Last weekend I went to some friends' wedding at a public park in Northampton. The groom is a Jewish atheist who's very serious about both the Jewish part and the atheist part and the bride is a mostly-lapsed Catholic who I believe is now some sort of religious naturalist. The ceremony included elements of Jewish weddings--including some of the religious aspects, reframed as simply cultural--and also personalized secular elements, mostly playful riffs on the couple's geeky interests and socialist politics. I don't know if that would be considered a humanist wedding in the sense that this thread is discussing, but I thought it was a really nice way to make an event of it rather than just doing the legal aspect pro forma.
That's essentially what it is. My brother and sister have both had humanist weddings and my other brother will next year (I couldn't because equal marriage had not yet been brought in). Following tradition
can at times be conforming to a pattern or expectation. I've been to numerous (mostly Catholic) weddings and the wedding itself is often the same; the difference/personal aspect often comes out at the reception. Civil registrars too were often obliged in law to be quick and informal and unlike all forms of religious marriage, the location was often restricted. So really, ceremonies themselves were at times quite sparse. That's why receptions often got bigger and sometimes lost sight of what was supposed to be celebrated.
To build the celebration and the exchange of vows around the couple changes the whole dynamic of the ceremony.
