Making compassionate, ethical and cruelty-free choices can, of course, be as diverse as you are. Caring for our planet, including the people, plants and animals on it, and making choices based on this is a pretty good guide to living ethically and compassionately. Cruelty-free often means you choose a vegan lifestyle and/or that you use products that are not tested on animals.

If you aim for a wedding that is as ethical, compassionate and cruelty-free as possible, you might have chosen a vegan menu, a wedding venue that is accessible and inclusive or organic, locally grown flowers - or as many of those as possible.

Making the ceremony reflect your ethical values

The ceremony is the first part of your wedding, the part that sets the tone and the first look at the Story of You. Who you are, how amazing you are and what you believe in should be reflected in your ceremony, not just the bit after. Your wedding ceremony can - and should! - be the most authentic and memorable part of your wedding day, so choose a ceremony that matches your other ethical choices around your whole wedding experience.

How can you reflect your values in your ceremony too?

The good news is that you only need to make one choice to have your values reflected in the ceremony part of your wedding. Since your celebrant is the ceremony creator, facilitator and champion all in one, it is the celebrant that you want to match your values. So, the short answer is: find a celebrant that reflects your values.

Humanist means ethical

As a humanist celebrant myself, I can’t help waving the flag for humanist ceremonies! Humanists try to make ethical decisions on the basis of our human capacity to reason (as opposed to following religious rules) and that includes making humane choices about how we treat and understand animals. Humanists care deeply about people, animals and the planet. Most humanists are fierce supporters of animal welfare, rights and acknowledge animals’ capacity for feelings, and indeed suffering. Various humanists organisations around the world, including Humanists UK, campaign for animal welfare and support the reduction of animal suffering resulting from human behaviour. Many are vegans or vegetarians. The odds are pretty good for finding a humanist celebrant that is committed to being cruelty-free, ethical and compassionate - just like you.

Find out more about Humanist ceremonies here.

Whether you choose a humanist wedding ceremony or another civil ceremony, your choice means that you need a celebrant, so if you want your wedding ceremony to be ethical, go find your ethical celebrant!

Get in touch if you want to know more about my ethical choices and general values.