Wild Heart Celebrancy
With K'lo Harris
Jade & Raoul's Wedding
Trinity Centre, Bristol
Jade and Raoul had a very DIY community orientated wedding, which is my favourite kind. Marriage is often so much more than just two people joining lives, but families and community. It was glorious to see how many people turned up to help, with music, with food, and even the photography. It wasn’t about perfection, it was about joy.
The ceremony itself was created just for them, and brought together many elements of their different Christian upbringings as well as honouring who they are now as a non-secular couple.
This was my first outing as a celebrant, I was asked by these two, who very good friends, to play this role, and this event was the catalyst to pursue celebrancy as a career.
Alan & Val's Handfasting
Long Barrow ,Wiltshire
Alan and Val had a great sense of fun and theatre. With a love of dressing up, often expressed at re-enactment events, so for them a Handfasting was not only meaningful for them as a couple, but a great excuse for dressing up and perhaps harking back to another time.
The ceremony was based on a traditional Handfasting ritual, with the opening of a sacred circle, and invocations to the elements. What made it personal was that I created it from their own ideas about the elements, and brought an ancient tradition up to date.
However it was the setting that really shaped the whole ceremony, the Barrow created an amazing backdrop, and it was like all the daisies had come out especially. The long walk up to the top of the Barrow also allowed for a dramatic entrance. This is a photo of the moment they arrived.
Tree Brides
Bristol
I got to marry about 50 plus women to trees!
This was a creative live art event, highlighting the plight of trees, and our symbiotic relationship with them. Triggered by Bristol Council’s decision to sell of a waterside caravan & camping sight to be developed into luxury (and some affordable) housing, which would mean the felling of 74 inner city trees.
The energy was joyous and celebratory, as well as emotional.
I was one part celebrant, one part compere, and one part Bride herder!
My aim with the ceremony was to bring some embodiment to words. To really invite people (the Brides) into a sense of connection with the trees, as well as invoking their memories of tree’s in their lives. It was accompanied by many beautiful readings and poems.
It was a truly inspirational event to be part of, and despite the sadness of the fate of the tree’s concerned, it was also very hopeful and uplifting.
Jenna & Bex
Chalice Well Gardens, Glastonbury
Jenna & Bex wanted a small ceremony, with just them and their two best friends, in an intimate garden setting. They found the Chalice Well Garden, then they found me. The stars aligned for them. Together we created a ceremony that reflected their journey to finding each other, how their paths crossed many times, before a fateful night under the Persieds meteor shower revealed what was in their hearts.