It's a Celebrant Thing...

 The final goodbye or how to ensure you get your choice of Funeral celebrant... Losing a loved one is dreadful. However long they may have lived...you would give anything for just one more day in their presence...a minute even...gosh even one second... Sadly, the only certainty in life is that our time here on Earth is finite and will come to an end one day. As the heartbroken ones left behind, it falls to us to arrange their final farewell and suitably celebrate their life, be it long or short. As close family or trusted friends charged with making arrangements, the choices can be rather overwhelming at the most emotional of times. Decisions need to be made speedily just at a time when all you want to do is curl up in a heartbroken ball and wish the whole sorry experience away. The traditional option is a church or other faith-based funeral, led by a minister, vicar or other faith leader. For those with strong, personal beliefs, this is the ideal scenario...sincere prayers are off...

 Why engage me as your wedding celebrant... So...you've gone through step one...you've met your soulmate...fallen in love...decided to make a commitment to each other... Now you need a service! I create all my wedding services in the same way...starting with a blank sheet, an open mind, and a pair of listening ears... Because each wedding ceremony needs to be unique and individual to each couple. Working with a celebrant, there is no One Size Fits All. I do not have a folder full of trusty Great Wedding Services I have Successfully Used in the Past to dust down and recycle. I talk to all my couples and listen carefully to their responses. I can make suggestions, incorporate your ideas, or describe similar elements that have worked in the past.  But the core of the ceremony will come from you...the little 'in jokes' that you share...the level of formality that you both enjoy...small details that underpin your relationship that no one else will know but will make you smil...

 Back in the mists of time, when we got married, everything in Wedding Land was simple. (Not that we realised it at the time!). Most people chose to make a visit to their local church for the ceremony, regardless of whether they were regular worshippers there or even subscribed to a belief in the higher power that they were making their vows and promises in front of. The pictures looked great and elderly relatives were delighted to make a ceremonial visit to the church to witness a 'proper' wedding.  A very small proportion of marrying couples announced that they would avoid a religious ceremony and organised a Registry Office wedding. These were in limited rooms, in Town Halls generally, and rather brief occasions. I was honoured to read a poem at one such marriage, which I did so slowly and deliberately to stretch the ceremony to a whole ...7 minutes...! At the reception, the Best Man commented that the Grand National which set off at the same time as the wedding ceremony, l...

  I hate funerals. Actually, let me refine that a little. As a funeral celebrant, I certainly love the funeral ceremonies that I write and deliver. I ensure that each is unique to the deceased, highly personal, and exactly the kind of sendoff that they and their family wanted. But I hate the fact that we feel constrained by the long-held traditions that surround typical funerals.  Far better to consider a final farewell as a joyous and uplifting event. A real opportunity to compose a celebration of a life well lived. The chance to share the stories not yet told...and those that have been repeated ad nauseam to nearest and dearest... Did you know that you are not limited to holding a funeral ceremony in the traditional places...a church...a graveyard...a crematorium? Of course, just as every one of us is different, so will be the choices that we make about our last celebration. Those with committed faith will, of course, wish to be commemorated in a traditional church or other ...

 Secular Baby Naming Ceremonies- a very real and extremely welcome alternative. So, I'm going to drag my soapbox out on this one. On this topic, I speak from a wealth of personal experience...I've played along with the rollercoaster parenting game for over 22 years.  My family has strong Christian faith. We are all believers and as regular Churchgoers as we can be. We have been blessed with 4 fabulous children and were keen to arrange for them each to be baptised soon after their births. I felt completely comfortable with their Christening ceremonies since that marries up personally with my beliefs. Godparents were approached after careful consideration. We took care to ensure that each had clear underlying faith and considered respect for Christianity at least. They were asked to make some fairly heavy-duty promises on behalf of our tiny treasures and we didn't want them to feel in any way uncomfortable with this. So for us, a Christian Baptism was the most appropriate way...

 New service launched...a little curveball but could not have predicted the huge response! As I suggested within my training, I have branched out into pet memorial ceremonies. There's nothing that the British love more than their pets? Particularly the dear departed ones?! I did pay Facebook to boost and promote the flyer...and as a novice page runner I think I may have double invested! But I was blown away to get over 2,500 reads on my post which is a fantastic reach. And only a single strange message (in contrast to the very weird ones I recieved when I first launched my page- you're celibate? etc) showing their dead dog (in life!) to which I responded with a suitable coo... So...I await the leads once the pets start to slip away... It's a Celebrant thing,,,