About Joe | Joe Bloggs Celebrancy

The short version

How I ended up doing this

I came to this the long way round. Fifteen years in primary school teaching, which is where I learned to hold a room, then a spell running a village hall, which is where I learned that most of a good event is logistics nobody notices.

The first ceremony I wrote was for my brother. He asked because the alternative was a stranger reading a script off a clipboard, and afterwards three people asked me who I was and whether I did it professionally. I did not, at the time. I trained the following year and have been doing it ever since.

What I enjoy most is the interviewing. People start off saying there is nothing much to tell, and an hour later you have the story about the broken down van in France, or the fact that she wrote him a letter every Sunday for two years. That is the material. It is always there, it just takes someone asking the right questions.

I live in Wells with my partner, two overconfident spaniels and a garden I am losing control of. If I am not writing a ceremony I am probably walking on the Levels or reading something I should have finished last month.

Joe Joe Bloggs, Independent Celebrant

2016 Celebrant since

What I care about

What matters to me

Honest before polished

A ceremony that admits somebody was stubborn, or that the first year was hard, always lands better than one that pretends otherwise.

Everyone is welcome here

Same sex couples, mixed faith families, second marriages, blended households. I have written for all of them and I will not make you explain yourselves.

No surprises on the day

You will have seen every word and know exactly what happens when. Ceremonies go wrong when people are guessing.

Straight answers about money

The fee is on the website. It covers everything from the first meeting to the bound copy afterwards, and I will tell you before you book if I think you would be better off with somebody else.

Credentials

The formal bits

Not the interesting part of the job, but worth knowing before you hand somebody your wedding or your father's funeral.

Trained and accredited celebrant
Full public liability and professional indemnity insurance
Enhanced DBS checked
Member of a recognised celebrant association
Continuing professional development completed annually
Written contract provided for every booking

Kind words

From families I have worked with

We had one meeting and Joe came back with something that read like it had been written by someone who had known us for years. Half the room was in bits and the other half was laughing. Exactly right.
Hannah and JoeWedding, Bruton

Dad was a difficult man and we did not want a service that pretended otherwise. Joe found a way to be honest and kind at the same time. I do not know how.
The Hurley familyCelebration of life, Shepton Mallet

Our two families had very different expectations about the religious side. Joe handled it so calmly that both sets of grandparents thought they had got their way.
Priya and DanNaming ceremony, Frome

The rain came sideways twenty minutes before we started. Joe moved the whole thing into the barn, rewrote two lines on the spot to make a joke of it, and nobody knew it had not been the plan all along.
Cat and BrynWedding, near Glastonbury

Twenty five years after a very rushed register office wedding, we finally had the ceremony we should have had. Worth waiting for.
Marie and TonyRenewal of vows, Cheddar

Joe rang me back on a Sunday evening when I was in a state about the eulogy, and talked me through it for half an hour. That is not something you forget.
SteveFuneral and later ashes ceremony

Joe Bloggs