TYPES OF
CEREMONIES
Mission Statement
To work sensitively with clients to create and deliver unique
relationship-strengthening ceremonies that meet their emotional and
cultural needs and engage and delight their guests.
My 8 point guarantee
Copyright. All rights reserved.
The text of this website is the orignal work of Jennifer Cram unless otherwise identified. it is therefore protected by Copyright Law and International Agreements. You may not reproduce any part of this website, even in modified form, without my express permission.
The site is monitored by Copysentry which scans the web and identifies copying even where the text has been modified.
Mission Statement
To work sensitively with clients to create and deliver unique
relationship-strengthening ceremonies that meet their emotional and
cultural needs and engage and delight their guests.My 8 point guarantee
- Simplicity and transparency of fee structure
- A range of service levels to meet a wide variety of needs and budgets
- Service that far exceeds that provided by other celebrants for similar fees
- Open and frequent communication between booking and your ceremony day that enables you to develop confidence in me
- Creative problem solving approach to every request you make
- Your ceremony will be crafted with attention to the impact of the words and to ensuring that the staging facilitates wonderful photographs
- You are an essential part of the process of developing your unique ceremony and the ultimate decisions relating to your ceremony and how it will flow are yours
- Your ceremony performed with warm professionalism and a light-hearted touch
Copyright. All rights reserved.
The text of this website is the orignal work of Jennifer Cram unless otherwise identified. it is therefore protected by Copyright Law and International Agreements. You may not reproduce any part of this website, even in modified form, without my express permission.
The site is monitored by Copysentry which scans the web and identifies copying even where the text has been modified.
Naming Ceremonies
Baby Naming Ceremonies
Adoption Naming Ceremonies
First Birthday Naming Ceremonies
Adult Naming Ceremonies
Baby Naming Ceremonies $300
The research appears to strongly
support the conclusion that same-sex couples
foster the same wholesome
environment as opposite-sex couples and suggests
that the traditional
notion that children need a mother and father to be raised
into healthy, well-adjusted
adults is based more on stereotype than anything else.
- Footnote 26 of the Iowa
Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage
Naming
Ceremonies (sometimes called namegiving ceremonies) are highly personal
and meaningful family occasions. Usually the centrepiece of a much
wider family
event, the naming day, it might also be part of your
child's first birthday celebration.
In the ceremony we celebrate the birth or adoption of your child and express your personal values and your commitment to parenting your child.
A naming ceremony can also be held to celebrate other situations such as fostering or the creation of new family relationships through a couple entering into a lifelong partnership.
While fees and services of celebrants vary widely, you would expect to pay a higher fee for a custom-created ceremony with substance that, through both its language and its style reflects who you are, and creates a blueprint for your parenting of your child. Because there is no legal requirement for authorisation to perform a naming ceremony, there is wide variation in experience and skill among naming celebrants. This truly is a situation where you won't get what you don't pay for and may bitterly disappointed if not horrified by what an unskilled person says and does at the ceremony, particularly if he or she mindlessly ignores your personal situation and uses standard material lauding the importance of opposite sex parents and traditional families.
In the ceremony we celebrate the birth or adoption of your child and express your personal values and your commitment to parenting your child.
A naming ceremony can also be held to celebrate other situations such as fostering or the creation of new family relationships through a couple entering into a lifelong partnership.
While fees and services of celebrants vary widely, you would expect to pay a higher fee for a custom-created ceremony with substance that, through both its language and its style reflects who you are, and creates a blueprint for your parenting of your child. Because there is no legal requirement for authorisation to perform a naming ceremony, there is wide variation in experience and skill among naming celebrants. This truly is a situation where you won't get what you don't pay for and may bitterly disappointed if not horrified by what an unskilled person says and does at the ceremony, particularly if he or she mindlessly ignores your personal situation and uses standard material lauding the importance of opposite sex parents and traditional families.
Unless you
specifically request religious
inclusions I assume that the naming ceremony will be secular. However,
if you wish to include some religious references or contact you
may. This may be a good compromise where you yourselves are not
religious but
someone important to you is. Or it can be a way of acknowledging dual
religious or cultural heritages within a largely
secular (non-religious) ceremony.
The ceremony itself performs no legal function. It does not replace your legal obligation to register your child's birth with the Registry Office. Where you choose to call the adult sponsors you appoint guardians rather than godparents, mentors, or other term, the appointment as part of the ceremony is neither legal and binding. To nominate legal guardians you need to include that nomination in your will. A solicitor can provide advice about how to do this.
A naming ceremony does, however, perform a very important social function.
The ceremony itself performs no legal function. It does not replace your legal obligation to register your child's birth with the Registry Office. Where you choose to call the adult sponsors you appoint guardians rather than godparents, mentors, or other term, the appointment as part of the ceremony is neither legal and binding. To nominate legal guardians you need to include that nomination in your will. A solicitor can provide advice about how to do this.
A naming ceremony does, however, perform a very important social function.
You publicly clarify how you want
to
support your
child as he or she
grows It ijoyfully
welcomes your child to the family and to the wider community It provides an opportunity to share
the
wonder, joy and pride you feel It is a reminder of the great
responsibility involved in raising a
child It is a formal mechanism to appoint
godparents (defined in modern dictionaries as someone who acts as a godparent or is a sponsor or
protector)
and honour other significant adults, such as grandparents, who will
have
important roles in the nurturing and supporting the child It provides you, as the
parent(s) with an opportunity to acknowledge your gratitude
to family, friends, and particularly godparents (also called
guardians, sponsors, mentors, guideparents. life guides or any
term you
choose) for their
involvement in
your child's
life It provides a formal opportunity
for
significant adults to commit to supporting
and
nurturing the child and each other.
Because a naming ceremony has no legal function (but then, neither does a christening) it is extremely flexible. It can be structured as you wish, and include readings, rituals and personal recognition of anyone you wish.
There are no age
limits. You can hold a ceremony for a young baby, at
any time during the child's first year, or, as is very common, in
conjunction with the child's first birthday celebrations, or when the
child is older. Each age has
its special characteristics. Where the child is older he or she should
be included in the ceremony planning process so that his or her own
views about what is said and done in the ceremony are taken into
account.
A naming ceremony can also be held in conjunction with a commitment ceremony, or a reaffirmation of vows.
Naming ceremonies are
suitable for natural or adopted children of families of all kinds. A
variation on a naming ceremony can also be used to embrace a child of
your partner by a previous relationship.
The value of the ceremony is in the
ceremony itself, in the way it can
strengthen the bonds between parents and the child(ren),parents and
grandparents, parents and other supporting adults, <>significant
adults and the child(ren).
When
you do me the honour of choosing me to be your celebrant, I can
guarantee that you will have a naming ceremony that is personal,
inclusive and relationship-strengthening, light-hearted in the
appropriate places, and authentic to your beliefs and values
At the ceremony you will receive a beautifully presented keepsake copy of the ceremony and a naming certificate tailored to the number of godparents, guideparents, mentors (you choose what you wish to call them) and to your family situation.
Other items I bring with me to enhance your ceremony include rose petals, gum leaves, or basil leaves to use in naming your child, a beautiful silver bowl to hold these, a naming register, a quality pen for the signing.
Creative use of symbols such as candles, wishing stones, trees, mementos, gifts, items of family significance, together with innovative inclusion of references to your child's ancestry and cultural background are a feature of all of my ceremonies.
Adult Naming Ceremonies
There are a number of reasons why an adult may wish to have a naming or re-naming ceremony. Any or all can be accommodated in a sensitive and celebratory ceremony.Jennifer Cram is a secular humanist celebrant
in Queensland Australia
Serving all of Brisbane, Redlands, Redcliffe, Pine Rivers, Logan and Ipswich
Ceremonies performed in private homes, parks, gardens, hotels, clubs, restaurants, chapels, function centres, reception centres, wedding venues.
Day or evening ceremonies 365 days a year
Her Celebrant Services include:
Commitment Ceremonies for gay, lesbian, and straight couples, including Contemporary, Traditional, Spiritual, Inter-cultural, Scottish, Celtic, Chinese, Buddhist, Mediaeval and themed ceremonies; Handfasting;
Renewal of Vows; Naming Ceremonies; End-of-Relationship Ceremonies.
Jennifer's other websites:
gl-unions.jennifercram.com
DIYceremonies.com.au
jennifercram.com.au
jennifercram.com
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