Eco Celebrant Barb Milina

Name: Eco Celebrant Barb Milina
Address: Auckland, 0632, NZ
Telephone: +64275430288

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Eco Celebrant Barb Milina

Celebrating in harmony with nature...Tiny Green Weddings and Eco-friendly Ceremonies are what I do.

30/06/2025

Fun family rugby times in the South Island. A win on Saturday morning and a win on Saturday night, they're very happy at the moment. Player of the day Conrad, always gets stuck in and never quits.

21/06/2025

When in Rome...go the Crusaders

20/06/2025

Magical South Island short tramping trip with Cuzzies, couldn't be better! Great way to blow away those cobwebs. Mt Somers.

15/06/2025

26/05/2025

Having some decent rest glamping at Warblers Retreat, time to recharge my turbocharger battery! A happy place for me is in the gardens, and watching my grandkids play sport. 💚

17/05/2025

Proud grandmother, proud Mum, national titles, and Surf Life Saving Club honours. 💚

11/05/2025

Celebrating Mother's Day with my daughter the week before and my husband the day of. Enjoying time relaxing near the sea in Auckland.

20/04/2025

A fun filled Easter Sunday complete with Easter Egg Hunt, was spent at 44c, Otaki - my parents former home of over 30 years and now my cousin's home of two years. The walls of this home have been filled with so much fun and laughter over the years, and it's fantastic to see it's continuing on. Mum and Dad would be so happy, as would my brother David who built it.
Three photos of yesterday and final photos a number of years ago. Look at Aunty Andy, (Dad's older sister), almost 96 years of age sitting on the floor, no sweat! She gets down and up by herself, piece of cake! 💚

19/04/2025

Happy 17th birthday Jordin. I feel pretty stoked to be your G'ma, it's so cool spending time with you as you're always great company. Never short of a word, I love it! So proud of your recent golds at the NSLSChamps, and that you have chosen to put everything into the sport you really ENJOY. With spikes and professional training now, we'll look forward to seeing you race even faster down that track! Just love your positive, kind and caring energy. Have a fantastic, fun filled day. 💚

13/04/2025

A life changing experience. 💔 I had no idea I had a heart block, just going about building my stonewall, painting the outside and roof of the cottage, doing the gardens, meanwhile my poor old ticker was only just chugging along. It got down to 26 BPM in hospital, (lowest recorded in Guinness Book of Records), so no wonder I had medical staff scrambling and keeping my ECG printouts as souvenirs!

When I look at the chain of events, it's miraculous that I got through with my wiring shot! I am now supercharged with a pacemaker, to speed me up not slow me down, ha ha! If you ask me why it happened, I would say emotional stress, and maybe Mum's still trying to slow me down, from upstairs! I have always been fit, played sport, healthy, good diet, etc so I was the last person anyone would have expected to need a pacemaker at 62 years of age!

Thank goodness Dave dragged me down to Otaki Beach, where life is a lot more laid back. I really didn't want to leave Warblers Retreat. We are loving renovating the Cottage but we will be taking more time out in the future to smell the roses. I am hoping to be doing more Celebrant work as time goes on, but for the time being....just enjoying life! 💚

PS. Left the hospital with a brilliant Auckland joke from an Orderly! Best way to leave, laughing!

22/03/2025

A couple of stragglers from the Kiwi Kids Charity Run turned up overnight after visiting South Island schools giving away hard earned dollars to schools and kids who are in extra need of it. I think they need a rest!

18/03/2025

It's always great to celebrate family gatherings. Although I have stepped back from the weddings at Warblers Retreat for now, I have been facilitating other celebrations. This is a group of my Dad's cousins, who used to always come to Marly's Cottage as kids, as it's where their grandparents (Robert & Florence Young) lived. Theres, 'oh so many memories', that were being shared! We have called it a Fossil Function, as we needed to distinguish the different generations! That being so, our generation is the YOUNGer generation! So much cheek, fun and laughter. Special times. 💚

Address

Auckland
0632

Telephone

+64275430288

Website

https://www.warblersretreat.nz/eco-celebrant-barb-milina

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About Me: an eco-celebrant

I am a professionally trained celebrant with a Diploma in Celebrant Studies from the NZ Celebrancy School. I am also a member of the New Zealand Celebrants Association and am currently in the process of applying for my verification as a VCANZ member.

I came from a farming background and I believe that the connection with the land from an early age has given me a ‘down to earth’, approach to life. I grew up learning how to grow plants, care for animals and how to get along with brothers! My love of the outdoors has fostered a desire to learn more about nature and to want to share the beauty and the benefits of it, with others.

I have spent many years as a primary school teacher, specialising in reading recovery and helping children with learning challenges. I have taught adults, and have spent time in the building industry, the real estate and landscaping industries. Being involved in the local community and establishing a sustainable community group, has given me the opportunity to work with a wide range of people. This is something I really enjoy; listening to understand so that I can help others.

Being able to offer eco-friendly or tiny green weddings to couples is incredibly satisfying to me. Caring for the land, creating a lighter footprint and to have special celebrations that are aimed for zero waste are all reasons you could call me an ‘eco-celebrant’. While I’m passionate about nature, and the responsibility we have for our future generations, I understand my role is to work with you to create what YOU want for your special day. I will work with you, offering suggestions to achieve the best possible day you could imagine! I have no religious nor gender bias.

History of me and my husband, as well as Warblers Retreat as a wedding venue:

Our story together started out like this... we just fell in love. We had known of each other for a few years, but only as the person who lived down the road. We had so much in common, especially our love of landscaping, not to mention our hard out competitive nature and a trait we both seemed to exude - being thoroughly driven by passion!

After a few of years together, we decided we would like to ‘cement our rock solid relationship’, by getting married! Our only issue was we had both been married before and we had a tribe of ten kids between us. Besides that, there were almost as many grandchildren at the time! We just wanted to run away, to elope, to come back and tell everyone after the event as we did not want any fuss or bother. We considered going over to the Islands; somewhere like Rarotonga or Samoa for a lovely holiday, and just tying the knot. The only problem was, that it was a bit of a hassle trying to find someone to marry us, to sort out paperwork, etc, etc. As we were so busy with work, it was hard to justify much time off.

It wasn’t long before we both looked at each other and agreed; it was beautiful here at Warblers Retreat. We both came to the same conclusion, ‘why don’t we just get married here?’ So, in the middle of winter, 2015, an old friend of Dave’s married us. It was one of those days where the rain bucketed down, but as good luck would have it, the sun came out for our “Blessing of the Creek”, which unduly turned into a surprise wedding for our three lots of friends who were unknowingly invited as witnesses. We saved a lot of time, hassle and money, and we celebrated with our small group of friends down at the local restaurant.

A couple of months later, we had a house blessing and of course, the main event - our Family Wedding Blessing. All the family were invited to celebrate our marriage which was quite a few people as we both come from large families. This was the most amazing day; it was relaxed, informal and fun. Both sides of the family got to meet one another and there was plenty of time to relax and enjoy meaningful conversations. We planted the first kauri tree at Warblers Retreat; the first of many more we hope.

It was with the continued encouragement of friends and family that we continued to create Warblers Retreat into a wedding venue for couples preferring to get married without much fuss. Warblers Retreat has been built on a great foundation - lots of love and lots of passion! Hidden away in a peaceful, secluded valley, it’s a magical place to get married.