“We had previously used a humanist celebrant for another occasion, so we had experience of the dedication and professionalism we could expect. We cast our net, so to speak, far and wide and had a reply from Rachael who is close to us, based in Harrogate.We had an initial phone call with Rachael, to try and size her up as the person to marry us on our special day, her personality shone through, she talked a lot about ideas, and most importantly, listened to what we had said. She sent us some basic fact-finding questions over email and then we arranged to meet Rachael at our wedding venue a week or so later.We penned in an hour to get to know our celebrant and for our celebrant to get to know us. We massively underestimated the lengths and time Rachael would go to, to understand her clients. Three hours later we had to part ways, our jaws aching and smiles beaming, we knew we had a great celebrant.After a few weeks, Rachael came back to us with a drafted script, we were astonished at how much of the conversation she had taken in, how much of our personalities she had captured and how ‘us’ the whole ceremony had developed to become. To say we were excited would be an understatement. We had some minor alterations to make with some of the wording, but largely the script was perfect from the off.Rachael made multiple suggestions for the day, each suggestion added to the occasion, it wasn’t the grandness of an occasion she was adding to, it was the personality – we were getting married, outdoors, in a clearing in a woodland, everything she was involved in was so heavily considered by her.In the days leading up to the wedding, the weather was becoming gloomy, the rain was forecast and a yellow weather warning was issued. Rachael contacted us and asked if she could help out and ensure the venue had thought of everything, she duly spoke to the venue and took some of the weight off our shoulders.The day of the wedding, rain poured into the woodland, Rachael arrived, she immediately started checking the ceremony location, liaising with the venue staff, spoke to the friends who were being involved in the ceremony and most of all made the groom feel relaxed.With an hour or so to go before the big moment, it was evident that the location where we were to get married was going to be a washout. Practical and adaptable, Rachael and the venue staff changed the ceremony location and helped with the reorganisation of the ceremony area whilst still managing to keep the groom relaxed and smiling. A lovely text to the bride assured here that everything was under control.When the time came for Rachael to do her main event, it couldn’t have gone any better. All the stories were poignant and funny, the ceremony was involving, the laughter and love flowed, and each section of the program flowed into the next. The delivery of the ceremony was professional beyond words. The bride and groom both loved the occasion, as expected, but even more impressive was the reaction from our friends and family. So many compliments to what was in effect a 40-minute service about two people in love, we had stories, we had a ring warming, we had secret words, we had a sunflower ceremony, we had smiles, laughter, a few tears and we had a lot of rain. But everything was perfect, we wouldn’t change a thing, and that’s probably a lot to do with Rachael. In the weeks up to our big day, she got to know us like a friend, which is what we’d like to see her remain.We would wholeheartedly recommend Rachael to bring the ‘A Game’ to any occasion, we thank her from our hearts for a most special part of our wedding day.”