Quick answer: Some do, but me?
Absolutely not!
Here's why.... AI can be a useful tool to many businesses, streamlining and automating repetitive processes, for example.
However, I'm an old-fashioned small business with traditional values. I value the personal touch. You and your ceremony are unique so every email from me, every point of contact, every ceremony, every script is unique to you.
I have heard about some celebrants using AI tools to write their ceremonies for them, seemingly with mixed results. It definitely saves them time, and some say that they believe the quality is... OK. And if that works for them and their couples, who am I to judge?
However, it's not something I use in my business. For me and the way I handcraft every single ceremony, it would feel a bit like cheating, or taking a shortcut to be honest.
A system can't possibly capture the essence of a couple, understand their vibe and include the subtle little nuances that make that couple who they are.
I delight in picking up even the tiniest bits of detail when I meet couples, and finding a way to include those in their ceremony. It might be the way they look at each other, or a comment about a shared passion, or even a word that has them in fits of giggles... How can AI possibly convey that with meaning?
As a little experiment, I put the paragraph above through an AI tool to see how it 'improved' my writing. The result? Barely a word was altered, but crucially, it edited out some very key words, COMPLETELY changing the meaning. You see my point?
Every single one of my ceremonies is written from the heart and comes directly from many years' experience of writing for different purposes, my experience of conducting weddings (knowing what works and what doesn't), and my reflections on what you've told me (without it being filtered through an AI program). AI can't include references to Cheeselets, your football team's winning score on an important day or "Haud your wheesht!", for example. And it can't be a substitute for personal style. I've developed my own unique 'tone of voice' and the individual way that I use words and language. People who know me well say that my writing is very 'me'. You can see that in this blog, in every word of my website and crucially, in the ceremonies that I write. A system can't replicate that.
How do I write ceremonies the old fashioned way? Simple - I use sticky notes and pen and paper... I note all the key points, words, phrases, things I've noticed, things that are funny, heartwarming, etc. and I position them in the most appropriate place in your ceremony. And if something is particularly notable, it's mentioned again in the right context, usually because it's funny (an unfortunate duck was mentioned a few times in one ceremony, for example...).
And I rehearse it to check that it flows and makes sense. And then I send you the draft wording that's all about you so that you can review it and ask for any edits. And we play tennis back and forth with it until you are 100% happy (although usually couples are happy after only one set of minor edits).
So, if you want a human to write a truly individual and unique ceremony for you, that is precisely what you will get from me - built from your input and crafted into words which will make you and your guests smile and possibly even shed some happy tears...
Some things are just better when they're done the old-fashioned way...