of Exeter, UK
Tania Barton: The University of Law, UK; University of Exeter, UK
Rajnaara Akhtar: University of Warwick, UK

Sociological Research Online, 2024, vol. 29, issue 4, 825-841

Abstract: This article explores ceremonial design of independent celebrant-led wedding ceremonies in England and Wales. It draws on a qualitative study which involved focus groups with celebrants and interviews with individuals who have had an independent celebrant-led wedding ceremony. Six factors are described which influenced how couples translated and tweaked traditions or innovated ceremonial elements: faith, heritage, values, kin, informality, and temporality. In line with a bricolage process, it is suggested that the keeping of and minor adaption of traditions through the personalisation offered by independent celebrant-led wedding ceremonies may support inclusion of relationship practices such as interfaith couplings and blended families. Examples of kinship display-work and self-display-work were found throughout participant accounts of their wedding ceremonies. It is proposed that both may act as an important means by which the needs of individuals for whom a religious or belief framework is not prioritised over other contexts of identification can be met in a wedding ceremony. Further research is needed to explore the transferability of these findings to larger samples, as well as specific sub-populations.

Keywords: bricolage; display-work; marriage; relationship; secularisation; tradition; wedding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socres:v:29:y:2024:i:4:p:825-841

DOI: 10.1177/13607804231211443

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