Wedding and Funeral Celebrant in Greater Manchester

I'm Helen, a Wedding and Funeral Celebrant in Greater Manchester based in Leigh. I offer a range of services around my teaching job and am available to serve my local area as well as Wigan, Atherton and Greater Manchester areas.

With 20 years’ experience as an English teacher, both the writing and public speaking element of being a celebrant come to me but if I'm honest, a celebrant wasn't a job I'd heard of or something that I felt would be my next step after teaching. However, after meeting a celebrant at my father-in-law's funeral and being told countless times that I'd be 'perfect' for this, I trained as a family and funeral celebrant with the UK Society of Celebrants. And I have felt in my element ever since.

I am a creative person and love to write. I do feel as though there is a novel somewhere in me but until then, writing ceremonies for clients is something that I enjoy doing. In fact, one of my favourite speeches was a few months ago for when I was bridesmaid at my good friend's wedding. As well as preparing a speech for him, knowing that he was a huge fan of The Fresh Prince of Belair as a youngster, I rewrote the show's opening theme rap for him and performed the rap complete with sunglasses, baseball hat and beautiful bridesmaid dress! I can honestly say as well that this was the most nervous I have ever been in my life. I'm not someone who scares easily when it comes to public speaking, but this experience gave me a real insight into how crippling anxiety can be. With that in mind, I will always encourage the shy and nervous to deliver that reading, and coach them every step of the way.

When I'm not in the classroom or at a ceremony, I'm a huge fan of reading, cooking, exercise and travel .

Being able to help people find the right words to express themselves at funerals is something that I feel is at the heart of my celebrant work. I feel strongly about being a mouthpiece for those who are suffering through grief and cannot quite say the words that they wish to share about their loved one. It is my job to say the words that you cannot in your time of grief.

I am an excellent listener and will be very keen to hear what you have to say so that together, whether it be sad times or good times, we can create a beautiful, bespoke ceremony for your loved one, be this an actual funeral ceremony or a memorial some time later.

Besides funerals, my other areas of expertise include: weddings, themed weddings, naming ceremonies, vow renewals, ceremony scripting and speech writing. Again, these ceremonies are planned and delivered to the highest standard, working closely with yourself to create a personal and memorable ceremony. The joy of having a celebrant is that the only limits to your perfect ceremony is your imagination. Sitting down with my clients for the first time, listening to what they want and then starting to bounce ideas around is one of my favourite parts of the process!

Obviously, juggling my celebrant role and job are something I take very seriously, which is why I tend to work locally and commit to no more than three bookings a month, this is to ensure that time and love can be taken over the drafting and preparation of your special ceremony.