My journey to becoming a celebrant

One beautiful, sunny, breezy day not so long ago, two friends stood on a black and white volcanic rock beach in Hawaii and exchanged wedding vows. Initially, all they wanted was to legalize their union. In fact, up until three days earlier, the couple had not thought about marriage at all. One casual comment lead to another, there was a quick Internet search, and an officiant was found. They obtained the marriage license, and the wedding took place. This is the story about my wedding to my long-time beau, Doug.

After a few long-distance phone calls, our officiant, Reverend Cheryl, created a ceremony that wove together our family members’ names, our pets and Hawaiian wedding lore. Two stray dogs wandered in during our ceremony, seemed to sense the importance of the occasion and sat as our witnesses. All the while, I was thinking what a wonderful experience this was and that I wanted to bring this joy to other people.  I enrolled at the Celebrant Institute and Foundation where I would begin my journey toward becoming one of only 400 certified celebrants and interfaith ministers in North America and northern Europe. So, my journey toward becoming a certified celebrant and interfaith minister began.

Every personalized ceremony is an exciting opportunity

I am thrilled to use my creative juices in a new way as a celebrant and appreciate new reasons to celebrate life. Making joyful connections with new people, writing and telling your stories, planning your ceremonies down to the minute details and drawing your guests into an emotional experience is one of the best jobs I could have. And I get to do it over and over again with all kinds of wonderful folks. What I love most about what I do is – everything. Together we bring out your stories to explore the diversity of your background, experiences, hopes and dreams for the future, and recognize achieved milestones or accomplished goals. Working together we weave your story and beliefs into your personal celebration.

After developing and running a successful business for 20 years, I am reveling in the glory of creativity and living life to the fullest. I love traveling and dancing of all kinds, especially contradance. I also play the surdo drum for Batucaxé, a Brazilian drum and dance ensemble based in Tucson, Arizona.

I look forward to helping you create your personal celebration of life!