Woven Threads - Handcrafted Ceremonies

Celebrant origin story! Theatre edition! There are many threads that make up the origin of how I got into this work, and one of them is definitely my background in theatre and performance. My undergrad degree is in theatre from University of Guelph where I focused on acting. And I've dabbled in drag, burlesque and slam poetry over the years.

My background as a performer is front and center in theme weddings like the creepy clown Halloween wedding pictured where I step into character. It's also there when I use my vocal training to be heard clearly without a mic (the number of times people have complimented my diction! Didn't expect that!). It's there in my strong sense of how a written thing will feel when it's up on its feet--both managing the logistics of rituals and the emotional journey of the storytelling. And allows me to easily improv when something unexpected happens during a ceremony (crying babies, boats speeding by on the lake).

The origins of theatre and ritual are one and the same. The shift from my theatre degree into Woven Threads felt like, "Of course!" I'm a celebrant/bard/priestex/ritualist/storyteller/shapeshifter/actor.

This ceremony was on the ultimate pi day: March 14, 2015 (the mathematical constant pi starts 3.1415)! The groom had a pi pin on, and they had a wedding pie as well as a wedding cake!

This was my first time officiating at Cambridge Mill, and I love the glass sided ceremony space because it’s just a stone’s throw away from the Grand River. The whole ceremony, loved ones are looking out on the river and sky. Most of the ceremonies I officiate are in Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo, and the Grand River is the watershed that unites them all. I hold great love for this watershed.

We included a candle lighting unity ritual in the ceremony. The couple wanted to honour the faith traditions of their family, so we included the candle lighting, which comes from Christian tradition, but framed it in a more secular light (see what I did there?). We did a version of it where each of their parents also participated.

A few years later I had the honour of doing a Child Welcoming Ceremony for K. and C.’s first child! It was so lovely to be with their families again.

I’m a big fan of choosing meaningful numbers to plan a ceremony around. Whether that’s aligning ceremony dates with anniversaries or using Vedic, Chinese or Western astrology. It’s also common for folks to draw on numerology or cool numbers—like the chilly outdoor elopement I did on February 22, 2022 (2/22/22), or to start a ceremony at 11:11am. I’ve long loved the elegance of math, so a pi day ceremony brought me joy!

Photos by

PS, If you’re a past client and have changed your mind about me using your photos in public, feel free to reach out and let me know.

My headshots through the years! Marking my ten year anniversary has me looking back and reflecting. Watch me get older through my photos! Ha!

Each photoshoot was done outside as per nature q***r standards. The 2014 photos were taken by Andrew Goodwin, , around downtown Guelph with some classic limestone backgrounds and pockets of green. The 2018 photos were a fun session done in a Toronto park by Maxwell Lander, . And the 2021 photos were a ritually focused session by Ema Suvajac at the Old Growth Forest Project at Ignatius in Guelph, .

Fun fact, I stopped wearing glasses every day because my distance vision actually improved through the years (although now in my 40s I have multi focal lenses!). By the 2021 photos I purposely wanted to shed the blazer, in order to shed the rigid definitions of what constitutes a “professional” look. Screw professionalism. It feels too akin to hustle business culture that I want nothing to do with. Ceremony is a spiritual practice, a service to my community, a creative collaboration. I’m less girl boss these days, more .