Whether it’s telling a tall tale to cheer a friend up or turning for comfort to a show or book that we love, stories are the threads which hold the fabric of our lives together. In many ways, we are the stories that we (and others) tell about ourselves.
As such, when it comes time to celebrate those moments in our lives worth telling stories about – getting married, achieving milestones, the births and deaths of our loved ones -, you want someone who can tell a story without putting themselves at the center.
Someone with ears as open as their heart, so they can craft a ceremony which truly captures the spirit of the people at its core.
Someone who takes your happiness as their end and goal.
I’d like to suggest that I am that someone you want to tell your story.
For every story, a storyteller.
It is because we all live out narratives in our lives and because we understand our own lives in terms of the narratives that we live out that the form of narrative is appropriate for understanding the actions of others.
Stories are lived before they are told…
Alasdair MacIntyre, ‘After Virtue’
If I had to capture why I became a celebrant in one sentence, I’d say this: ‘I’m a celebrant because I’m a hopeless romantic with a capital-R!’
This impulse toward loving, being loved, and celebrating the two drew me to celebrancy and, as such, to you: I really enjoy meeting other people, making memories together, and coming to know who they are and what they care about.
Through my studies of philosophy and the arts in school and university, I’ve been lucky to discover in myself an abiding passion for language. We lovers of language can agree with anyone who has nervously thought about speaking at a wedding on this point: expressing yourself properly is really hard!
Knowing how rough it can be to speak to a crowd, one of the reasons I became a celebrant is to lend my hand to the task of giving your ceremony the voice that it needs. Cliches and platitudes abound in life, but they tend to fall short in telling the story of a life. To tell the story of an individual, only individualised language will do.
Ceremony from the heart.
We typically only think about ceremony and ritual – the celebrant’s stock in trade – when we’re embarking on a significant transition in our lives. They serve as vital bridges between the chapters of our story, to be cherished and reflected fondly as we march towards the limits of our experience. As a key milestone in your life, then, the words of your ceremony should truly capture and express your essence – who you are – to the world.
As your celebrant, my job is to craft a ceremony which satisfies this impulse to the greatest possible degree:
Whether I’m working with you to craft a celebration of love which speaks to the unique beauty of your relationship,
Helping to craft a farewell for a loved one which does justice to their memory,
Or designing a custom ceremony to satisfy a novel need,
I am devoted to promoting your happiness and well-being in all that I do.
If any of that sounds good to you, I hope that you’ll reach out to me by clicking the button below! I look forward to hearing from and working with you to help bring about a ceremony you’ll come to remember with a smile on your face.
Liam Kelly - Civil Celebrant 