OneSpirit Interfaith Minister
Reverend Phil Parkinson
Weddings
The centrepiece of getting married is the ceremony in which you commit all of yourself and all that you have to your chosen other person. The ceremony is a public statement about the essence of both of you declared to all your friends and family who attend. This essence is sensed by everyone present through the venue, clothes, and flowers you chose, as well as the readings and music. It climaxes in one of the most profound moments of your life when you both declare the vows you make to each other and in the ritual of exchanging the symbol of your new union, your rings.
As your celebrant I will link your wishes for readings, music and actions together into the form of a beautiful ceremony which allows that essence of both of you to shine through. We can honour any faith traditions or cultural customs of your family, and build the ceremony around any particular words and themes that are dear to your hearts. I am happy to bless your new union in a way that reflects your own sense of The Supreme Spirit of Love/The Divine/God/Your Family and Firends/Your Core Human Values.
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After a phone conversation to establish that we want to create together, we would meet to talk through possibilities and get to know one another. That will allow me to become clear as to what your relationship means to you both and why you actually want to get married and help you begin the process of your choosing your own words and music. A second meeting would then finalise your choices, and I will then compose your unique personalised ceremony text. We would then have a rehearsal for all the main participants in the week prior to your wedding.
I am happy to conduct weddings in any venue, be it house, hall, hotel or garden, commercial or private, inside or outside. I can perform a fully legal marriage in some churches in Lancashire, Cumbria, Yorkshire, and Devon, in other counties by arrangement, and, providing it has a postcode, anywhere in Scotland, even on a lake or up a mountain! The most important thing is that it is of significance for both of you.
Thanks for stepping in at the last minute when the local vicar was so horrible to us. You gave us a service filled with dignity, in which everything knitted together so well. It was inspired that you insisted on our vows being spoken in Danish as well as English, Jacob's family really felt included. Charlotte and Jacob
We are so grateful to you for swapping from the church to the hotel at the last minute because of the floods - and then for making it all work so well. Everyone commented on how the service was truely all about us and those we love, just what we wanted. Trudie and Luke
I still can't move on from that beautiful ceremony... It had so much depth and weight... Big love... Kate and Kevin
We had waited so long to be married, that it was important for us to have a gay minister of our own age who had lived our history, and so could give us a ceremony that encompassed our stories as two women, as well as the extraordinary richness of all the other themes you encompassed in our ceremony. Anne and Halayna
So, after all those years, at last we've done it. What a lovely day in our lovely little Devon church. Thanks for travelling all that way and making it happen. Jez and Laura
Great place to have our wedding blessing, our local park - and the rain held off! Thank you for giving us the wedding that we wanted. Christina and Bernadette
I came into the church prepared to be bored. Then you started, and for an hour I had no idea what you were going to say next. It was all so interesting and so different, I've never been to a wedding like it. You didn't preach to us at all, and made me feel at ease, and was so inclusive - even including the dead grandparents! I always used to have a favourite best wedding, but now I've got a new one. That was so Bev and Dave. Splendid!
Wedding Ceremony Video
Terry and Emma
August 2015
