Joy - Rooted ceremonies - Nottinghamshire

Hi, I’m Joy, and I’m a celebrant hosting funerals, memorials, celebrations of life, living funerals and other life passage ceremonies. I approach my work with creativity, integrity, compassion and curiosity. My ethos is that significant moments in a person’s life, and their life as a whole, deserve to be marked in a way that feels meaningful and deeply connecting. As an independent celebrant, I incorporate the spiritual or religious frameworks, worldviews or belief systems that are meaningful to the people I work with. Ceremonies I host can contain rituals, words, prayers or symbolic actions that feel fitting for the mourners and the life of the person we are honouring.

I’m based in Hockerton and happily travel within a radius of 40 miles, covering Nottinghamshire, and parts of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire (or further afield for an additional mileage of 0.45p/mile). I can host services indoors or outdoors- at burial grounds, chapels, crematoria, homes, gardens, community halls, woodlands, riversides etc. If you are looking for a location to come together I also host living funerals and memorial ceremonies for up to 20 guests in an eco-building in my home community at Hockerton Housing Project, surrounded by reedbeds, wildlife ponds and wild geese in springtime.

As well as being a celebrant, I’m a mediator and facilitator. I hold space for individuals and families to be deeply listened to, encouraged, and supported to work through challenges with bravery and honesty. Listening is my superpower, and I lean in with curiosity, gentleness and respect.

I bring these qualities into my celebrant work too- I recognise that often what we need most following the death of a loved one, is the space to breathe and share what comes up without feeling rushed. The process of designing and organising funerals sometimes brings up internal dilemmas, interpersonal dynamics and differences to reconcile. When this happens, I will support you to move through this and find your peace. I will also support you to take on as much or as little of the ceremony content and design as you like.

Standard fees £250 for a full service including a eulogy, readings and any rituals. Please refer to my website or enquire directly for other pricing, for example if you want to write the eulogy yourself.