Independent Celebrant-Led Wedding Ceremonies
Translating, Tweaking, and Innovating Traditions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2392361 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sharon Blake (0009-0009-9018-8273, University of Exeter, corresponding author), Rebecca Probert (0000-0002-2998-2613, University of Exeter), Tania Barton (0000-0001-6736-7040, The University of Law, UK; University of Exeter, UK), Rajnaara C Akhtar (0000-0002-5352-8883, University of Warwick), Rajnaara Akhtar (University of Warwick) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 825-841 |
| Publication date | 2024-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Research Online (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/13607804231211443 |
| OpenAlex | W4389342766 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 18 |
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
Aesthetics · Art · Bricolage · Ceremony · Clothing · Epistemology · Faith · Kinship · Media studies · Participant observation · Sociology · Temporality · Visual arts · Anthropology · Gender Studies · History · Religion and Society Interactions
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Reinventing Institutions
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The reflexive self and culture
In Search of Authenticity
Wedding paradoxes
The narrative construction of intimacy and affect in relationship stories
Loved the Wedding, Invite Me to the Marriage
A 'brave thing to do' or a normative practice? Marriage after long-term cohabitation
Troubling Traditional and Conventional Families? Formalised Same-Sex Couples and 'The Ordinary
When Same-Sex Couples Say 'I Do
Displaying Families
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |