The Country Wedding

The Country Wedding ~ Cindy Groves

If you could have your wedding day as perfect as you can, would you have roses and peonies or flowers from the hedgerows?

I would be married to my love in a woodland glade, with the dog to bear the rings and a knees up in the garden.

If you could plan you day with no expenses spared

would you have champagne and canapes or dandelion wine?

I would be married to my love on a beach by the sea

with sand between my toes and shells to mark the way.

If you could be married in ceremony, with all the bells and whistles

would you have high society in silk or your friends in cotton dresses?

I would be married to my love every day for ever,

I would cleave to him and laugh with him and make music together.

Comments

Respect for the Bereaved

In the last year I have conducted all manner of funerals. There have been the timely deaths of beloved people where the ceremony has been one of quiet, or raucous, celebration of a life lived to the full and ended peacefully. There have been tragic deaths through suicide and illness, where the person has been snatched from those that love them in a way that is cruel and heartless. A cold, bleak time when all you can do is hug the pain into some sort of temporary submission. There have been slow lingering departures where there has been time to prepare and say goodbye, to plan the ending and to tie up all the loose ends, so to speak. I have been in awe of the dignity and composure of both those leaving and those being left. The stories that I have had the honour of retelling. The poignant words written by children about their Grandparents. The gut twisting pain of listening to a husband talk of his wife and what she meant to him. The keepsakes that I ha...

Naming Ceremonies

What is in a Name? It has been a marvellous summer in Hampshire. We have had beautiful, balmy days and there have been some glorious Naming Ceremonies. I have been able to work with families who have had a new baby and wanted to create a truly personal celebration of the arrival of that joyous little bundle into their lives. I have also been immensely impressed by a young man who, at the age of 7, was able to join his Mother and Step-Father in a new family with a whole fresh start to his life. The ceremony was pocket sized, very few honoured guests and although there was an underlying sadness of what had been lost; I thought that this young man made everyone feel very hopeful and positive for him and that is quite something for someone so young. I wrote this poem for a Mother and her Daughter in advance of her naming day. Her celebration will be in the early New Year. I can't wait to find out what she will be called. What is in a Name? I will look a...

Turning full Circle

I like to think that the seeds that we sow will grow and flower and in due course set seed themselves. It was thus last weekend; a young man, the son of one of my oldest and dearest friends, asked me to conduct the Naming Ceremony for his daughter. The family now live in New Zealand and so we seldom see them in England. It was magical to be in an English country garden on a sunny afternoon in June with four generations of the same family enjoying a glass or two and a slice of delicious homemade cake while the newest member of the family, chewing meditatively on a dibber, was named. We added thumb prints to a fantasy tree to mark the occasion and a wonderful time was had by all.

The Country Celebrant and The Country Carer

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