Awesome Adoption Ceremony

Dan and Chris booked an adoption ceremony for their son after they had legalised his adoption. They wanted to celebrate their little boy and also celebrate adoption. I met up with these dedicated Dads and discussed their journey to adoption. The ceremony had a superhero theme as many of our favourite super heroes were not raised by their biological families.

The ceremony was planned to take place at home in this couple’s fabulous garden in a yurt style tent. Friends and family gathered into the tent to listen to the words we prepared to shine a light on adoption and mark the moment that all three lives of this little family unit were changed forever. Every guest was given a superhero card during the service.

Dan and Chris left some very kind words: “It has been absolutely wonderful working with Donna. She made the whole process so lovely and easy. She really understand what we wanted and was able to really personalise the ceremony. It was just perfect!”

Cresset Candle Ceremony

Demi and Claudio approached me two months before their ceremony to ask if I could conduct their wedding ceremony as they had to move their original registrar booking. They registered the marriage before the special day and we created a beautiful unity candle ceremony to symbolise this couple coming together in marriage.

Demi and Claudio sent me their feedback and stated that they loved every second of their ceremony and that their guests loved the personal touches. “It was perfect, everything was so personal and tailored to us as a couple – completely stress free. Donna worked so hard to get to know us in such a short space of time we honestly couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Demi and Claudio have two beautiful children and although they were too young to be directly involved we included them in the words we spoke. I even learnt a little Portugese to welcome Claudio’s family in their own language.

An Outdoor Ceremony Under The Willow!

Emma and Tom chose a beautiful sunny day in June to tie the knot (literally!) at Sissons’ Barn. I carried out a Hand Fasting Ceremony as part of the service. The couple wanted to adopt the ancient celtic ritual of tying their hands together before they exchanged their vows. In their feedback, the couple stated that the hand fasting was their favourite part of the ceremony as it was unique and special to them.

Emma shared these words with me after the wedding day, “Donna was fantastic, professional and approachable, we had numerous coffee meetings with her to discuss what and how we wanted our ceremony to be like and Donna delivered just that. A beautiful and personal wedding ceremony that suited us.”

Emma and Tom made their vows and promises surrounded by family and friends in the beautiful surroundings of The Barn. Under the willow room there is shade but all the guests were outside in the sunshine. What a beautiful day!

Vow Renewal at Ferry Meadows

Vicki and Tanveer have been married ten years and wanted to renew their vows. Their oldest children were present at their wedding in Peterborough all those years ago but their youngest son was not born yet. He wanted to be on the photos! This ceremony was held under a tree at a local favourite place Ferry Meadows.

We worked together to plan the ceremony and create the perfect service for this small group of 5.

“Donna really took the time to get to know us as a family. When she was talking about our story, it felt genuine and not like a stranger who had no idea!”

The weather had been changeable all day but just as we got started a rainbow appeared!

Vicki was kind enough to leave a review:

“I’m so pleased we found Donna. From the moment we made contact Donna helped us achieve and plan our dream ceremony. Donna has taken time to meet us, get to know us, get excited with us! We never would have dreamed we could have something so intimate yet perfect without her help. On the day we had some weather issues but Donna was a dream and was so accommodating! The whole thing just ended up being exactly how we wanted it.”

I snapped a photo of the photographer as the sun was going down. A beautiful day!

A Perfect Blend!

Alex and Jordan held a beautiful outdoor ceremony in the meadow on their land. The sun was out and the sky was as blue as the flashes on Alex’s gorgeous dress. There was an Alice and Wonderland theme throughout the day and to make the ceremony personal to this couple who used to run a tea shop in Cornwall we held a tea blending ceremony. The couple said the guests loved “how unique and personal it was”.

The couple shared such kind words in their review. “Donna is the most calm, caring and thoughtful person. She managed to put both of us at ease and coped well with our emotions through difficult times. Donna created a unique ceremony which reflected us perfectly and truly made our day.”

Sometimes you meet a couple who you feel inspired by and I certainly loved putting this ceremony together for them. Check out the amazing button holes and bouquets!

A Winter Wedding

Lauren and James were married at Sissons Barn in Peterborough in February. They opted to include a Handfasting Ritual to represent them ‘tying the knot’. They chose a handfasting cord with three colours and we tied an eternity knot.

Surrounded by their family and friends this couple made their personal vows to each other and committed top each other forever.

Lauren and James signed a Ceremony Certificate in The Old Forge. They walked off into their new married lives together following this ritual.

Lauren shared these kind words: “I have had so many compliments from our ceremony, one of kind was mentioned multiple times it was absolutely beautiful! Donna also made us feel so special and we were the only ones who mattered!”

Congratulations to the Happy Couple!

Festival Wedding Vibes

Ellie and Simon got married outdoors at Kingsthorpe Lodge Barns. The weather had been warm for weeks and weeks but when we set up that day there was a heavy shower. Luckily the rain clouds cleared and left us to conduct a beautiful ceremony. Simon and his Dad built this beautiful structure for us to stand in front of which was inspired by The Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury!

The guests sat on a collection of hay bales, benches, chairs and blankets and gathered together to take part in the ceremony when we conducted a ‘ring warming’ which was a big hit! Ellie and SImon said they enjoyed that section the most and the guests felt it was really unique to them as a couple. Some people chose to call out well wishes to the couple when they held the rings.

“Donna is an incredible celebrant. From start to finish she helped us feel at ease with the process, and using her wealth of experience, helped us create the perfect ceremony for our wedding.”

20 Year Anniversary Vow Renewal

I have known Lisa and Paul for almost as long as they have been married. When they suggested that they may want to renew their vows this year, I was delighted that they chose me to conduct this special ceremony. We worked together to plan the order of service but their daughters and close friends had some secret surprises in and around the planned aspects of this Vow Renewal. They chose a family favourite venue right by the seaside in Hemsby, Norfolk at The Lacon Arms’ LA Lounge. Read Lisa’s testimonial below…

“Knowing Donna personally, I had no doubt that she would do an amazing job and that her attention to detail would perfect, but even then she surpassed all of my expectations and everything was even more incredible then we could ever have dreamed of. I am not the easiest person from which to extract details about our relationship, but Donna persevered with patience and humour and created the most perfect ceremony – complete with some emotional surprises which left us in bits. I cannot thank her enough and I can say that the Vow Renewal for our 20th Anniversary was one of the best days of our lives – even better than our wedding in Cyprus back in 2002 (and we loved that). If you need a celebrant for anything, you need look no further than Donna and Iris Rose Ceremonies – she is the BEST x”

Fun Fiesta Wedding!

Ben and Sam wanted a fabulous, fiesta style wedding and we created a ceremony together that reflected their personalities. There were colourful details in the decorations at the Barn, pop songs sung by the gathering and accompanied by a Mariachi Band and personal vows written to express the love this couple have for each other. The Fire Engine Bar outside was fab!

“Working with Donna was a dream. My husband and I have strong opinions about what we don’t like but we had little clue about what we would really like and appreciate in our ceremony. Donna was knowledgeable and gave ideas without squashing our personalities. Donna was so very patient with us both when we left some things to the last minute and it is a credit to her that she was able to gather so much about us as individuals and as a couple when we had relatively little time to give her due to our work commitments and the general chaos we lived in whilst we created our wedding ourselves.

Donna blew us away with her ceremony script – it felt like she’d known us for the whole of our relationship! She also asked for and accepted feedback on the script, but to be honest there was very little she didn’t get right first time. Donna listened carefully to our views regarding the readings and music we wanted in our ceremony and ensured these were seamlessly incorporated.

On the day before our wedding and on the day, Donna ensured she and everyone necessary knew what they were doing and when and she went out of her way to give her views regarding what would work well. Her conduct of the actual ceremony was pitch perfect. I lost count of the number of people who have told me that the ceremony was the best they had ever attended! The ceremony of our wedding is 100% the best memory we have of our wedding day and that is in huge part due to Donna at Iris Rose Ceremonies.”

Sibson Inn Ceremony

Victoria and Mark chose The Sibson Inn for their ceremony with a white and blue theme full of love and stars! This couple were not keen on being centre of attention but had a beautiful love story to share and it was my pleasure to tell that story on the day.

“From first contacting Donna, we knew we had found the person we wanted to hold our celebration, as she came off a such a nice and easy to talk too lady. With each meeting she reassured us and even encouraged us to include the sand ceremony, which we were a little hesitant about initially. This later turned out to be a highlight and a talking point of our day, and has left us with a memento we can cherish! So we a very grateful to her for that.”

The couple chose a beautiful vessel for their sand ceremony. Spot the before, during and after shots!

“Donna was professional, knowledgeable and friendly and helped to calm nerves and keep the ceremony on track. We feel lucky to have found Donna and are thankful she was a massive part of our day.”