It has been revealed that Adele took on the role of best man, wedding planner and minister at her best mate Alan Carr’s wedding earlier this year. According to Carr, she offered her Los Angeles home for the ceremony, was the performer for the first dance, organised the honeymoon and even got ordained so she could marry him to his long-term partner Paul Drayton. Sadly, no footage of the ceremony exists, but, at a guess, it included a few more expletives than the average Church of England sermon.
Adele is not the only celebrity to have been ordained. At getordained.org, the Universal Life Church has made it easy for anyone to become a minister in minutes – and, according to its website, more than 20 million people have taken up the offer. Now, it seems, no showbiz wedding can do without a star-turn in a dog collar: Jonah Hill officiated the wedding of Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine; the Ibiza wedding of Judge Rinder was led by Benedict Cumberbatch; Tom Hanks paid $35 so he was able to preside over the wedding of Allison – Marnie from Girls – Williams; Sir Ian McKellen officiated at the wedding of Patrick Stewart; and Stevie Nicks married the singer Vanessa Carlton.
I know most of us like to sniff at modern celebrity trends such as crystals and vagina steaming, but, honestly, those weddings sound way more fun than sitting in a church for an hour while a vicar the couple has only met twice recites the same old spiel, or, worse, tries to jazz things up with some off-the-shelf jokes: “(Groom’s name)’s passion for (lame hobby) has had to take a backseat in the run-up to the wedding ceremony. But don’t worry, (Bride’s name), you’ve now got a lifetime to put up with it! (Pause for polite laughter).” Unless you are capital-R religious, why wouldn’t you want a celebrity there, roasting the best man and posing for selfies with the kids?
Of course, most of us don’t have an A-list celebrity friend, but that isn’t necessarily a problem. Both Joan Rivers and Kathy Griffin have officiated weddings for fans who asked nicely – one can only imagine the things they said about the bridesmaid dresses.
