Two Paisley celebrants have collected a prestigious award for the second successive year.
Both Paul Browett of The Scottish Celebrants and Victoria Johnston from the Caledonian Humanist Association were named ‘highly recommended’ in the category of best wedding officiant at the 2025 Confetti Awards. The brilliant Buddies contested the prize with 19 other finalists.
Victoria’s journey to becoming a celebrant was one that started in 2013 when a friend asked if she could conduct her wedding ceremony. Having worked in the social care sector, the 47-year-old tried balancing two jobs before her celebrant role took off.
It has now turned into a full-time role she loves and had never imagined.
“When my friend asked me all those years ago to do her ceremony it put the wheels in motion,” she said. “It wasn’t possible to do at the time as I couldn’t commit financially to the training, and my time, as my children were all younger.
“When the time was right I just thought about giving it a go. My plan was to do it part time alongside my full-time role.
“But it snowballed and I had to make a decision if I wanted to remain in social care or take a huge leap of faith and go out self-employed. Before I did this, I did almost every job you could think of. But now this feels like it is the job I was supposed to do.
“I couldn’t have done this 10 to 12 years ago as I think you need to build delicate relationships with people and you can only do that when you have lived a bit of life.”
Victoria added: “The Confetti Awards are seen as a benchmark of excellence and quality within the wedding industry and to have been recognised for the second year in a row is absolutely wonderful.
“They say that if you have a job you love, you never work another day in your life, and I have to say that’s true.
“Having been a funeral celebrant since 2022, I conducted my first wedding in June 2023 and I took the decision to become a full-time celebrant later that year which is a decision I’ve never regretted.”
Paul explained how he got into the industry during covid when he was furloughed. With the time he had on his hands, he used it to go through the training and was planning on only doing it part-time.
However, in his first month, he got 75 bookings which allowed him to go full-time. Now he is the most booked celebrant in Scotland with up to 250 bookings per year.
He said: “It’s such an honour to be once again recognised in the industry for the hard work that we do.
“Being a full-time celebrant is such a rewarding job and being able to share in the fun and excitement of a couple’s special day is something that I cherish every day.
“Not only do I get to make a difference to each couple’s big day, I also like to think I make a difference to the wider community.”
Paul also went on to say that there are special touches which make every ceremony matter long after the event.
He added: “A donation is given to a charity chosen by the couple and, over and above this, a tree is planted in Scotland as a reminder of a couple’s special day. Having heard that so many of my couples voted for me to win this award makes the job that I do even more special.”
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