The Celebrants Network Inc - BLOG

Funerals and memorial services provide an opportunity for family members, friends and others to gather together to honour and remember the person who died while offering comfort and support to each other.

Planning a funeral or memorial service is a highly personal process, and your decisions will be shaped by your life experiences, your relationship to the deceased, what the deceased wanted or what you desire for yourself after you die, what you can afford, and a myriad of other factors.

Whether planned after a death occurs or beforehand arranging a funeral or memorial service often proves an emotional, and sometimes exhausting, process. 

Hopefully this information will help to make that process a little easier to understand.....

We've all got a dream of what our ceremony is going to look like.  We've all searched through Pinterest and Etsy and magazines saving the pictures that will best fit our theme.  But, the more ideas you come up with - the more the budget is blown out!  What if I told you that there was a way to have your cake and eat it too?  Check out these thrifty ways that you can have the ceremony of your dreams and still be able to afford the Uber ride home...

Adopting a child is a wonderful and often long-awaited experience.  Here are some ideas for welcoming the newest member of the family...

The 11th of November is Remembrance Day.  This is the day we pay our respects to those soldiers who died in the First World War.  It marks the day the war ended and at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month we observe a minute silence to remember and think about all the people who have died in wars since.  There are lots of ways to remember our loved ones after they've died - here are just a few ideas...

When you're planning a lovely outdoor ceremony, you would generally think of how beautiful the scenery is, how the area matches your theme or perhaps there is a sentimental reason you've picked this spot, but rarely do you think about whether or not your guests will be eaten alive by mosquitos.  

Here are 7 fabulous outdoor ceremony ideas to make sure that your ceremony it's too hot, too cold or overrun by mozzies.....

Timing is vital on a day as important as your wedding day.  It's a juggling act with numerous balls in the air, so having a well timed out schedule and sticking to it will help the day run smoothly. If you've planned correctly and timed it all out in advance then you be free of stress knowing that you've done everything you can and the rest is in the hands of 'whatever happens now is what happens'.

Here is why timing is vital to your wedding day...

Mindfulness is a practice that helps to bring your attention to the present moment and enables you to be aware of your senses and feelings at that point in time.  You can be mindful by paying attention to your body and/or breath. This means not thinking about the past and not worrying about the future. Rather, just being in the ‘now’. Find out how being mindful can help you...

You're planning your wedding... a naming ceremony... an anniversary ceremony, but where do you start? Where do you find your ceremony inspiration? Here are a few good places to start...

If you are having a marriage ceremony where it's just you, your witnesses and your celebrant, then you can pretty much choose where ever you like, but when you've asked family and friends to witness your special day, you need to take a few things into consideration when choosing the location of your ceremony...

Traditions at a wedding are very important to couples and their families because if you don't follow the traditions.... did you really just get married? The answer is yes, but to some people it can feel like you didn't do it properly if you don't include them.  Here we look at some of the more popular wedding traditions and how they've morphed into a 21st century friendly version.  As these are very old traditions - please forgive the lack of equality in them.  Hopefully the way in which these traditions have transitioned will help to encompass all couples who wish to marry...

We have birthdays, mother's day and father's day... but what about everybody else in our family?  When do we celebrate them?

We kiss people every day, and we generally know what's appropriate for each situation... but you know, the first kiss after the celebrant declares you married? The one with everyone watching as you lip lock in public with the cameras and videos working overtime. Yes, that kiss. That's not an everyday kiss that you will automatically know what to do. Today we're looking at what type of kiss is appropriate...

"People do not die for us immediately but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad." Marcel Proust

The death of those closest to us presents challenges not imagined, even though death is a natural part of life the sadness, grief, shock and confusion that may present itself at the time may feel like it will never go away...