I Do...Don't I?

As Shakespeare put it, the course of true love never did run smooth!The ceremony where two people commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives marks the start of the next stage of their lives together. The success, or otherwise, of the day is one which everyone wants to remember, for the right reason! Learn what goes into civil ceremonies from both a legal and personal perspective, explore what happens behind the scenes, laugh at some of the events and marvel at the way in which the registrars have to deal with the unexpected whilst ensuring that the ceremony runs smoothly. From a female registrar's skirt falling down in the middle of the ceremony to the bride's father wrongly declaring ‘I do' when asked if there is just cause why the union should not go ahead, the registrars have seen and dealt with it all!In I Do... Don't I? join Ceremony Officer Stephen Foulkes for a humorous, informative and light-hearted unique insight into his work.

STEPHEN FOULKES considers that there are four things guaranteed to make a fool of a man - wine, women, sailing boats and horses. Since he has been intimately involved with all four, he reckons that he doesn't actually stand much of a chance. He retired as a sergeant in 1996 after 31 years' service with the police force, 20 years of which were with the Mounted Section in Bristol. In 1998 he published a history of Bristol's police horses to mark the centenary of the unit. He was also a police diver from 1969-1976. To add song to his list of intimates, on his retirement he developed his semi-professional singing career into a full-time occupation. He was subsequently employed as a bass-baritone soloist by choral societies across the country, including a 20-year spell as soloist for Bath Choral Society's annual Christmas performances of Handel's Messiah in Bath Abbey. He was a lay-clerk with Bristol Cathedral Choir from 1976-1986, and vicar-choral with Wells Cathedral Choir from 2002-2009. In a rare fit of lucidity, he joined the Somerset Registration Service as a Ceremony Officer Registrar in 2012.