welcoming ceremony

Building Family Connections

 in Celebrant / Ceremony / Memorial services / Wedding Ceremony / Welcoming Ceremony  tagged memorial service / wedding / welcoming ceremony by

Building Family Connections has been an unexpected benefit of my work as a Humanist Celebrant over the past 13 years. I’ve had the great good fortune to meet many wonderful couples and families as I’ve crafted wedding ceremonies, child welcoming ceremonies and memorial services. I am particularly touched when people who know my work seek my services for additional ceremonies through the years.

One of my earliest ceremonies was a memorial service for a man who was an immigrant from the Netherlands. He was the beloved patriarch of his family and we celebrated the rich and adventurous life he had led. Unfortunately, it was only a few years later when I was called on to celebrate his daughter’s life after her battle with breast cancer. A few years after that we gathered once again when the matriarch of the family died. Seeing the family repeatedly for these ceremonies was a gift to me as I learned more about them and saw firsthand the legacy of love and the values that remaining family members carry into the future.

On the wedding side of my business I’ve married sisters from one family, three brothers from another, and will shortly marry the sister of one of my previous grooms. In each of these cases the couples have seen me create and offer ceremonies for their siblings. They know and value the focus I place on the couple in wedding ceremonies. They understand that I work collaboratively with each couple to ensure the ceremony reflects their personalities and tells their stories. It’s fun to see these families through the years and reconnect over such happy events.

I’ve also had the privilege to create child welcoming ceremonies for multiple couples that I’ve previously married. And just last week I encountered the parents of one of my grooms from 11 years ago and heard about their happy marriage and two children. Building family connections like this is a true joy.

Through these repeated engagements I become something of a “family celebrant”, a role I cherish. Building family connections and being able to support families with all kinds of ceremony services is one of the best parts of my job. I never know when the next call for “repeat services” will come, but I’m always happy to catch up with familiar faces and honor the next milestone moment in their lives.

A Week for Giving Thanks

 in Ceremony / Memorial services / Wedding Ceremony / Welcoming Ceremony  tagged Giving thanks / memorial services / wedding ceremony / welcoming ceremony by

A week for giving thanks is upon us, offering a time to reflect on the good things in life. I invite you to share in my reflection. I encourage you to take a few moments between the guests, the turkey, the football, and the travel to reflect on the good things in your life, too.

This year I am grateful for vaccines that have allowed us to gather more safely to celebrate the important moments in life. It may have been to welcome a new child to the family, to voice your commitment to each other in marriage, or to commemorate the passing of a loved one. Whatever the reason, our humanity urges us to gather at these times to recognize that our lives have changed. Vaccines have helped us gather more safely.

I am also grateful for the couples I’ve worked with this year on their weddings. A few were couples who legally married last year under COVID restrictions and chose to celebrate in 2021 with a full ceremony and wedding day attended by family and friends. Other couples delayed their weddings until this year or had planned for a 2021 ceremony all along. All the couples invested themselves in their ceremony – providing information and reviews to ensure that the ceremony reflected them and told their story.

A Celebration of Life for a member of my family was both a responsibility and privilege earlier this year, and I was honored to be asked to lead that gathering. That event was balanced by a Baby Welcoming ceremony this fall that served to remind me of the joy and beauty to be found in the newest members of our community.

My life has been touched by all these people celebrating milestone moments. I feel especially honored to be invited into their lives, to share in their stories, and hopefully, to have made their days a bit more memorable. During this week for giving thanks, I offer my sincere wishes to everyone for a safe and Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Child Welcoming Ceremonies: A Beautiful Way to Begin

 in Welcoming Ceremony  tagged baby welcoming / child welcoming / family ceremony / welcoming ceremony by

Child Welcoming ceremonies are a beautiful way to welcome a new child to your family. Whether through birth, adoption, or fostering, a new child in the family is always cause for celebration.

Often thought of as an alternative to religious Baptisms or Christenings, a Child Welcoming ceremony can be both so much more and much less than those ceremonies. Child Welcoming ceremonies are secular or non-religious in nature. For couples and families who are not religious, they are a great way to celebrate the new addition to your family.

Child Welcomings most often include some or all of these elements:

  • Naming the child
  • Promises from the parents to the child
  • Naming of guideparents/mentors
  • Promises from the guideparents to the child
  • A ritual to symbolize welcoming to child to the family and community
  • A reading or story
  • A gift or remembrance of the day
A tree planting to celebrate a new child.

Rituals may include a tree planting in the child’s honor or notes and letters from attendees for the child to have as a keepsake. At a recent welcoming the parents had a puzzle made with pictures of each attendee with the child. During the ceremony the guests placed their pictures in the puzzle. As the child plays with the puzzle the story of the ceremony and the love of these important people in their life can be shared.

Practically, with a little one involved, the ceremony needs to be relatively brief. Fifteen to 20 minutes is about as long as you want it to last. You’ll want it to be casual, and if the child is mobile, expect they will be on the move during the ceremony. Child Welcoming ceremonies are usually held at home, with close family and maybe a few friends in attendance.

Working with a celebrant you can craft a fun, meaningful ceremony to celebrate the new child and the new roles for parents and siblings. Marking milestone moments in life in an authentic way is possible and limited only by your creativity and interest.