Saying Goodbye
Each service is unique. Carefully written and beautifully delivered, such services provide a memorable experience for everybody present.
Always a difficult period in a family’s experience, the funeral of a loved one has to be handled with care. Funeral Directors seek to match the family with the person they assess as most likely to be the most appropriate Celebrant for that particular ceremony. The Celebrant’s task is then to create a service around the deceased person’s life: the celebrant will always take into account the wishes of the family.
The funeral service allows friends and relatives to celebrate the life of the person they have just lost, focusing on everything that made that person unique.
Sometimes a person’s life or beliefs illustrate the fact that they may feel it more appropriate to have their funeral service created by an Independent Celebrant, rather than having a service based on dogma or religion.
There are no ‘set rules’ for ‘Celebration of Life’ services. In close collaboration with family, friends and participants, the Celebrant will create a bespoke service, honouring memories and celebrating life.
My first step is meeting the family at a most difficult and stressful time. This first meeting demands patience and understanding and being a good listener. These special skills or gifts are essential in Celebrants, because our job is to support, recommend and advise, not to dictate. This we can only do after meeting the family and considering all suitable options.
Equipped with a wide range of poems and readings, from a range of biblical, literary, and philosophical sources, the I will designs the words of the service based on the individual, and guides the family with tact and care through the final funeral experience. Among the mourners there may be people with beliefs not matching those of the deceased, so attention is taken to respect all present as far as possible.