A naming ceremony is very like a wedding but much more relaxed. There are always nerves on a wedding day, whereas the anxious times are pretty much over when a couple are ready to name their child. I find this tends to happen around their first birthday, when life has settled to its new rhythms, and everyone is ready to celebrate the presence of this new life in their lives.

The story of how Cara-Mae came to be here was a funny and moving one. Zoe and Gavin had been trying for a baby for a while but nothing was happening, so they thought they might buy a camper van and head off into the sunset, but almost as they came to that conclusion, Cara-Mae decided she wanted to be here!

Zoe wanted Cara-Mae to have a natural birth, and I loved how she described her delight to learn she’d won a space in the massively over-subscribed birthing centre. And then how she suddenly regretted her decision, because it was only when she was in the birthing centre that she realised she wanted all the drugs they had!

As you can see from these photographs, we were blessed with a warm, sunny day in the back garden of their house, and Cara-Mae was on top form: giggly, happy and true to character, ever curious.

The tears flowed almost as lavishly as the pink champagne, mine included, when Claire (or ‘Coach McGeary’ as she used to be before she married Gareth last year) read Neil Gaiman’s wonderful poem, Blueberry Girl, and Cara-Mae’s Guide Parents, Gemma and Gary spoke their promises.

 These are just some of the things that Gavin and Zoe promised Cara-Mae