Suchergebnisse

Informed by a critical institutional perspective, in this article attention is turned to the choice to have an independent celebrant-led wedding ceremony in England or Wales. As these ceremonies fall outside the current legal framework, it explores how the decision to have a further wedding ceremony in addition to a legally binding wedding may indicate a weakening of legal marriage norms. Triangulating data collected from three focus groups attended by 19 celebrants, with seven semi-structured interviews with individuals who have had an independent celebrant-led wedding ceremony, two key themes are described. First, a mismatch between legal norms which expect marrying couples to take a passive detached role and an expressed desire for ceremonial autonomy including familiarity with the marriage celebrant. Second, a lack of awareness of what legal marriage involves and perceptions of legal formalities as akin to an administrative process which may be easing their separation from ceremonial rites perceived to be meaningful. Further studies with larger samples are needed to determine the extent to which personal and communal validity rather than legal validity constitutes the social institutional form of marriage.

Strong mutual commitment is typically conceived of as involving a public promise of a life-long bond, but social theorists have posited that external relationship anchors are being replaced with a private meaning of commitment. This narrative analysis of semi-structured interviews with ten White British couples in long-term relationships (15+ years) of different forms (married, civil partners, cohabitants) explores the meaning of commitment in contemporary relationships. The findings indicate a loss of importance attached to public promises, with couple relationships instead guided by two distinct commitment narratives, one of which rejects future-oriented promises of a life-long bond. Contrary to individualisation theories, however, relationship trajectories continue to be shaped by social influences. The study raises questions regarding the growth of an alternative moral framework for relationships and suggests theoretical conceptions of commitment are reconsidered in light of changes in contemporary relationship practices.

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This book draws on the accounts of 170 individuals who had, or led, a wedding ceremony outside the legal framework. The authors examine what these ceremonies can tell us about how couples want to marry, and what aspects of the current law preclude them from doing so.

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.