Couple tie the knot...in ceremony with a difference (From South Wales Argus)

Couple tie the knot...in ceremony with a difference

4:50pm Monday 31st August 2009

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A GWENT couple had a 'wedding' with a difference yesterday, declaring their love in a pagan ceremony.

Belinda Jennings, 47, and Ian Harris, 51, were introduced to the idea by their friends Lesley and Mike Roots, who also conducted the ceremony.

Mr Roots, a pagan fetch, and Mrs Roots, a high priestess, led the handfasting ceremony, where the couple's left hands were bound together while they read their vows.

The ceremony was conducted inside a circle of flowers and the four elements were called upon to protect the couple and their love.

Earth, wind, fire and water were all represented at the table in front of the couple.

Mr Harris, of James Street, Penygarn, said despite not being pagans, the couple talked about the idea of this ceremony with a difference and decided to go for it.

The ceremony was held at Pontnewynydd sports and social club and around 60 guests filled the hall to witness the 'marriage.'

Mr Harris said: "I thought it was absolutely fantastic, it's a different way to declare our love for each other."

Ms Jennings added: "It was lovely, everything I was expecting. It's been really nice and I've really enjoyed it."

Instead of wedding presents, the couple were collecting money for a myotonic dystrophy charity.

The condition, a form of muscular dystrophy, affects both Ms Jennings and her father Basil.

The word pagan is derived from a Middle English word, paganus, meaning 'country dweller.'

Paganism encompasses a range of people, including wiccans, druids, shamans and heathens.

Pagans have a great respect for nature and some groups focus on practices such as ecology and witchcraft.

It is thought there are up to 200,000 pagans in the British Isles.

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