After experiencing losing a friend and seeing first hand how a funeral ceremony can be fundamental in helping people with grief, I trained and qualified as a Wedding and Funeral Celebrant with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants.
I am a member of the Association of Independent Celebrants and am fully covered with PLI. I have also completed Bereavement Counselling Training delivered by Dr John Wilson from York St John University Communities Centre.
"Louisa provided a wonderful uniquely personal celebration of our mother's life. The service captured Mum's character and personality perfectly"
MORE REVIEWSAs an Independent Funeral Celebrant, I specialise in creating and delivering personalised Celebration of Life Ceremonies focussing on the person being remembered. Everybody is different and so every funeral ceremony I create is different.
To say farewell to somebody that we love is an extremely difficult and sad time.
The funeral ceremony is a fundamental part of saying ourfarewells to somebody special.
There are plenty of choices available for funeral ceremonies and services to ensure a person’s life is remembered and celebrated fully. No copy and paste or AI method is used. Every life is unique and so every funeral ceremony is unique.
I live in York with my husband, Lee and our beautiful son, Ernie. Ernie is literally a miracle! After years of suffering the difficulties of infertility, we were lucky to have our little miracle which made us appreciate life even more.
My background
My educational background covered studying a BA (Hons) at University of York and an MA at City University London. During these times, I met many of my close friends and as a result, I spent a lot of time travelling the world and making the most of my youth! So far, I have been to 47 different countries in the world! For 15 years, I worked in Theatre Management and had brilliant experiences in the industry working in places like Edinburgh Fringe, Dublin Fringe, NEC Birmingham and the Barbican. For 10 years I worked as Operations Manager at The Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds.
Why did you become a celebrant?
My best friend asked me to perform a ceremony for her wedding which was being held in a random field! After the experience of bringing joy to this occasion, I discovered the profession of being a celebrant and began working as a wedding celebrant for 8 years in 2015. I was then asked to write and deliver a funeral service to celebrate the life of a dear friend of mine. After experiencing losing a friend and how a funeral ceremony can be fundamental in helping people with grief, I became a funeral celebrant.
My qualifications I trained and qualified as a Wedding and Funeral Celebrant with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants. I am a memberof the Association of Independent Celebrants and am fully covered with PLI. I have also received Bereavement Counselling Training and attend theBereavement Café as a volunteer.
My ‘outside of work’ life In my spare time, I enjoy singing as a hobby, listening to music, going to gigs and festivals, travelling with my family, swimming and socialising with my friends. With singing, I have been honoured to perform at many Memorial Ceremonies for people whose funeral services I have delivered.(See FAQs) I donate to and constantly support St Leonard’s Hospice in York and have had the honour of performing at their fundraising events many times where the joy of music helps create a wonderful atmosphere. Watch a video HERE
Celebrating the life of a loved one needs to be unique. Even the little things that seem small are often the most memorable parts of a person’s character that can be celebrated.
Traditional religious services held in churches and places of religious worship will be conducted by a religious minister. Celebrants are not members of the clergy but can be flexible with including and honouring religious beliefs. A Humanist Celebrant may not include religious content as Humanists do not believe in religion or afterlife. As an Independent Celebrant, I honour, respect and follow all beliefs be they religious, non-religious, spiritual, Humanist, agnostic or atheist. I will honour and deliver traditions such as prayers, hymns and religious readings in ceremonies if the family/friends request them to honour their own beliefs and those of the person being remembered.
A Celebrant led ceremony can be held in any approved chosen venue. All the official and legal administration will have been arranged by the funeral director and the ceremony can beheld in a place of choice. Crematorium services must adhere to the specific times given and must keep to the length of time allowed. Cemetery services follow this same principle but often provide a lengthier service time depending on the cemetery plus allow time needed for a burial service. Alternative venues can be chosen, and they can be any venue that has agreed to allow a funeral ceremony to be held there. Time allowance is generally more generous and flexible at these venues, but it is best to confirm that the funeral director is content with the arrangement. (See alternative venues)
A Living Funeral is a ceremony for somebody that has a terminal illness and wants to celebrate their life with family and friends before they say farewell. This can be held in any venue on any day and at any time. The person can arrange everything according to suit them so that it reflects their character, personality and life truly and so that they can celebrate the years with those special to them. I am always honoured to help arrange and be part of such a special ceremony.
I believe that music is a fundamental part of a funeral or memorial ceremony. Music can indeed stir many emotions in a ceremony, but it can help celebrate a life and bring a sense of joy to a sad occasion. Due to time restrictions in crematoriums, the number of songs and the length of them will be limited.
Having everybody singalong and join in with a song in a ceremony is truly up lifting! As I love singing as a hobby, I will happily lead a singalong and a dance too!
An Open Mic in a funeral ceremony is a wonderful way of letting people that knew the person share their own memories and tell stories that may be unknown. An open mic can be spoken word or can include musicians playing live music which brings a sense of comfort and celebration to the ceremony. Open mics can take time depending on participants. They are best included in ceremonies in alternative venues where there are no time restrictions. Open mics can be held after the ceremony at the venue where the after-party/wake is held where people may be more relaxed and open to talk and share memories. I have hosted and led many open mics at funerals and memorial ceremonies in the past.
Yes. You can choose the celebrant or officiant that you think is more suitable for the type of ceremony you would like. Funeral Directors will suggest and offer advice on suitable celebrants that they are familiar with, but you can choose which celebrant you would like. You can contact me directly or via the funeral director. I work closely with funeral directors and communicate constantly to ensure all your requirements are followed and respected.
As everybody is different, every single funeral ceremony is different! I will meet with family and friends and spend as much time as we need talking and finding out about the person as much as possible. Meeting people directly is the best way to get to know family and friends and to find out about the person being remembered. If direct meetings cannot be arranged, the marvel of technology means that Zoom/FaceTime/Whats App meetings can be arranged. After the meetings, I will start writing the ceremony. Every ceremony starts from scratch and no templates of copy and paste methods are used. I guarantee 100% that every ceremony is unique, and each ceremony starts and finishes with a unique reference to the person and the whole ceremony is centred on the person being remembered. I will always send a draft of the ceremony to the person that is the main contact so it can be read and checked thoroughly to ensure everything is correct so that they are satisfied with what will be said in the ceremony. To help save the planet and paper, I will usually email a final copy of the ceremony to family/friends to keep. If a printed copy is required, I will happily and easily provide one.
I have received training in bereavement, I do not claim to be a bereavement counsellor. I understand how important it is to connect with people and as I have always had the gift of talking (as my husband will vouch for!) I know that communication is essential. I have always loved finding out about personalities and characters of people and as somebody that loves singing for people to listen to, I know how engaging with people is fundamental with aspects such as trust, compassion and interaction. I have learnt a great deal from being a celebrant which is a ‘people person’ job indeed and this is the main ethos of my practice as a celebrant. People are real hence funeral ceremonies need to be authentic – real ceremonies for real people!
I will always ask if there is a preference of dress code for a funeral service. I personally tend to avoid wearing the tradition of black but will of course do so if it is the requested colour. I always like to find out if there is a preferred colour or theme to the funeral and will try my best to wear clothing in accordance. If there is a theme such as football shirts, leather jackets, fancy dress, hats or anything particularly associated with the person being remembered, I will do my best to find and wear suitable clothing.
Crematoriums usually provide the music for services held in the venue and use a system called Obitus (link) that the funeral director will arrange the music through directly. For ceremonies in alternative venues that do not have sound systems, I can provide a PA system that includes a system for playing music through. I will provide the music source as well as any microphones if they are required. I also can provide AV equipment for visual tributes.
