My Role as a Funeral Celebrant
My role is to work with you to create a unique and personal ceremony. I can help guide and advise you and your family during this sad and difficult time as to the options you have available to you as we create a meaningful farewell.
I will meet with you and your family and we will discuss various aspects of the ceremony (eg, music choices, religious content, poetry, readings, visual tributes, spiritual content, etc). Together we will plan the order of ceremony and exactly what will happen. I liaise with your Funeral Director to ensure that he/she knows what is being planned. Sometimes it is the smallest of touches that will personalise the service. For example, lighting a candle, a framed photograph by the casket, placing an item of significance on top of the casket (ie, a pint of beer, a cap, a motorcycle helmet).
Then I shall ask questions about your loved one and I’d love to hear your stories and memories – happy, sad, funny, life-changing, inspiring. It doesn’t matter if there are questions that you can’t answer or if there are some things that you don’t want mentioned – I will capture the very ‘essence’ of your loved one and tell the story of the life that has been lived. I am a creative writer and will illuminate all that was loved and admired. The service can be uplifting. However, I am also aware that some relationships are not straightforward and far from ideal – I never judge and work with the information that I have been given to create a personal service.
At every stage you will be able to approve or amend the content of the ceremony. Once you are happy with it, then I shall provide you with an electronic copy of the proceedings to keep for all time.
On the day of the funeral, I arrive at the venue in plenty of time to check the music and ensure that everything is in order. I await your arrival, and then we begin …………..
Since undertaking this amazing vocation, I have taken services in crematoria, natural burial sites, woodlands, private chapels, village halls, gardens and graveyards – there are so many options available to you.
