When people ask me what I do as a celebrant, I sometimes talk about my ‘Virtual Parish’. As a celebrant, I conduct more funerals than I do weddings, but they are both ‘a celebration of life’, and just as at almost every wedding, someone comes up and tells me it’s the best they’ve ever been … Continue Reading
Category
Universal Humanism
Emma & Richard’s Humanist Wedding at Mansfield Traquair
Mansfield Traquair is a stunning setting for a wedding, and I’ve never seen a shot that captures its magical atmosphere better than this one, from Richard and Emma. Here’s what Emma wrote when she sent me these great shots. I just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you so so much for … Continue Reading
I know where I’m going… Part 2
The day after the article on body donation appeared in Scotland on Sunday, I got a call from a producer at BBC Radio Scotland, who asked if I’d be prepared to visit the Anatomy Lab at the School of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where Dr Gordon Linklater would show me precisely what will … Continue Reading
Iona & Nigel’s Humanist Wedding at Harburn House
Iona and Nigel hardly used any of the material they’d shared in their homework at all. Instead, they wrote something entirely new, that was just as honest, open, funny and moving, but in a very different way.
I know where I’m going… Part 1
The School of Medicine at The University of Edinburgh. Not as a student, but as an object of study… Read this article by Peter Ross that first appeared in Scotland on Sunday The BBC obviously read it, because they asked me not just to go on the radio and talk about it, but to go … Continue Reading
Humanist Weddings – They’re a Guy Thing…
OK I lied. Weddings really aren’t a guy thing.Men don’t grow up in The Cinderella Complex.We don’t lie in bed at the age of nine thinking, “One day, when I get married, I’m going to wear…”Or even, “One day, when I get married, all the table favours are going to match my team’s football strip.” … Continue Reading
Becky & Adam’s Humanist Wedding on Inchcolm Island
“We just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU for making our day such a special one.”
Katy & Jerome’s Humanist wedding at Gorton House in Midlothian
Katy & Jerome met four years ago in Canada when they were both on an exchange – Katy from Scotland and Jerome from Australia, and as they said in their ceremony, they were both expecting to meet new people have fun and see another part of the world, but not to fall in love, so … Continue Reading
Adele & Paul’s Humanist Wedding at Dalhousie Castle
Messages like this one from Adele and Paul just remind me how fortunate I am to be doing what I do. Words cannot express how happy we were with the ceremony and all the guests were very complimentary. One is a regular churchgoer (of the Catholic persuasion), and she was just blown away with how … Continue Reading
Good Without God
When the Pope’s visit was announced some time ago, the HSS debated long and hard about how we should respond, and eventually decided that while we agree with all the arguments put forward by the Protest the Pope campaign, because of where we live and Scotland’s sectarian history, we’d have to do something different. So … Continue Reading