The Cote d'Azur Celebrant

20/06/2024

11/06/2024

Well that was gorgeous... 💕✨

31/05/2024

A celebrants 'office' changes weekly, and I'm lucky enough to live in an area with countless beautiful venues I get to visit 💞 here I am at château Eza, in Eze for a beautifully intimate wedding earlier this week. Well done for bringing it all together and wishing D & S a lifetime of happiness and adventures ✨

😍 That view!

16/05/2024

Witnessed something truly extraordinary last week while officiating a wedding. As I declared J & A husband and wife, a butterfly, a symbol of transformation and new beginnings, landed on their wedding certificate. ✨

It then took flight, gracefully gracing the bride's veil for a minute or two before flying off. A beautiful blessing on their union and a reminder of the incredible journey they're beginning and the future they'll be creating together.

10/04/2024

Château de Saint Jeannet, the venue for a beautiful wedding in a few weeks time 😍 countdown!

07/02/2024

Is it me, or does Valentine's Day get an unduly bad rap these days?!

I'll admit I've been on the other side before, balking at the thought of some forced, cheesy romanticism - but I've now come full circle and see February 14th as an opportunity to celebrate all types of loving relationships.

Don't let the opportunity slip by! Tell those you cherish that you LOVE them!

I’m posting this with a week to go, so no excuses! My 7 steps to reclaiming Valentine’s Day as a day to honour love in all its forms.

Life is short.
Tell them.

For more about Jack Valentine
http://tinyurl.com/2m5c5hud

Xx

19/01/2024

🤑🙄 I know, as soon as the word wedding is mentioned prices seem to shoot up a couple of zeros and can leave you feeling frankly, flabbergasted!

The Cote d'Azur is synonymous with wealth and glamour, but that doesn't mean you need to start buying lottery tickets to be able to afford your dream wedding! Here are a few tips that might help bring things into budget!

09/01/2024

✨Cheers to love, laughter, and a lifetime of joy together! 💍🌹 Huge congratulations on your engagement! 🥂✨
There's nothing like the festive season to realign our priorities. The holidays are a magical time with family at the heart of everything we plan, eat, play and do. Perhaps that is why it is such a popular time to pop the question! With our focus on being around the people we love and care about, it makes perfect sense that you want to let that special someone know that they are the one you want to spend every holiday season with.

If this was the case for you then you have my heartfelt congratulations! Once you are ready to start planning your dream destination wedding in the South of France, give me a DM and let's make dreams a reality!

Gros bisous à tous!

05/12/2023

Your vows, and that magical kiss 💋 that seals the deal, are the climax of your ceremony! They're not just words; they're promises, commitments, and declarations of love.

I want to help ensure your vows are a true reflection of your hearts, leaving you both confident and excited to share them on your special day.

In my specially designed workshop, you'll explore the intricacies of your journey, from the everyday moments to the extraordinary milestones, helping you find the perfect words to express your deepest feelings. Through carefully crafted exercises, you'll evaporate the excess and be left with the pure essence of what makes your relationship truely special.

08/11/2023

Some casual Cote d'Azur content this morning. November never looked so good!

sorry... No one likes a smug expat 😉

Choosing an off season ceremony is really rolling the dice much like anywhere... Ok not quite, your chances of getting a sunny day are higher here than in the UK let's say! You could hit jackpot and get a day like today or you could get a red warning for storms, this time of year is never garaunteed.

Right now it's one of my favourite seasons, woolly jumper and bright sunshine feels!

08/11/2023

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏽‍♂️❓Question ❓🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️

Can your destination wedding be a legal one?

In a word: No.

🚫

First, there is the stipulation for both the bride and groom to have resided in France for a minimum of 30 days before the wedding. Second, you are required to possess your own property in France. The third requirement is that at least one parent should be a French resident.

The Mayor may exercise discretion to waive the residency requirement if you meet either the property or resident parent criteria. Then there all the normal prerequisites such as demonstrating your residency and providing evidence of no legal obstacles to marriage. Consequentially arranging a civil wedding in France can be rather complex, which is why opting for a symbolic wedding is the recommended way to go....

🇫🇷 FACT

The vast majority of couples in France get married at the local Marie or Town Hall as that is where you must be legally wed. Religious ceremonies are not legally recognised here, nor are there sanctioned hotels, barns or other wedding venues like in the UK, so most do the legal bit first before having a symbolic ceremony afterwards.

So really, you're just doing as the French would do anyway!

📸 The local Marie in Antibes, in the heart of the old town

03/11/2023

The colours of France! I absolutely love the colour palate in the South of France, these paints and tones seemingly soak up the sun and give me that feeling of constantly being on holiday! I was in Mouans-Sartoux this morning for a meeting and took the opportunity to have a little wander around, I wish I'd had longer!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend... I wonder if the 🍄's are out yet, we had a failed forage last weekend, maybe this week they're ready 🤔

02/11/2023

I’ve lived in France for almost 4 years now (Im sorry…what?!) and only yesterday did I realise what the jour férié was in honour of… ! Aka All Saints Day. It’s a national holiday here in France where traditionally families come together to visit the gravesides of their loved ones and lay chrysanthemums and other small tributes. A meal is then prepared giving families the opportunity to reminisce and tell stories of their loved ones.

Today (November 2nd) is Le Jour des Morts aka All Souls Day and technically speaking it would be a better day to celebrate loved ones as November 1st is really a Catholic Celebration of Saints who have attained heaven. BUT today is not a public holiday, yesterday was so most people take the opportunity to celebrate then instead.

The proximity of these days to Halloween and Samhain is not a coincidence it would seem. Samhain is a Pagan threshold festival on October 31st where starting at sunset, the veil between this world and the ‘other realm’ is at its thinnest making it easier to speak to the dead and commune with them. All Hallows eve (later called Halloween) originates from Samhain. When Christianity spread across Europe Pope Gregory III moved Toussaint celebrations from around Easter time to the 1st of Novemeber, a move that aimed to please old traditions whilst giving it a distinctly Christian meaning.

We Brits don’t have a day that honours the dead, one that really carves out some much needed time that could provoke dialogue around death and loss. So today is as good a day as any to light a candle, or buy some flowers and find an old photo of those special people in your life who are no longer with us.

Maybe this is your prompt to give someone a call to tell them that you love them and are thinking of them today.

Don’t be afraid to speak the name of the person who has passed. Talk about them, remember them and send love and gratitude out into the world, for grief is the price of love, and love is THE reason for living 🤍

05/10/2023

Does this sound familiar? Grief has hit me hard this year and I can only explain what it feels like for me, and this☝🏻is the analogy that best describes it. Maybe it will speak to others too...

I feel capable of most things and strong enough to join in life with joy (albeit slightly dimmed) and optimism... but a silent draining of an energy resource you're hardly aware of before something taps into it and starts sucking is sapping away a bit of sparkle. I realised that my 100% today is actually maybe 70% of me a few years ago. Sadness is a heavy cloak to wear day in, day out so you try to shake it off for a while in order to crack on! But there are days where there's no mistaking the brain fog and concentration failing, as my heart telling my head it's hurting and needs the energy redirected there today. Easier said than done.

Be kind, you never know what is going on for someone, even if they 'seem fine'

It's not always tears and outright sadness.
It's clumsiness, not being able to join in group discussions, a momentary pause in hoping and dreaming, a sense of being on the outside looking in with confusing moments of real joy and beauty thrown in making you forget momentarily.

Sending love and light out there, especially for all you grievers

✨🕯️💙

And yes... I quoted myself 😆🤷🏻‍♀️

26/09/2023

A Naming Day Ceremony is a heartfelt ceremony where we welcome a new soul into the world 🌱

Every name tells a story and it would be my honour to help you introduce your little one in a way that captures what this moment really means to you.

Imagine this:
You have made your garden into a magical space decorated with fairy lights and flowers. You have gathered close friends and family who will play a vital role in your child's life as well as friends and family from your wider community who have all played a part in getting you to this point. We tell the story of your baby's name and ask those gathered to to continue to hold your best interests at heart and to offer guidance and support in your new role as parents. A tree planting ceremony takes place where the appointed guide parents each take it in turns to make promises to your baby and place soil onto the seed. Songs could be sung, blessings could be said, what ever you want to include.

This is just one idea, but really the sky's the limit! Get in touch and let's imagine what your Naming Day Ceremony could look like

15/09/2023

I get it. As soon as you sit down to think about what a wedding would look like, it can very quickly escalate into something that feels huge and overwhelming with an eye watering price tag attached to it 😱🤑🤨

Elopements are NOT a cop out; they are a very manageable, very intimate affair with no less gravitas than a normal wedding.

Just because the idea of a big wedding doesn't sit right with you, that doesn't mean you underestimate the power of ceremony or speaking your vows aloud to the witness of your celebrant and up to 12 guests.

Imagine this:
We grab a spot on the beach early morning and you say your vows as the sun rises before blessing your union with an early morning dip in the sea before heading back to your villa for a beautiful wedding breakfast of croissants and fresh fruit with your closest friends and family 🌅💞🥭

Perfect.

11/09/2023

I recently watched the Netflix documentary 'Unknown, Cave of Bones' and although I thought the documentary itself was pretty flawed... the ideas they proposed and the implications of what it would mean if they are correct (and it's a big IF, there was a lot of speculation in the documentary...) really inspired me.

They make the distinction between funerary and mourning behaviours in animals. Humans aren't the only species to mourn the dead; elephants, chimps, whales and dolphins et al, have all been witnessed exhibiting mouning behaviours. It suggests that homo naledi had the capacity to experience grief and possibly empathy, which are fundamental to human social interactions. Their existence reinforces the idea that such behaviors were not unique to anatomically modern humans but were part of a broader pattern of cultural and cognitive development within the hominin lineage.

Burial rituals speak to the depths of our shared human experience. The scientists' hypotheses hint at a complexity and a social interconnectedness that extends deep into our evolutionary past. If what they are proposing is true, the universality of our inclination to honor and remember our loved ones is recognised. These ancient rituals remind us that the essence of what makes us human, our capacity for empathy, symbolism, and connection, has been a part of our story for far longer than we once believed.

IF it's true that is...and a flood didn't wash away a poor sheltering family... because if you watch the documentary and see the proposed route down into the chamber, it's a remarkable journey for a species that lived hundreds of thousands of years before head torches 🤯😉

06/09/2023

It was such an honour to be a part of H & C's baby shower recently. They had a candle ritual to symbolise their path to this moment and it was beautiful, emotional, funny and with people who care deeply 💙

And how about that quote eh?! As soon as she said it I told her I had to use it! What a compliment ☺️

Countdowns on to meet the new addition 👶🏻✨!!

Wishing H&C a calm and restful few weeks now in preparation. Xx

04/09/2023

✨That feeling of being part of something bigger than yourself ✨
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Humans thrive on connection and as a celebrant I have the honour of creating ceremonies for some of life's most poignant moments. Nothing brings people closer to the sacred than coming together in your community to give life's big moments the gravitas they deserve. It's a truly beautiful thing
💙🙏🏻

04/09/2023

Are you wondering, 'What's a celebrant?!' in an increasingly secular society we fill the role of ceremony creators and facilitators. We have complete creative freedom to incorporate elements from traditions of all backgrounds and add some personalised rituals and ideas of our and your own devising! I'm a big believer in celebrating the full spectrum of human existence beyond the traditional milestones of marriage and children (even though that's obviously a large chunk of what we do!) so if you want to mark a special moment and need someone to hold that space for you and conduct the ceremony, look no further, I'd be honoured to do so ✨