A New Life 

What brings more joy than a brand new life?  Regardless how children enter yours, they are unique, they are special, and they bring the gift of transformation.  

Partners are transformed to parents, parents to grandparents, children to siblings and siblings to aunts and uncles. Our entire being is changed and it becomes impossible to remember life before being graced with their arrival.   

Long before the religious rites of baptisms and christenings, tribes and clans gathered to welcome new life with a ceremony marking the entrance of the child's soul to the physical world.    

While a church Baptism or Christening welcomes a child to the church, many people find the rituals lack personal significance and meaning.  A Welcoming, Naming or Blessing ceremony welcomes the child to life, family, earth, tribe or clan, and community.   

Often considered the first Rite of Passage for a child, A Welcoming ceremony embraces the child with love, belonging, and security.  The earthly elements of fire, earth, water and air are often used symbolically in these ceremonies.  

​No child is too young or too old to be welcomed in ceremony, however many parents choose to have a Naming and Welcoming Ceremony when their child is somewhere between 4 and 9 months old.  They know something special is happening, and they know it's all about them!  
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So why not celebrate the arrival of the new life that's entered yours with a custom and personal ceremony as unique as they are?   ​​​

Photography by Jennifer Mahon "Travel Keeps Me Sane"

After we meet, usually by Zoom,  I'll create a custom, bespoke ceremony written for your child that includes personal and meaningful rituals to welcome them to life and recognize the lives changed with their arrival. 

​You have final say on every word, and I'll officiate your ceremony anywhere you like; a reception hall, a restaurant, a park, a back yard, a beach, or even standing in a pool or a lake.   ​ 

​Some elements and rituals that may be weaved into the ceremony are:

• the appointment of guide-parents,
• introduction of this new life to the family
• the story behind your child's name.  
• recognizing new siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles
• parents pledges to their child
• recognizing other children who will play an important role in your child's life
• singing your child's favourite song or reading their favourite nursery rhyme ​​​

​"What a wonderful keepsake you helped us to create during our daughter's Welcoming Ceremony.  It was awesome how you were able to weave all the important people in her life into the ritual. 

Our guests had no idea this type of custom ceremony even existed.  Thank you again!" 

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"I wanted to thank you again for the absolutely beautiful ceremony you created for our second child.  Everyone loved it and we're so touched at the amount of detail put into it, 
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If we have baby number 3, we'll be calling you for sure."

​"We absolutely loved  the beautiful ceremony you created for our twins. 

So different from the one you created and officiated for our son."

"I just wanted to thank you again for the lovely ceremony yesterday! We got rave reviews from our guests! They're used to traditional church baptisms so this was a big change for them but seems we may have started a new trend!"

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"We just wanted to thank you for the beautiful ceremony. Everyone enjoyed it very much!
​We got lots of positive comments and many were very interested in this kind of ceremony versus a baptism. It was touching and heartfelt, exactly what we wanted."
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"Thank you again for the lovely and absolutely perfect ceremony!
Everyone said how wonderful it was and it was better than anything I had imagined. You can tell you love what you do and you are great at it. 
I look forward to seeing you again for the next baby"

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"We had the amazing opportunity to celebrate our baby girl with a naming ceremony. We both wanted to celebrate her and the ceremony was exactly what we needed.

This year has certainly been an interesting one but it was amazing to get together with some family and closest friends to celebrate Baby I. We were also joined by family over Zoom.

We had the distinct pleasure to get to know Lorraine over the last couple of months as we were planning the ceremony. We could not have been any happier with the care and love Lorraine put into preparing for the ceremony and into the text that she wrote to welcome Baby I into the world. It was the perfect way to celebrate our beautiful little girl. Thank you"

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