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Lara The Celebrant
reviews (3) - leave a review
Available for
Countries Covered
I travel Nationally & Internationally
Languages
English, French, German, Italian
Hi, I'm Lara
I am a warm and natural independent wedding and funeral celebrant. I would describe my style as elegant, witty but above all sincere.
I came to celebrancy having already had a rich and varied life, ready and equipped to help others at key points in their life-journeys. I had already worked as a teacher, a director of film and theatre and had run a community arts venue and cinema and had a lot of experience of organising and hosting special events. In 2022 I trained with the International College of Professional Celebrants and in 2023 led my first weddings and funerals. Outside of my celebrancy work I am a travel writer, filmmaker and Air Bnb host. People, poetry, animals and words are my world.
I have an undergraduate degree in French and German and now also speak decent Italian. I would be happy to lead a ceremony anywhere of your choosing.
What's my ceremony style?
Poetic and personal. I’m skilled as a director of theatre and film and can create a world, for your ceremony, for everyone to enter into: a special place for a special moment in time. I create ceremonies that lift you out of the ordinary into a place of ritual and meaning. In the same way that a three minute song can have a profound effect on us, your wedding ceremony might only be thirty or forty five minutes long but its meaning should stay with you for the rest of your lives. It doesn’t have to be all serious but I do want to honour the tenderness and fragility of love and all that we do to nurture it. Personally I am spiritual but agnostic, constantly amazed at the happy accident of being alive.
Prices From
500
Why choose Lara?
I like to put people at ease but I’m not the life and soul of the party – I’m the one making drinks, stroking the dog and putting the music on. I absolutely love poems, books and words but I have also studied music therapy, sing and play piano regularly and believe that when words end, music starts. I’m a romantic and an optimist because optimism truly does cost you nothing. I find that most humans are generally pretty decent; the ‘rum ‘uns’ (as my grandma would have said) are few and far between, though best avoided.
What do I offer?
Weddings
I’m torn…I love a boho, intimate affair outdoors, but then a big, boisterous family party is also right up my street!
My ideal couple would probably be people who were the weirdos at school. Maybe you always had your head in a book, or liked black holes or country music, or always had to eat your peas first. Perhaps you’re a very rational, scientific person but you have something that you stick to emotionally that makes no sense at all. Such as love. You believe that love has its own power and that the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts.
It would help if you like watching Gogglebox.
£700 – all in crafting of a bespoke ceremony and ‘your story’, which I deliver on the wedding day.
£500 – crafting and delivery of a bespoke ceremony and ‘your story’ for you or a family member to deliver on the day.
£400 – a short and sweet ceremony, for those wanting a refined but restrained ceremony of twenty minutes or less.
£75+ – additional fee for a wedding rehearsal, depending on geography and travel time.
Prices From
400
Why choose Lara for your wedding?
I’m a bit of a white witch. I don’t mean that I dance around in chalk circles or have crystals and a broom, but I’m a bit of a magic finder. I help find the magic in you.
Naming Ceremonies
Baby namings or blessings, adoption ceremonies & family blending ceremonies.
Prices are bespoke. I am fair and reasonable, just talk to me. I believe people should pay what they can afford.
Prices From
250
Why choose Lara for your naming ceremony?
I used to be a primary school teacher and I love being around kids, they bring out my fun, cheeky side.
I myself am unable to have my own biological children but I am aunty and godmother to a good few children and one day may foster or adopt. I have friends who have had miscarriages, IVF, surrogates…I know the road to becoming a family is not always easy and that for some people celebrating the arrival of a new baby also means commemorating, however quietly, certain losses that have had to be suffered along the way. For others, starting a family is a chance to celebrate a new page in the history books. Everyone comes from somewhere and whatever your gender or ethnicity, I’m here to celebrate where this new person has come from and where you’re all going.
Renewal of Vows
Michelle and Barack Obama? The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh would have been nice too. Or Billy and Pamela Connolly, or Sting and Trudie Styler. Or Beyonce and Jay-Z. Or that lovely couple from ‘Call The Midwife’, the doctor and the former nun/nurse.
My ideal ceremony would be in someone’s back garden on a nice summer’s day, or in a pub on a winter’s evening, with a log fire roaring and a sing song at the bar.
Oh just talk to me. It’s such a lovely thing that you’re doing that I’ll probably be offering my services for free if you don’t stop me.
Prices From
£250
Why choose Lara for your renewal of vows?
If you have made it to renewing your vows then you have made it to being Love’s Royalty. You are the ones that inspire the next generation of lovers. It would be a privilege to work with you.
I will stop being sycophantic though in a moment, but truly – who gets a chance at a second chance? That’s the cat’s pyjamas, the bees knees, the dog’s nether-regions. All I can do is promise to do my very best to honour the love you have lived.
Funerals
I work with anyone. Grief is universal even if the circumstances of it differ so much and the individual experience can never truly be shared. I work with families, individuals, people who have lost children or babies and people of all ages and faiths.
I am happy to work with any funeral director and will meet with the family before writing a ceremony for your loved one. You can have as many revisions as you want in the allocated time before the funeral. I deliver the ceremony and the speech on the day.
I have worked with a natural/alternative funeral home before and can create ceremonies that are outside of the norm. I invite family and friends to speak if it feels right to do so, and leave space for reflection and silence.
Prices From
350
Why choose Lara for your funeral?
I lost my own father suddenly to sepsis in 2017 when he was fifty-eight, so I have some understanding of grief. I have also received training in psychodynamic therapeutic methods. Though I am not there to be a grief counsellor, I do promise to be a good listener and to represent your family and your loved one at the funeral with dignity and compassion.
Reviews for Lara The Celebrant
Total Reviews: 3
Average Rating: 5
reviews (3)
A natural sharing of our love story
Lara made the retelling of our love story such a natural process and was a light presence by our side during hte rehearsal and through the ceremony – we feel as though we’ve known her for much longer than a year! She really listened to us and was approachable during the conversations leading up to the ceremony and during the editing process. She created the right balance between poignancy and light-heartedness and our ceremony is now a treasured memory of our wedding day.
Shrouded in love
I requested Lara’s help as celebrant for my beloved mother’s funeral, very last minute, suddenly realising I’d be far too overwhelmed. Her resounding enthusiasm and immediate engagement spoke wonders to me, as if I’d only had to think I need help! – and the perfect wise woman would immediately appear, imbued with sincerity and buckets of energy. Deeply engaged and sensitively empathetic, she conducted the ceremony masterfully, having learned everything she needed of my mothers history and character in just two days, and effortlessly conjured up the most appropriately beautiful pamphlet and discourse when I was quite incapable. Thank you from my heart for co-ordinating the occasion so professionally and with such deeply sincere grace. We sent my mother well, shrouded in love, it was much appreciated by all x
Our dream ceremony
If you’re in need of a celebrant who can make your ceremony unforgettable, do yourself a favour and reach out to Lara. Her ability to grasp exactly what you want to express as a couple is incredible. She’d only met us for a few hours before writing up the script for our ceremony, and the result would honestly make you think she’d known us for our whole lives. Better still, Lara guided us through the process so smoothly, making it a fun, enriching and memorable experience from start to finish. On the big day, Lara’s ability to conduct the ceremony was so impressive too, directing the attention to wherever it needed to be with ease, all with a smile and warmth that’s only possible with the highly evolved sensitivity Lara possesses. Thanks so much Lara for delivering exactly what we wanted and more. Not only did we get the beautiful ceremony we dreamed of, we also gained a lifelong friend!
