When my mother passed over twenty years ago, I wrote and delivered her eulogy, and it was then that I came to fully understand the power of personalized ceremony. Since then, I have helped many families say goodbye to their loved ones. I have also written hundreds of stories for publication, and in both endeavors, a common theme has guided me: the more personal the story, the more powerful its impact.

As a part of my certification program at the Celebrant Foundation & Institute, my classmates and I looked back over the centuries, across cultures, studying the impact of ritual, rite-of-passage and ceremony on people’s lives as they move through transitional events — whether those events are joyous or sad. Ceremony is indeed powerful, and the more personalized a ceremony is, the more powerful it is.

As a Celebrant, I am guided by some very basic principles. I believe in the power of personalized ceremony, and that we honor death as we celebrate life. When you engage my services, I can assure you that my own beliefs become irrelevant — it will be your family’s beliefs and values that guide us as you and I work together to create a ceremony that is as unique, special and memorable as the loved one whose life you are remembering and celebrating.

Let’s tell that story, and let’s tell it well.