Your Best Life- Helen Phillips Humanist Celebrant

Home
Your Best Life- Helen Phillips Humanist Celebrant

Non-religious, personal & fun Wedding and Naming Ceremonies in Yorkshire and the North of England.

18/07/2025

🥺 I try to capture every minute 🥺

'Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while'

Currently sitting down for a good while, reflecting on our girl at her last day of primary school.

Repeating my own mantra of 'don't be sorry that it's over, be happy that it happened' but still crying like a baby at the passage of time.

And yet, I want to mark these milestones, to feel them, to live in them.

So many memories, so much growing up, so much love, and so much pride. It's overwhelming and it's beautiful and I need to feel it and process it and heal.

The walk to school changed as we moved house, and she is a lot bigger, but she's still the same kind, loyal and sassy girl (and still has the same bag!)

Here's to the next chapter. She's so much more ready for it than I am!

16/07/2025

📷 This love in a photograph 📷

After a ceremony, usually following the confetti toss and photos, I will always wish you well and I try and grab a quick photo before I leave you to enjoy the rest of the day.

I love how captured this moment after G & J's ceremony back in May 😍

15/07/2025

💕 Your love is my love 💕

I told you that AI wasn't all bad 😁 If you type in 'Your Best Life Celebrant reviews', then copilot or equivalent will give you a summary of reviews from across all sources and it's great to hear that what my families and couples say about me is exactly what I hope that they will 🥰

Reviews are the life blood of a small business, I never appreciated this until I became one! A business can say what they want about themselves, but to really find out what it's like to work with them, reviews are invaluable.

Sadly, it's not always easy to get reviews so here's a shameless beg that if I have conducted your ceremony or you have attended a ceremony of mine so far this year, please do drop me a Google review 🙏🏻 I will be forever grateful 😃

14/07/2025

😢 Come weep with me 😢

This week is a week of lasts for our daughter and us as she leaves primary school. As someone who likes to be in touch with emotions, I have the tissues close to hand at all times!

The privilege and responsibility of being trusted with a couple's wedding ceremony always gets me, but this week, as I am writing, those feelings are heightened against this context for me. Thankfully, I booked out the week, so I don't have any ceremonies to deliver and won't be turning up to any weddings with puffy and red eyes 😆

As I often say, all emotions are welcomed in my ceremonies, including tears. Crying can be cathartic, necessary, and will always be finely balanced with laughter, joy, and lightness so please don't be afraid of a little weeping!

13/07/2025

🥃 Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey 🥃

A & T celebrated the end of their ceremony last week with shots of whiskey as their first drink together as married partners 😁

It topped up a relaxed and fun ceremony that was truly reflective of them and their love for each other.

It was my first and only outdoor ceremony of the year so far (more coming up in August), and the weather was perfect (we might have all got sunstroke if it had been this weekend!).

The ceremony and celebrations were held in the glamping fields at St Helena's , giving chilled, festival vibes and I am sure a fun time was had for all with free flowing drinks, pork pies and an amazing live band (sadly not on Insta and are not usually a wedding band!).

If you want total freedom over where you get married and fancy a festival style ceremony and celebration, then are a perfect fit for this. Please do get in touch to find out more and book a no obligation connection call.

12/07/2025

💻 Writing time 💻

I am very conscious that I have let my social media updates slip recently. Entering my 4th summer as a Celebrant, I am much more at ease with this than I used to be. Something has to give as I prioritise prepping and delivering summer ceremonies and writing for autumn to get ahead before the kids break up for the summer.

This year, it does feel particularly full on as our eldest leaves primary school this time (anyone who has a year 6 leaver or has been through it in recent years will totally get this!) so most days I don't have the mental capacity to post and keep my head above water.

So here is an artist's impression (the artist that is ) of what I can mostly be found doing at the moment, writing heartfelt and personal ceremony scripts (at least when I am not at performances or fundraisers 😆). It's what I am happiest doing (as well as then delivering them on the day itself) so know that although I may be MIA, I am doing more than OK 😃

I will always make time for conversations with couples and families for further ahead so if you are looking for a ceremony at the end of 2025 or in 2026, please do get in touch.

11/07/2025

✋️You live, you learn ✋️

It's hard to believe it was 30 years since Alanis Morissette released her 'Jagged Little Pill' album. I had just come to the end of my first year at high school, and in the intervening three decades, I have certainly done a lot of living, feeling, and learning. I have learnt so much since I became a Celebrant and continue to learn with each and every ceremony. It is such a joy and a privilege to have found job that I love so much.

Despite this, I wouldn't want to tell my younger self to do anything differently as I do believe our experiences shape us, and we grow through both the good and the bad.

I believe that life is to be felt, and I apply the same philosophy to my ceremonies 😍

So if you are looking for a ceremony that is to be felt and experienced, then please get in touch!

29/06/2025

🤖 How do I connect if I can't feel ya? 🤖

This is something I have been ruminating on for a while, and I felt inspired to fully reflect and pull my thoughts together following an inspirational masterclass in artistic expression from comedy/ musical genius and patron in his visit to Leeds earlier this week.

Tim shared his own views on AI, which are very much aligned to mine. In essence, it's not a replacement for human contact or connection, and there remains a place, moreover, a need, for human creativity in our increasingly digital world...

Unsurprisingly, AI is a hot topic amongst creatives, and I recently learnt that several of my Celebrant colleagues are now being approached by couples or families who 'already have the script' (written with AI) and just want someone to read it. I haven't experienced this personally, and I would certainly politely decline 🤣

Getting to know my couples and families and writing a completely original, unique, and personal ceremony is integral to what I do, and this has to come from human connection and contact, not via a computer...

Whilst many of us creatives remain sceptical and cautious of AI, it does offer some definite benefits so the aim of this post is to share a pragmatic and measured, and yet also personal, opinion on the topic.

What are your thoughts? Have I missed anything?

20/06/2025

🪴 Some fun now, hot damn 🪴

If you want to incorporate fun and humour into your ceremony, then, in my opinion, you need to opt for a Celebrant led ceremony.

That's not to say it's all jokes and japes. Celebrants are experts at creating the right balance of sincere and romantic, even highly emotional, tear-jerking moments alongside laughter and light-hearted elements. The result is a well-rounded ceremony designed to be felt and delight both you and your guests.

So, in essence, you don't need to compromise and your ceremony needn't be monotone. Get in touch to find out more!

15/06/2025

🍧 There ain't nothing better 🍧

What a feeling after R & M's gorgeous ceremony last weekend. Seeing R bopping away to Kylie as they exited was a real highlight for me. This couple really were as cool as sorbet on a hot day 😁

Left Bank is one of my absolute fave venues, so chilled and yet so grand, so spacious, and also feels super cosy, traditional yet oozing in contemporary cool and the staff are always super welcoming and helpful 😍

I can't wait to be back in September. In the meantime, you can find me recovering from the double birthday week of both our kiddos and writing like I'm Alexander Hamilton for my last wedding of July (for a pair of musical loving lovers so a special reference for them there 😁).

09/06/2025

💕 Call it love and devotion 💕

We included this poem from Ruth Hulbert Hamilton in a recent Naming, and it really resonated with me.

As our own eldest daughter is approaching her final weeks at Primary school, I am acutely aware of how time passes whilst they are little ❤️‍🩹

Forward notice that I might go a bit AWOL mid-week at the end of July whilst I spend a week sobbing over her series of lasts 😭

Address

Website

http://Yourbestlifecelebrant.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Your Best Life- Helen Phillips Humanist Celebrant posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Your Best Life- Helen Phillips Humanist Celebrant:

Shortcuts

Address
Alerts
Contact The Business
Claim ownership or report listing
Want your business to be the top-listed Event Planning Service?

Country:

City: