Garland Ceremonies Monthly Newsletter by London Celebrant Mair Garland: April 2026 - the first edition!

Welcome, croeso & bienvenue from your London celebrant!

Finally, I’m here! Creating a newsletter/Substack has been on my to-do list since the start of this year. While I love my community on Instagram, I’ve been wanting to experiment with a longer form now for quite some time - so here goes!

I’m intending for this to be a (roughly!) monthly update, with a round-up of what I’ve been up to, what’s coming up and what’s caught my eye lately. I hope you enjoy!

My April

Helen & Dave’s Vow Renewal Ceremony at Sky Garden

A few weeks ago I led my first vow renewal ceremony of the year at Sky Garden in central London.

Helen and Dave have been together for almost 20 years and while they had a tiny legal ceremony way back in 2010, they thought now was finally the time (two kids, career changes and house moves later!) to celebrate their marriage and share their vows with a more formal ceremony. When I first met Dave and Helen, their story was honestly like something out of a Richard Curtis film - they were uni friends to start with and lost touch after graduating until one day they bumped into each other at Sainsbury's and it turned out they lived on the same street! The rest, as they say, is history.

They held their intimate ceremony in the Viñoly Room at the Fenchurch Restaurant on the 37th floor of Sky Garden, with just their parents and children joining them. They decorated the room with gorgeous florals by Early Hours London and their daughter hand painted some place name pebbles to recreate the place names they both kept from Helen’s 21st birthday party from before they were even together. Their children were at the heart of the ceremony, with their son reading Today by Billy Collins and their daughter was their ring bearer.

I also loved working with their photographer, Alan Torres, who currently specialises in corporate event photography but is now branching out into weddings - do check out his work!

To find out more about my wedding and vow renewal ceremonies, click here.

Dave & Helen

Google Review from Helen & Dave

“Mair was everything we could have wished for in a celebrant. She took time to get to know us, and her warm, friendly and empathetic style was a real hit with the guests at our ceremony.”

Preparing for Summer Weddings & Naming Ceremonies

I’ve also been speaking with my lovely June couples ahead of their weddings - with one of them being a bilingual French/English wedding at Berwick Lodge in Bristol and two Welsh/English weddings at Beckenham Place Mansion (super local for me!) and York House in Twickenham. It’s been so wonderful hearing their stories and getting creative in writing their scripts.

Looking further ahead, I’ve had some really exciting wedding bookings this month, including a Welsh/English ceremony for A & I in Château de Cazenac in France this autumn and a French/English ceremony for T & S in Grand Villa Heights near Scarborough in early 2027.

Now is a popular time of year for parents to get in touch with me to book in naming ceremonies for their gorgeous babies and children - I always love chatting with babies on Zoom! I still have some availability on the weekend of 25-26 July, the tail end of August and in September. Do get in touch if you’re planning a naming ceremony this summer!

Spring Farewells - Celebrating Welsh Pride in London

In April, I led two funerals in London with a very strong Welsh connection:

First, there was N, who was originally from West Wales and lived with her daughter in London in the latter stages of her life. We celebrated N with Welsh music from the Pontarddulais and Fron Male Voice Choirs, with lots of Welsh woven in throughout her service at the City of London Crematorium. N’s daughter made these sweet favours for family and friends to plant in the garden with N’s choice of epitaph: “Sut i chi heddiw?” - “How are you today?” (Brilliant!) And on the tube home, someone spotted me holding it and we had a quick chat yn Gymraeg - perffaith.

How are you today? Love this choice of epitaph from N!

Then there was T, who was raised in London by Welsh parents - he always said he was ‘born in London but made in Wales’. Since T was a professional singer, his family prepared several recordings of him singing for us to listen to, which was so special. One of T’s songs was in Welsh (‘Elen Fwyn’ / ‘Fair Elen’) and we also played Bryn Terfel’s version of ‘Ar Lan y Môr’ (By the Seaside), which was a special song to T and his wife. I really enjoyed working with Poppy’s Funerals and the team at Mortlake Crematorium for T’s service.

It always surprises people that I get so much demand for ceremonies with Welsh elements in London and I’m always delighted when the request comes through!

Mortlake Crematorium in the spring

What’s caught my eye this month?

Word For Word Podcast - Sophia Smith Galer

I’ve been devouring all the episodes of language expert Sophia Smith Galer’s new podcast series, Word For Word, where her guests (including the legendary Susie Dent!) talk about the languages that shaped them with some brilliantly geeky linguistic facts along the way. I can’t wait to read her new book, How to Kill a Language, when it’s out in May.

The Other Bennet Sister

No spoilers, but it’s as gorgeous a TV series as I think I’ve ever seen and I had to read the book as well. It’s a much better antidote to the Sunday Scaries than Antiques Roadshow or Call The Midwife! It really took me back to studying Emma for my English Lit A Level and it was the perfect combination of wit and charm without being too sickly sweet.

The Testaments

This was one of the first books I read in lockdown and I’m really enjoying the series so far. While I liked the first couple of series of The Handmaid’s Tale, I gave up on the last few - but The Testaments feels like a fresh take on the Gilead universe. With marriage, birth and death all being key themes, this series really gets me thinking about ritual and celebration in a broader and (much!) darker sense.

Jessie Ware - Superbloom

I’d mainly come across Jessie Ware through her Table Manners and pregnancy podcasts when I was expecting my son, but I’ve really fallen for her music too. One of my favourite songs from this new record (other than Ride, obviously!) is Love You For, which I think would be gorgeous for a baby naming ceremony.

“Shining like a diamond, precious. I can’t help but love you for the rest of my life.” Love You For

Phew! April has been a really joyous month for me and I’m looking forward to getting to know you all. Do let me know what you think! If you’re thinking of planning a summer or autumn ceremony (or beyond!), I’d love to hear from you.

Hwyl am y tro (bye for now!)

Mair x

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Mair Garland is a London celebrant, leading baby naming ceremonies, weddings, funerals and celebrations of life in London and beyond. Mair specialises in bilingual ceremonies in Welsh and French. Click here to find out more.