Terms and Conditions

Booking and payment

Securing your date

Your wedding date is not confirmed or reserved until the agreed booking deposit has been received.

Once the booking deposit has been received, I will reserve the agreed date and ceremony time in my diary for you.

The total price of your ceremony, together with the amount of each payment, will be confirmed in your booking confirmation.

Second instalment

The second instalment becomes due after our detailed ceremony-planning meeting.

This meeting is where we explore your story in detail, confirm the elements you would like included and gather the information I need to begin creating your ceremony.

I will begin turning those notes into your ceremony script once the second instalment has been received.

Final balance

The remaining balance must be paid no later than 14 days before your wedding day.

Your ceremony fee must be paid in full before the ceremony takes place.

If you believe you may have difficulty making a payment by an agreed date, please contact me as soon as possible. I would always rather have a conversation than allow a missed payment to become an unnecessary problem.

14-day cancellation period

Ridgway Ceremonies gives you 14 calendar days from the date I confirm your booking in writing to change your mind and cancel your booking.

If you cancel during this period, please let me know by email. I will refund any payments you have made within 14 days of receiving your cancellation.

If your wedding is less than 14 days away when you book and you ask me to begin providing the service immediately, we will discuss and agree what will happen if you subsequently cancel before I begin that work.

After this 14-day period has ended, the cancellation terms set out below will apply.

Cancellation, postponement and changing your date

I understand that wedding plans can change. If they do, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can discuss the options available.

If you cancel your booking

If you decide to cancel, please let me know in writing by email.

Any amount retained following a cancellation will be reasonable and will reflect matters such as:

• work I have already carried out for your ceremony;

• costs I have already incurred;

• the notice you have given me;

• whether I have reasonably been able to accept another booking for the date; and

• any other direct financial loss caused by the cancellation.

I will not automatically retain payments where doing so would exceed the reasonable loss caused by the cancellation.

Where the amount you have already paid is greater than the reasonable amount due for work completed and losses incurred, I will refund the difference.

If you postpone or change your wedding date

If you need to move your wedding to another date, please contact me as soon as possible.

If I am available on the new date, I will normally be happy to transfer your booking and payments already made to the new date.

If changing the date results in additional costs or a change to the agreed service, I will discuss these with you before confirming the new booking.

If I am unable to attend on the new date, the change will normally be treated as a cancellation. Any amount retained will be calculated fairly in accordance with the cancellation terms above.

Significant changes to your ceremony

Small changes are part of creating a personal ceremony and are expected.

If you ask for a significant change to the agreed service — for example, a substantial change of location, time, ceremony format or additional work beyond what was originally agreed — I will let you know before carrying out that additional work if it affects the price or my ability to provide the service.

No additional charge will be made without discussing it with you first.

If I am unable to conduct your ceremony

Your wedding is important, and I will make every reasonable effort to be there and conduct your ceremony as agreed.

However, serious illness, accident, bereavement or another exceptional circumstance may occasionally make this impossible.

If I become unable to conduct your ceremony, I will tell you as soon as reasonably possible and make reasonable efforts to help find a suitably qualified replacement celebrant.

If a suitable replacement is available and you are happy to proceed with them, I will cooperate fully to transfer the information and agreed ceremony script needed for them to deliver your ceremony, subject to appropriate data protection arrangements.

If I am unable to provide the agreed service and a suitable replacement cannot be arranged, I will refund any part of the ceremony fee that relates to services I have not provided.

Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights.

Legal status of your ceremony

Ridgway Ceremonies provides personalised Humanist wedding ceremonies.

Under the law currently applying in England and Wales, a Humanist wedding ceremony conducted by an independent or Humanist celebrant does not itself create a legally recognised marriage.

Unless I have expressly confirmed otherwise in writing, I am not acting as a registrar and I cannot complete or register the legal marriage on your behalf.

If you want to be legally married, you are responsible for making the necessary arrangements to complete the legal formalities separately through an appropriate registration service or other legally recognised route.

Your legal marriage may take place before, after or separately from your Ridgway Ceremonies celebration, depending on the arrangements you make.

Any commemorative certificate signed during your Humanist ceremony is a keepsake marking the ceremony and is not a legal marriage certificate.

It is your responsibility to make sure that any legal requirements relating to your marriage are completed correctly and on time.

If the law governing Humanist marriages in England and Wales changes in the future, I will explain how that affects the service I am able to provide before accepting a booking on that basis.

Your responsibilities

To help me create and deliver your ceremony properly, I ask that you:

• provide information that is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge;

• tell me promptly about any important changes to your wedding plans, venue, timing or ceremony requirements;

• complete questionnaires and provide information reasonably needed for me to prepare your ceremony within any agreed timescales;

• attend agreed planning meetings or give reasonable notice if you need to rearrange them;

• review ceremony drafts and provide feedback or approval within a reasonable time;

• make sure I am aware of any accessibility, health, safety or other practical requirements that may affect the ceremony;

• obtain any permissions required from your venue for ceremony elements you want to include, such as candles, handfasting, music, animals, outdoor arrangements or other special features;

• make sure that people taking an active role in the ceremony, such as readers, musicians or participants in a ritual, know what is expected of them;

• provide accurate contact details for any venue or supplier you would like me to liaise with; and

• make the agreed payments by the dates set out in your booking confirmation.

Approving your ceremony

I will give you the opportunity to review your ceremony script and request reasonable changes before the wedding.

Once you have approved the final version, I will prepare to deliver that version on the day.

If you request significant changes after final approval, I will do my best to accommodate them where there is enough time to do so, but very late changes may not always be possible.

Venue rules and permissions

I will work with your venue and other suppliers where appropriate, but I cannot override venue rules, licensing conditions, safety requirements or instructions given by those responsible for the venue.

If a ceremony element cannot take place because the venue does not permit it, I will work with you where reasonably possible to find an alternative.

Ceremony script, creative content and copyright

Your ceremony is created specifically for you from the information, ideas and preferences we discuss during the planning process.

Your story

The experiences, memories, personal information and other details you share with me remain your personal information. I do not claim ownership of your story simply because you have trusted me to help tell it.

Where you provide your own original material, such as personal vows, readings or other written contributions, you retain any rights you have in that material.

The ceremony script

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, I retain copyright in the original wording, structure and creative material that I write for your ceremony.

Your ceremony fee gives you permission to use the completed script for your own personal, non-commercial purposes.

You are welcome to:

• keep copies of your ceremony script;

• print copies for your own use;

• share it privately with friends and family;

• have your wedding photographer or videographer record the ceremony; and

• share photographs, video or excerpts from your ceremony on your personal social media or other personal channels.

You do not need further permission from me for these normal personal uses.

The ceremony script may not, without my written permission, be sold, published commercially, substantially reproduced for another ceremony, supplied to another celebrant for their commercial use, or otherwise exploited commercially.

Your vows and contributions from others

Personal vows or other original material written by you remain yours.

Where another person contributes a reading, poem, piece of music or other material, ownership of that material remains with its existing copyright owner where copyright applies.

Neither you nor I acquire ownership of somebody else’s copyrighted material simply because it is included in the ceremony.

Third-party material

If you ask me to include a poem, reading, song lyric, piece of music or other material created by somebody else, its use may be subject to copyright or licensing restrictions.

I cannot grant permission to reproduce, publish or distribute third-party material that I do not own.

Where a separate licence or permission is reasonably required for a particular use, we will discuss who is responsible for obtaining it.

Photography, filming, reviews and publicity

Photography and filming during your ceremony

You are welcome to have your ceremony photographed or filmed by your chosen photographer, videographer, guests or other people involved in your wedding, subject to any rules imposed by your venue.

By booking Ridgway Ceremonies, you acknowledge that I may appear incidentally in photographs or video taken as part of your wedding day.

I do not object to reasonable personal use of photographs or video showing me conducting your ceremony.

Using your wedding in Ridgway Ceremonies publicity

Booking me as your celebrant does not automatically give me permission to use photographs, video, your names, your story or other identifiable information from your wedding for my own advertising, website or social media.

If I would like to use material from your wedding to promote Ridgway Ceremonies, I will ask you separately.

You are completely free to say yes or no, and your decision will not affect the service you receive.

If you give permission and later change your mind, please contact me. I will stop making new use of the material where reasonably possible and remove material from channels I control where appropriate, although I may not be able to remove copies that have already been shared or published by other people.

Photographs supplied by you

If you provide photographs or video for me to use publicly, please make sure that you have the right or permission to allow that use.

Wedding photographs are often protected by copyright owned by the photographer rather than by the people shown in the image.

Where necessary, I may ask you to confirm that the photographer or other copyright owner has permitted the proposed use before I publish the material.

Reviews and testimonials

I may invite you to leave a review or testimonial after your ceremony.

There is never any obligation to do so.

If you provide a review directly to me, I will ask before publishing it with information that identifies you beyond what you have already chosen to make public.

If you publish a review yourself on a public review platform or social media account, I may refer to or share that public review where appropriate, but I will still take reasonable care not to disclose additional private information about you or your ceremony.

I will never create, alter or present a testimonial in a way that gives a misleading impression of what you actually said.

Delays, weather and circumstances outside our control

Weddings do not always run exactly to schedule, and I will make reasonable efforts to adapt where circumstances change on the day.

Delays on the wedding day

If the ceremony is delayed, please keep me informed where reasonably possible.

I will normally make reasonable efforts to remain available and conduct the ceremony despite a delay.

If a significant delay creates a genuine conflict with another commitment that I could not reasonably avoid, I will discuss the available options with you and do everything reasonably possible to minimise disruption.

Outdoor ceremonies and weather

If your ceremony is planned outdoors, you are responsible for ensuring that an appropriate alternative arrangement is available where reasonably necessary in the event of unsuitable weather.

I will work with you and your venue to adapt the ceremony where reasonably possible.

I will not require a ceremony to continue outdoors where doing so would create an unreasonable health or safety risk for you, your guests, suppliers or me.

Venue or supplier problems

I am not responsible for failures by your venue or other independent suppliers that are outside my reasonable control.

However, where a problem affects the ceremony, I will make reasonable efforts to work with you and those involved to find a practical alternative.

Events outside our reasonable control

Neither you nor I will be treated as being at fault for failing to perform an obligation where performance is genuinely prevented by circumstances outside that person's reasonable control.

These circumstances might include severe weather, serious transport disruption, emergency government restrictions, venue closure, fire, flood or another exceptional event that could not reasonably have been avoided.

If such an event occurs, we will communicate as soon as reasonably possible and try to agree a fair solution, which may include changing the time, date, location or format of the ceremony where practical.

If the ceremony cannot reasonably go ahead and cannot be rearranged, any refund or payment due will take account of the services already provided, reasonable unavoidable costs and your statutory rights.

Nothing in this section limits any rights you have under consumer law.

Liability and limits of responsibility

I will provide the services agreed with you with reasonable care and skill.

If I fail to do so and this causes you a loss that was reasonably foreseeable when we entered into the agreement, I will be responsible for that loss in accordance with your legal rights.

Matters outside my responsibility

I am not responsible for loss, disruption or disappointment caused by matters that are outside my reasonable control or are the responsibility of another person or organisation, including:

• failures or mistakes by your venue or other independent suppliers;

• changes imposed by a venue, registrar, local authority or other third party;

• delays or changes to the wedding day that I did not cause;

• inaccurate or incomplete information supplied to me;

• failure to obtain necessary permissions for particular ceremony elements; or

• the actions of guests, ceremony participants or other third parties.

Where such a problem affects your ceremony, I will nevertheless make reasonable efforts to help minimise the disruption where I am able to do so.

Personal and creative choices

A bespoke ceremony necessarily involves personal and creative choices.

I will work with you through the planning, drafting and approval process so that you have the opportunity to request changes before the ceremony is finalised.

I cannot guarantee the subjective reaction of individual guests or other people to wording, humour, readings, rituals or other elements that you have reviewed and approved.

Third-party services

Venues, photographers, videographers, musicians, DJs, registrars and other suppliers are independent from Ridgway Ceremonies.

Unless I have expressly agreed otherwise in writing, I am not responsible for their acts, omissions, services or contractual obligations.

My liaison with other suppliers is intended to help coordinate your ceremony and does not make me responsible for managing or supervising their wider services.

What these terms do not exclude

Nothing in these Terms & Conditions excludes or restricts liability where it would be unlawful to do so.

In particular, nothing limits:

• your statutory rights as a consumer;

• my responsibility to provide the service with reasonable care and skill;

• liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence;

• liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or

• any other liability that cannot legally be excluded or restricted.

Complaints and resolving problems

If you are unhappy with any part of the service I provide, please tell me as soon as reasonably possible.

I would always prefer the opportunity to understand the problem and, where possible, put things right before it becomes a larger dispute.

You can raise a complaint by emailing:

david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk

Please include enough information for me to understand what has happened and what outcome you are hoping for.

I will consider the complaint fairly and respond within a reasonable time.

Where appropriate, I may offer a practical remedy such as correcting work, revising a ceremony script, providing part of the service again, agreeing an appropriate price reduction or refund, or another reasonable solution.

If we are unable to resolve a dispute directly, we may consider mediation or another suitable form of alternative dispute resolution before either party starts court proceedings.

Nothing in this section affects your statutory rights or your right to seek independent advice or use the courts.

General terms

Your agreement with Ridgway Ceremonies

These Terms & Conditions, together with your booking confirmation and any specific arrangements we agree in writing, form the agreement between you and Ridgway Ceremonies.

If something in your booking confirmation specifically differs from these general Terms & Conditions, the specific written arrangement we have agreed for your booking will take priority.

Changes to our agreement

Any significant change to the agreed service, price or other important booking term should be agreed between us in writing.

Everyday planning decisions, script revisions and minor ceremony changes do not require a new contract each time.

I will not make a significant change to the service you have booked without discussing it with you first.

If part of these terms cannot be enforced

If a court or other competent authority decides that a particular part of these Terms & Conditions is unlawful or cannot be enforced, the remaining terms will continue to apply so far as legally possible.

Third-party rights

These Terms & Conditions are between you and Ridgway Ceremonies.

Unless these terms expressly say otherwise, another person does not have the right to enforce them merely because they may benefit from your ceremony or booking.

Governing law

These Terms & Conditions and your agreement with Ridgway Ceremonies are governed by the law of England and Wales.

Nothing in these terms removes any mandatory consumer protections or other legal rights that apply to you.

Any dispute may be brought before a court that has jurisdiction under the applicable law.

Fairness and your statutory rights

These Terms & Conditions are intended to explain our respective responsibilities clearly and fairly.

Nothing in them is intended to exclude, restrict or replace any right or remedy that you have under consumer law or other applicable law.

Questions about these terms?
david.celebrant@ridgwayceremonies.co.uk

Last updated: 13 August 2026