As a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant & Licensed Wedding Officiant, I am trained and committed to creating a wedding ceremony that honours who you are, what you believe and what you understand about the commitment you are making, and how and where you want to honour and celebrate it!

For your personalized, spiritual, secular, interfaith, intercultural, two sex or same sex wedding ceremony, I strive to use the words, gestures, symbols music and rituals that resonate with you and your loved ones. I work respectfully, with an open heart and listen as you explore and share what this moment in your life means to you.   I offer support and suggestions for structure, content, appropriate readings and flow, and help you create a ceremony that acknowledges, marks and celebrates in a ceremony that reflects you and your spouse to be and your own unique way to love, marry and share your lives.

If you have been married for some time, perhaps, your understanding of what your union means has shifted or deepened and you would like to create a ceremony to renew your vows and honour who you are now and what you understand about your relationship at this stage in your life together.

 

“We want to express our sincerest gratitude to you for conducting our wedding ceremony.  From the start, you brought us clarity and calm when we felt nervous and confused – in fact, you helped everyone to relax, making it possible for them to participate.  You were always open to our ideas, and we feel a deep satisfaction in knowing that we created a ceremony that expressed who we are and what we value.  Thank you for everything you did to make that day so meaningful.”  Zoe & Roger

 

The Collaborative Process:

An initial phone conversation to confirm availability of date and time of your wedding and discuss the fee.

A no-obligations consultation, preferably in-person, but Zoom can work for people who are out of town for the three of us to become acquainted, for you will share your ideas for your wedding, and for me to offer what I can do to support you to create a ceremony that suits you.

A questionnaire with fun and deep questions to help you each explore what your relationship, your beloved, this commitment and this ceremony means to you.

A first draft of the ceremony that I compose based on all that you have shared in our in-person meeting and your two questionnaires.  You will read and edit this draft as much or as little as you want to.  I will also propose possible readings, poems, music and rituals if you want suggestions or integrate elements you have chosen yourselves.

A second draft of the ceremony will come next, in which I integrate all your edits, changes and additions. You will again have a chance to revise this draft.

I take care of all the legal paperwork.  In Quebec it is the Celebrant or Wedding Officiant that applies for and fills out the wedding license (I will ask you to see your birth certificate and another government-issued ID and, if necessary, your official divorce documents).  I also posts the Bans and submit the license after the ceremony.

I check in with you and week of the wedding to ensure everything is in place – you have the props, the site and music and/or musicians are confirmed, any plan B for rain is in place if the site is outdoors.

I conduct a rehearsal a day or two before the ceremony so that people in the wedding party have a chance to walk through the different parts of the ceremony.   We don’t have to read all the words, but it can be very helpful to test out the sound and microphones and practice the movement – who stands where and who moves when. I can also offer gentle coaching to any of your friends and family members who you have asked to read something during the ceremony – simple things like, louder and slower or where to take pauses.

I officiate the ceremony on the day.  I arrive early and am there to hold space for this special and sacred event.  I calmly check in with the musicians and give them cue sheet, make sure all the ceremony props are pre-set, check in with the wedding party members and then conduct the ceremony we co-created while adapting to and incorporating anything that happens spontaneously as ceremony unfolds.

I send you a copy of your ceremony, soon after the big day.

 

“We are so grateful that we chose Jen to officiate our wedding. We loved everything about our wedding ceremony! From our initial email Jen was kind, professional, and easy to connect with. Whenever we met in person the first thing we noticed was Jen’s vibrant energy. Jen is a great listener. She listened to our story and was able to incorporate special elements of our lives into our ceremony. Our ceremony was created with so much love and detail that it felt so special, like it was created just for us.”  Alicia & Ron 

“LOVED the ceremony! Thank you and you truly are gifted! We are so happy we found you. You also made us cry every time! What a blessing to have met you.”  Lucille & Paul

“Thank you Jen, it was even better than we had hope it would be… wabi-sabi all the way! We thank you for your beautiful work and all the effort you put in.”  Alexandre & Émilie