About Me

I am a fully qualified life celebrant, as well as a counsellor and therapist, and have spent many years presenting and hosting events, including being a master of ceremonies.

These experiences make me a natural choice for leading any occasion, whether to celebrate the birth of a new life, a happy union or the passing of a loved one.  My ability to tune in to the different emotions surrounding each of these different occasions means I can help you create the most unique, thoughtful and memorable event.

What is a Celebrant?

A civil funeral celebrant is an individual person, who offers to perform civil funerals in a dignified and culturally acceptable manner, for those who, for whatever reason, do not choose a religious ceremony. Civil funeral celebrants also serve people who have religious beliefs but do not wish to be buried or cremated from a church, temple or mosque. More frequently, people choose civil funeral celebrants because they wish a professional person to co-create a service centered on the person, their history and their achievements.

This is often in contrast to the established set-ritual ceremonies of most religions. In celebrant ceremonies decisions about the content of the ceremony are made by the family of the deceased in consultation with the celebrant. Therefore, the civil celebrant can be defined as a professionally trained ceremony-provider who works in accordance with the wishes of the client. Depending on circumstances, best practice is usually for funeral celebrants to interview the family, carefully prepare and check the eulogy, brief those persons chosen to give reminiscences, and finally to provide resources and suggestions that will assist the client family to choose the most appropriate music, video/photo presentations, quotations (poetry and prose), symbols and movement or choreography. Sometimes a rehearsal is indicated for a funeral. More often a planning session is sufficient to ensure that the ceremony that is delivered is the one that is planned. In this task the funeral celebrant works in cooperation with a Funeral director.

A celebrant, by this definition, does not come from the standpoint of any doctrinal belief or unbelief. A trained celebrant usually operates professionally on the principle that their own beliefs and values are not relevant.