Services
Funerals
A personal and well-crafted ceremony to celebrate the life of a person you knew and loved can be both a comforting and healing experience. As such a celebrant-led funeral can be a powerful rite of passage and healthy expression of the complex emotions we need to work through when someone dies.
In preparation for the service, I will meet with you to discuss the life of the deceased; their character, family, interests, achievements, and what you will miss most about them. We will consider pieces of music, readings, and other tributes or rituals. I will work with you to design and create a meaningful, personalised event that honours the life lived, and deliver the funeral or memorial ceremony on the day. My own skills in leading ceremony and ritual combined with strong speaking skills and a calm, open-minded and professional attitude can be relied on to convey whatever tone you see fit for the ceremony itself. I many years of experience in understanding the flow and pace of a ceremony and can deal with unexpected moments with efficiency and discretion.
A funeral is undoubtedly a sad occasion, but it needn’t be all gloom as family and friends meet to celebrate and remember a live lived fully amongst them. I always encourage those attending to reflect fondly and with gratitude for the life lived and have thanks and joy in their heart as they remember their loved one. Every set of circumstances are different, and a fresh and non-judgemental approach enables me to grasp the need of the family in each individual service. I am respectful, flexible and organised, and will work with you to create a ceremony that is truly individual, heartfelt and comforting. I very much look forward to meeting you.
Weddings
As a Wedding Celebrant, I want to help everyone to feel their worth as a person, as part of a couple or part of a family. Everything we do today creates who we will be on our journey tomorrow and it is my role as a celebrant to get to know you, to listen to your story, to find out about the wonderful journey that has brought you here today, it really is all about you! Whether you are looking for a Wedding / Commitment/ Vow Renewal Ceremony, we can do that and more. I say 'we', because whilst I will write and conduct your ceremony, it is all about you!
Regardless of who you are, what you look like, your age or status, I will respect you, your story and your individuality. I will help you to celebrate who you are at this special time in your life as you make a commitment to move forwards as a couple.
Together we will plan your ceremony and celebrate your story in whichever way suits you. Whether you want a traditional ceremony, a themed event, or something totally different, we can work with that. Whether you want to celebrate on a beach, in your garden, in a mansion or castle, we can do that too! If you want to get married on New Year's Eve at the stroke of Midnight, we can find a way! By choosing me as your Celebrant we can explore your dreams, work with your wishes and together come up with a beautiful and memorable ceremony.
Naming Ceremonies
A naming ceremony is a wonderful way to welcome and celebrate the birth of a baby and is an increasingly popular alternative to a traditional christening ceremony held in a church. I will be happy to discuss all ideas with you to create a meaningful ceremony for you as a parent or carer as well as for family and friends.
Naming ceremonies can be held in a venue of your choice and can encompass your spiritual beliefs, whatever they may be, or completely non-religious naming ceremonies can also be a choice for those who are of no specific faith but want to celebrate the occasion with a special ceremony.
Parents, Siblings, Life Guardians, Grandparents, Friends and Family can all be part of your naming ceremony which can include poems, readings, music, and promises. All of these ingredients help to form a solid foundation for the child as they take their place in your family and begin their life’s journey.
Elements such as Unity Candles, Fingerprint Tree, Time Capsule, Sand Ceremony, Handfasting between Life Guardians and child, Memory Box are popular choices as elements for a naming ceremony. Memory Boxes can be opened on the child’s 18th or a special birthday and the day remembered along with the promises and special memories from the day.
Of course, these ceremonies aren’t just for babies. Perhaps you want to formally name older children. Equally, as an adult, you may wish to celebrate a new name or identity, witnessed by those dearest to you.
Renewal of Vows
Is your Wedding Anniversary looming? Or maybe you have both drifted apart, for whatever reason, and have decided to rekindle your relationship?
Has there, perhaps, been a challenge in your marriage, that has prompted you to reconnect with each other?
Maybe it is a milestone Anniversary, such as 25 or 50 years you wish to celebrate, along with your family and friends, in this unique ceremony?
A personalised and meaningful Renewal of Vows Ceremony allows you to enrich and strengthen your relationship in the presence of family and friends and can be as simple, or as elaborate, as your original wedding was. The choice is yours, and I will work with you to create this very special day, which will be remembered long after the celebrations are finished.