Maria Thorne Wedding and Naming Ceremonies - non-religious celebrant.

03/03/2025

Recently engaged? This blog from Humanist Ceremonies is a great guide to planning your non-religious wedding ceremony. I have a handful of dates left this summer, so if you're considering booking a humanist celebrant to help you to celebrate with your loved ones, do get in touch!

You’re engaged! Huge congratulations! Now it’s time to start your wedding planning. If you’re not a religious person, you may be thinking about ways to celebrate your love without including religious content, while still creating a meaningful wedding ceremony. A humanist wedding will allow you...

26/02/2025

Prefer to keep it simple? If you want the big ceremony with ALL the bells and whistles, EVERY symbolic gesture please, LOADS of guest participation, then that's fabulous - you do you - and I'll be there cheering you on, with all the glitter and confetti canons. But if you're more reserved and would just like a SIMPLE, small and meaningful ceremony with a FEW CLOSE FRIENDS - or NO guests at all - then get in touch. I've performed ceremonies with 160 guests, but also for just the couple and their dog. The same amount of effort goes into writing every single ceremony. If you're looking for something simpler, let me know and we'll have a pre-booking chat.

23/02/2025

Officially welcoming a new human into their family, their community and the wider world has to be one of the most worthwhile things I do as a humanist celebrant. I was in Plymouth this afternoon to perform a ceremony doing just that, for a family I first worked with back in 2019. Today's ceremony was for their third daughter, who joined them last year. After we'd said her name together, heard her big sister doing an amazing reading and appointed three loving guideparents, she held her arms out to me for a cuddle, which was so special 🥰. Her mum kindly took these snaps of us together.

Humanist Ceremonies

14/02/2025

Hey lovebirds! 💓 🐦🐦 Feeling courageous this Valentine's Day? If you're taking the chance today to decide to get married, then massive congratulations! 🎉🥳 And when you’re ready to book your friendly local celebrant, give me a shout! 📢 I work across Devon and most of Cornwall and Somerset. Find out more at www.humanist.org.uk/mariathorne

A really, really beautiful quote for Valentine's Day, dating back to a humanist wedding conducted in 1914. More romance in the comments ❤️

11/02/2025

Repeat clients! I LOVE it when a family I've worked with before get in touch to say they've recently welcomed another baby and they "wouldn't want anyone else" to perform their naming ceremony! This gorgeous lot have added a third little R! Can't wait to perform his ceremony this summer 👶✨️😺😃

Humanist Ceremonies

29/01/2025

I've only got a few Saturdays left over the summer season, so if you're hoping to get married this year and would like me to help you celebrate, do get in touch soon!

Are you planning a 2025 or 2026 wedding? 🎊💍

If you would like to have a personal and non-religious ceremony, it's a good idea to book your celebrant as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Our highly trained celebrants do get booked up in advance, especially at weekends and during the summer months!

You can find a humanist celebrant near you by using the map on our website!

09/01/2025

Happy New Year!! It's been a while... I have a story to tell to explain why, but that will be in another post. For now, here is the fabulously eclectic mix of books I received in my xmas stocking this year. I love to read a wide range of things - fiction and non fiction in order to help me with my writing. Sometimes I find fabulous quotes to include in your wedding or naming ceremony! When you book me to be your celebrant, you can be assured that no two of my ceremonies are the same. So, if you got engaged over the festive period, why not consider a humanist wedding ceremony. Find out more from the link in my bio.

04/12/2024

Heidi and Darrell, after forty years together, finally had the ceremony they had always dreamed of to celebrate their Ruby Wedding anniversary. Despite the looming threat of rain, their outdoor ceremony wrapped up perfectly before the skies could dampen the day. Surrounded by family and friends, both old and new, we celebrated their story and they exchanged heartfelt vows they'd penned themselves - an emotional testament to their enduring love. It was truly an honour to be their celebrant on such a momentous occasion!

Thanks so much to them for sharing these gorgeous photos from the day, taken by the talented and unflappable Peter Diment! Do check out his website: https://www.pldphotography.co.uk/ or page: PLD Photography

And thanks also to Huntstile Organic Farm, who are always such fabulous, helpful hosts.

Humanist Ceremonies

13/11/2024

This week is Trans Awareness Week. November 13 – 19.

As humanists, we cherish empathy and care about the rights of all!

Our celebrants take the time to get to know you and will work with you to ensure your ceremony is authentic to who you are.🏳️‍⚧️❤

11/10/2024

A special Ruby Wedding vow renewal ceremony in Bridgwater gave this couple the chance to have the wedding they really wanted, 40 years later 🥰

Caption reads: "I can't even begin to describe to you how happy we were with how you performed our wonderful vow renewal ceremony. First of all you perfectly described our story and this was very poignant for those friends that have come into our lives later, they said it was very moving to hear our story and some struggled to hold back the tears. It was a very emotional experience... but we wouldn't have missed the opportunity for all the world."

06/10/2024

Loving cup...quaich...sharing a first drink together. Whatever you want to call this mini ritual, it's a wonderful way to toast your marriage towards the end of a ceremony. Find a cup or bowl that means something to you - this is a Cornish granite goblet to honour the groom's heritage; and fill it with a drink you love - this is wine from the couple's holiday in Tuscany. Hold the cup between you and feed one another a sip. I'll say some beautiful words about your hopes for the future. Life will be all the sweeter because you share it.

29/09/2024

🎉 What a way to end the wedding season! My last wedding of the year was for the absolutely gorgeous Amy and Davy. Their humanist wedding ceremony was the joyful opener for an epic wedding festival at Holsome Park near Totnes. Their kids laid ribbons for their handfasting, using colours that meant something to them. They wrote the most perfect vows in the form of a conversation. We incorporated Amy's love of fashion, Davy's love of Celtic, their two fab doggos, their S Devon love story, and the tale of Davy's surprise proposal at The Harbour Hotel in Salcombe. All topped off with confetti canons in a former Quarry with the most beautiful views.

Wishing you both so much happiness!!

Humanist Ceremonies Savage Scaffolding Ltd

01/09/2024

✏️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Newlywed couples and naming parents! (As well as their friends, family, or innocent by-standers...!)
If I've performed a ceremony for you recently and you were happy with how I did things(!) I'd really appreciate a kind review. You can either leave it here on Facebook, or head on over to Google to rate me! I still have some availability this winter and into next year, and reviews really help me to attract lovely, new clients. THANKS SO MUCH! https://g.page/r/CVVFCO571_NXEAE/review

28/08/2024

Jay and Billie met when they were both auditioning for panto at uni (Oh no they didn't... Oh yes they did!)
As well as being very creative themselves - with Jay making every single guest (and me!) a crochet buttonhole - they have loads of super talented friends who took part in the ceremony by performing songs and skits. Musical theatre is a big part of their lives, so they were keen to include songs from their favourite musicals and films. They also chose a tree planting ritual, repotting a sapling that all their guests could nourish with a bit of compost and which they'll take when they next move house. Such a kind couple and sooo much love in the room. What an absolutely joyful day 🥰


Humanist Ceremonies

02/08/2024

We've been thinking and, for our wedding, we'd like ...
✅️ Simone to arrive by flower-bedecked row boat and be sung ashore by shantymen.
✅️To get married in the heart of our community, under a tree by a creek.
✅️To be bound with beautiful, fabric ribbons and have 10 of our other friends lay those ribbons across our hands.
✅️To tell the story of our many adventures together.
✅️To include surprise "reasons I love you" sections and vows.

This is why I love my work as a celebrant, because Jack and Simone's Cornish humanist wedding was wholly representative of their values, their sense of community and a true celebration of their lives in Mylor Bridge.
They kindly chose me to be their celebrant having been at a wedding I'd performed for their friends. The sun shone, the shantymen sang and it really was something very special.

Humanist Ceremonies

23/07/2024

The wonderful thing about holding a naming ceremony for an older child like E is that they can enjoy being part of the planning, helping to choose symbolic acts, readings and their favourite music. (She chose "Butterfly Fly Away" by Miley Cyrus to play at the start of the ceremony). I also absolutely loved hearing all about what she enjoys doing with her 5 older siblings, from playing football to dancing, baking to Roblox. I asked her at the start how she felt about the day she said she was "happy, nervous and excited!" She took centre stage, right next to me and we were able to chat and interact loads during the ceremony, which made it all extra special 🥰

These are the lyrics from her favourite song, which I read as part of the ceremony since they seemed so perfect for this butterfly child:

You tucked me in, turned out the lights
Kept me safe and sound at night
Little girls depend on things like that
Brushed my teeth and combed my hair, had to drive me everywhere
You were always there when
I looked back
You had to do it all alone, make a livin', make a home
Must have been as hard as it could be
And when I couldn't sleep at night
Scared things wouldn't turn out right
You would hold my hand and sing to me
Caterpillar in the tree
How you wonder who you'll be
Can't go far but you can always dream
Wish you may and wish you might
Don't you worry, hold on tight
I promise you, there will come a day
Butterfly, fly away
Flap your wings, now you can't stay
Take those dreams and make them all come true


Humanist Ceremonies