28/08/2025
Next month, it will be six years since we said goodbye to my mother, Jane, and simultaneously six years since the seeds of my celebrant journey began.
My mum died on 6 September 2019 from lung cancer. She was 64. Two weeks later, I delivered the eulogy I had written at her funeral.
A few days later, I was encouraged by a local funeral director to pursue a career as a celebrant, given the job I had done at mum’s ceremony. At the time I had no idea this was even a thing! But after a bit of research, I realised it was something I would really enjoy.
During the COVID lockdowns in 2020, I did an online course and ‘graduated’ almost a year to the day since mum passed away, booking my first funeral shortly afterwards. I didn’t book my first wedding until the summer of 2021, and I did it for free!
Fast forward five more years to the present day. This week summarises just how far things have come since those early days. This week I was a singo bingo host at a hen party (thanks for the booking), a singing waiter with alongside , a funeral celebrant, a quiz host, a wedding host at in Hampshire, and tomorrow I’ll be a bilingual wedding celebrant for an English-Ukrainian couple.
Given the location of yesterday’s wedding in Whitchurch, I thought I’d take some time to research my roots. My mum was born in Andover, and while she didn’t spend much of her life here, while I was in the area I decided to pop in and see where it all began, and it has given me a chance to reflect upon everything she gave me, and her influence on my life and career today.
It’s a strange one to come to terms with, really, because part of me wonders whether I would be doing what I’m doing now if she hadn’t died. I love my job so much, and it’s bittersweet to think it began in the depths of such grief and sadness.
But I know that she’d be very proud of what I have built so far, and excited to see what’s next.
Love you and miss you, mum, and I will be forever thank you for your parting gift of a fulfilling, challenging, and amazing career.
