Hey Ashley, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. We have found this to be very helpful in the healing process, and really love hearing about all the beautiful stories behind that vulnerable time!

Celebrant-officiated services are tributes to the deceased, in the style that grieving families define. As your Celebrant, it is my calling to be only a vessel for your vision. All too many people have really regretted opting for a clergy member, after sitting through their dearly beloved’s service–where a very obvious presentation of a “cookie cutter” service was made even more impersonal. In these situations, not only was the focus of the content less on the deceased than on the organized religion, but whatever was included was vague and obviously without genuine representation of the life who actually lived and loved. This realization comes after sitting through an In-Sight Institute Celebrant service. My services will include religious ritual and reference, when the family members request that I do so. Celebrant-officiated services highlight the unique personality of the deceased. I do not specifically seek to wash my services of any religious representation, but many of my client families prefer not to project the ritual values of organized religion; they will want me only to highlight God in a more universal appeal.

I start with a blank template and the tribute naturally evolves into a vivid and moving image; a story that brings the spirit of your beloved back-to-life.

I firmly believe it is how we live that defines each of us, and a service and eulogy should reflect the aura and active contributions, humble or grand, each person has shared while he or she walked the Earth. Every life is precious and everyone is worth remembering beyond the “cookie cutter” funeral or memorial service.