Bespoke ceremonies for people who feel a spiritual connection with nature
Photo © Emily Porth
Ceremonies
As an independent celebrant, my aim is to collaborate with you to create a deeply meaningful, heartfelt, and inclusive ceremony that feels right for your family or community.By providing a bespoke ceremonial service, I can integrate respect, compassion, and love for nature as a humanist celebrant would do, and I can also include blessings, music, symbols, and references to deity from any faith or cultural tradition if you wish. I can also create an interfaith ceremony.Your ceremony can be as simple or complex as you would like, and held in almost any location. I will use my skills, experience, and creativity to help you make it whatever you want it to be.Please use the buttons below to find out about the different services I offer.I now offer legal or symbolic weddings, handfastings, and vow renewals as well - more information to follow soon! Please contact me if you are interested.
Photo © Emily Porth
Fees & Process
As a celebrant with the Scottish Independent Celebrants' Association, I am committed to transparent pricing. I know this can be an important consideration when planning your ceremony.
All of my fees include:
- An initial planning meeting (at your home/a mutually convenient location or a video call).
- A ceremony outline, followed by unlimited drafts of your ceremony script.
- Support to write your vows, if relevant.
- Additional meeting(s), including a site meeting at your ceremony venue (travel expenses may be additional).
- Liaising with other people who will be taking part in your ceremony.
- Unlimited email or phone consultations as required during my working hours.
- All of the required ritual tools (bespoke/keepsake materials incur an extra charge, or you can provide your own).
Prices for 2025-2026Weddings (Legal or Symbolic) & Handfastings - from £500Vow Renewals - from £300Naming & Welcoming Ceremonies - from £300Pet Welcoming Ceremonies - from £150Funerals - from £220Ashes Ceremonies - £100 (or £50 if I was your funeral celebrant)Memorial Services - from £350Pet Funerals - from £150Home Blessings - from £200Rites of Passage or other ceremonies - please enquireEulogy and Ceremony Writing (including Living Eulogies) - negotiated on a case-by-case basis---
Travel expenses over 25 miles are additional and detailed in my Service Agreement.
Concessions are negotiable for those on tight budgets & for ceremonies on week days.
My process of working with you** Please note that my timeline for working with funeral clients is much shorter out of necessity, but the structure is generally the same.1. Connecting
If you are interested to work with me, the first step is to have a no-obligation meeting. This will happen in person if you're local, or over video call if you're further away. If there is a mutual feeling we are a great fit and you want to move ahead, I will send you my Service Agreement & Booking Form and my Privacy Policy. I will also send an invoice for a non-refundable reservation fee of £100 (or £150 for weddings) to save the date for you.2. Sharing
3 or 4 months before your ceremony we'll meet for a couple of hours to talk about your story. The aim of this meeting is to come away with the structure of your ceremony, and for me to have a deeper understanding of your story and what's important to you. These are the threads I will weave together to create the fabric of the ceremony and make it meaningful for you and your family/community.3. Creating
I will take the notes from our meeting and use them to write a completely bespoke ceremony for you. This is entirely my own writing and please be assured I will never use AI to write my ceremonies. The script will include any music and readings, as well as the prompts (stage directions) so everyone understands what is happening and how. I share this via Google docs and you can make changes to ensure everything is accurate and feels good to you. We can revise the script and discuss any changes as necessary through emails and phone/video calls. I can also support you to write your vows.4. Day of the Ceremony
I will arrive a minimum of one hour before your ceremony to prepare the space and speak with other professionals supporting you on the day, as well as anyone contributing readings or music. I expect we will start on time, but can be flexible should anything unforeseen arise. I will stay afterwards to pack up my ritual tools and then leave you to celebrate with those you love.5. Follow-up
I will check in with you a week or two after the ceremony to see how you are doing. At this point I will also email you a presentation copy of your script as a keepsake.
Photo © Emily Porth
Funerals & Memorial Services
Grief is another word for love. As such, grief never really leaves us, but a memorial service or funeral that is done well can be a support and a healing experience. It should be a profoundly personal celebration of a life that leaves space for you, as well as for the person who has died, and provides a sense of peace.Beginning with a family meeting, I will listen to the stories you share with compassion, respect, and care. Whether we are creating a funeral or a memorial service, I will use the information you provide to guide you to create a personal and inclusive ceremony that honours the person you have lost and feels right for your family. I can include spiritual/religious elements if you would like, and connect the life of your loved one to the cycles of nature.You are welcome contact me directly about your funeral or memorial service. If you are working with a funeral director, you can ask them to contact me on your behalf.Memorial Services
A memorial service is held for a person's family and wider community after their mortal remains have been cared for. It is a ceremony to celebrate the life of a loved one who has chosen to have an unattended funeral/direct cremation, or who has donated their body to science. A memorial service can also provide healing and closure for families who lost loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic and were unable to hold a funeral at that time. Memorial services are very common where I come from in Canada, and are becoming more common in the UK as an alternative to a funeral. Regardless of when someone dies, it is never too late to celebrate their life, and it would be my honour to help you to do so. Unlike a funeral, a memorial service can take any format and be held in nearly any location. You can also make the service as long or as short as you would like to say goodbye and celebrate the life of your loved one, rather than the 20 or 30 minute time slot that is standard at many crematorium chapels.Pet Funerals
All life is sacred, and for some of us, the non-human companions we share our lives with are as much our family as our human companions. The unconditional love that they offer us can touch us deeply and last for our whole lives. A pet's death can also be a child's first experience of loss and mourning. For these reasons, I offer pet funerals. Whether you choose to bury or cremate your pet, I will meet with you to listen to the story of your pet’s life and help you to create a personal ceremony that honours the profound impact they had on your life, gives expression to your grief, and helps you to say a final farewell.
Naming & Welcoming Ceremonies
Welcoming a new person – or a person's new identity – into a community is a joyful occasion.Naming Ceremonies
Many parents today want an alternative to a christening or baptism for their baby. A naming ceremony can be exactly that. Through the ceremony, we will formally introduce your child to their community and share your love and hope with them. There are many practices that can be included in the ceremony, from introducing guide-parents, to pledging how you will help your child to grow, to blessing your baby with the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Some Pagan parents call this a Wiccaning ceremony, and it may also include invoking protection for a child or asking for them to be blessed by specific deities.Welcoming Ceremonies
A welcoming ceremony can be used to bring step-children and adoptive children into a family, to show them how much they are loved and part of your future. It can include the same practices as a naming ceremony, but is used to welcome children of any age. Pet parents can also hold a welcoming ceremony to mark the addition of a new nonhuman member of their family.Introduction Ceremonies
An introduction ceremony can be a heartfelt rite of passage for people who have transitioned to another gender and/or have chosen to change their name. We will celebrate leaving your past behind and embrace your new, unique identity with your community.
Home Blessings
A home blessing is a ceremony to bring positive energy into a dwelling. It can help you to: feel safe and comfortable where you live; clear stagnant energy; move on from a co-habiting relationship that has ended; or open up a space to new people and experiences.Some people do a home blessing when they move into a new home, or once a year as part of a thorough spring or autumn cleaning. It can also be valuable to do if you are looking to sell or rent your home, to help the people viewing a property to feel like there is space for their energy in the home.In advance of the ceremony, we will have a short video call to get a sense of your home and aims. In the ceremony at your home, your space will be blessed with the four elements (earth, air, water, and fire) with your participation. I will leave you with a handmade Brigid's cross at the end of the ceremony that you can hang above your front door as a symbol of blessing and protection.
Photo © Emily Porth
Eulogy & Ceremony Writing
More information coming soon...Please get in touch if you would like to discuss my writing services. Thank you.
Photo © Emily Porth
Emily Porth, PhD
Hello! My name is Emily (she/her) and I am a celebrant in the greater Edinburgh area, Scotland.Originally from Canada, I grew up where the prairies meet the Rocky Mountains. I completed undergraduate and master's degrees in anthropology and went on to earn a doctorate in Environmental Studies from York University in Toronto. I moved to the UK for love in 2015.Meeting new people, hearing their stories, and finding ways to bring heartfelt magic into their rite of passage truly brings me joy. In my work as a celebrant, I use the listening, writing, and presenting skills I have honed throughout my career as an anthropologist, and combine them with my significant experience of writing, leading, and holding sacred space for group ceremony in my own Earth-based spiritual tradition.Much of my work in higher education focused on engagement and inclusion, and I am committed to making my ceremonies as inclusive as possible: we need to be able to bring our whole selves to the important moments in our lives, in order to create ritual that is truly sacred. I also aim for those attending the ceremony to feel included and for the content and format to be as accessible as possible. Most of my published writing is about human-animal-environment relationships, and so as part of my offerings I am delighted to include ceremonies for the pets and companion animals who are important members of our families.I am a full member of the Scottish Independent Celebrants' Association (SICA) and am committed to excellence and continuing professional development. I completed my training as a funeral celebrant with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants and have also completed a short course in 'Dementia-Friendly Funerals' by Rosalie Kuyvenhoven. I have trained in ceremony as a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD) and in storytelling through various classes at the Scottish Storytelling Centre. I am insured and PVG checked.Beyond my working life, we live near the countryside in beautiful Midlothian and I love nothing better than walking in the woods with my husband and young daughter. I am a keen gardener and sewist, and also a pet-mum to our cat, George, and two budgies, Kiwi and Sprite.
Contact Details
Please get in touch with me by email ([email protected])
or using the contact form below.I would love the opportunity to meet you and hear your ceremony ideas in a free video call or in-person meeting, with no obligation to book.Thank you!
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