“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”
Leonardo Davinci
Funerals
Celebrating a loved one’s life with a unique and heartfelt funeral when they die is the ultimate expression of love and recognition you can give them. Let me have the privilege of helping you through this time of saying ‘farewell’ to a loved one. I will compose the funeral after meeting you and getting to know the person we are honouring, perhaps using anecdotes and humour to bring their personality alive. With your guidance I will encapsulate their character and life story in a respectful and compassionate manner, that celebrates their life and plants them firmly in the minds of everyone who attends.
You are free to choose a venue or can follow the conventional path of crematorium or burial ground.
Living funerals can also be planned in advance by someone, still living, who wants to express their wishes for their own funeral celebration. This takes a degree of stress away from their family, offers both them and their family reassurance and ensures they have the personal and bespoke funeral they wish for.
Fees from £250
Very many thanks for a wonderful, heartfelt and personal goodbye to my father. Jeremy and I were very touched by your tribute to him and attention to detail. Many people attending said how impressed they were at how you managed to make them smile despite the occasion.
Lin & Jeremy
“Jonathan,” he said, and these were the last words that he spoke, “keep working on love.”
Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull – a story
Memorials and Ash Scattering
These ceremonies can evoke feelings of both sadness and joy. In leading a memorial or an ash scattering, I endeavour to bring a sense of peace and hope to the occasion as well as applauding the person’s life. This is often a longer ceremony than a funeral and has absolutely no rules or regulations attached. We can, together, create a beautiful celebration that marks an end and also recognises new and positive beginnings.
Fees from £250
Please look at the FAQ page and contact me to arrange a meeting to discuss any of the ceremonies.
Gillian Coates Celebrant 