Woven Threads - Handcrafted Ceremonies

“Can you officiate as the musician Hozier as a Woodland Fairy?” the couple asked me. Can I?! With delight! I will also happily spend about 20 hours sewing a vest and adorning it with leaves and lichen and butterflies. It was so fun to gently weave the character through the ceremony—referencing it a few times without trying to take centre stage away from the couple’s story.

I’ll be at this fair on Sunday if you want to stop by! You can meet many individuals and organizations who are passionate about creating spaces welcoming to 2SLGBTQIA folks. Qu**rs caring for q***rs 🥰🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
***rofficiant

A year ago we honoured the love between Missi and Belinda! 🏳️‍🌈

Sunlit smiles beside the Conestogo River captured by Wild Peach Photography at Timber Barn in St Jacobs.

Hi, I’m Chris (they/them)! I’m a Guelph-based Officiant/Ceremony Guide.

Ceremony feels like one potent antidote to the lies of capitalism which triumphs the role of the individual and denies our interdependence, has us chasing stuff as a false path to fulfillment, and treats busyness as a form of martyrdom.

Let us instead slow down together and enter the circle of ceremony; to pause and reflect on our stories and make meaning of the significant relationships, milestones, and transitions we move through. Let us create spaces to grieve together, or spaces to lean into life’s joy. To have who we are and the journey we are on seen and honoured by our community of loved ones. To reweave ourselves to the fabric of the ecosystems which sustain us.

As a q***r, nonbinary, polyamorous, neurodivergent, witchy and artsy person, I’m passionate about serving folks in my communities who are too often marginalized by mainstream norms and conventions of ceremony. We’re done with sexist wedding traditions. We’re creating ceremonies that celebrate q***r and trans joy. We’re relearning how to lean on each other as we grieve. We’re reclaiming ancestral ritual traditions.

In the past 11 years I’ve officiated over 400 ceremonies including weddings and commitment ceremonies, celebrations of life and graveside memorials, child welcoming or adoption ceremonies, divorce ceremonies, equinox and solstice rituals, and ceremonies to honour trans and nonbinary folks.

I’m someone who loves a good dance party, can often be found on a walk by the river or in the forest, is loving my new regular poetry writing practice, and is excitedly learning to read and write Greek (my dad’s first language). I’m endlessly fascinated by spirituality, religion and ritual. I’m also endlessly fascinated by science and ecology. One of my favourite facts is that 100 trillion neutrinos pass harmlessly through your body every second!

Do you have a ceremony you want help creating? Follow the link in my bio to my website to book a free 30 minute video chat, where we can introduce ourselves, explore what your vision for the ceremony is, and see if we’re a good fit to work together.

Me and the ferns photographed by the Speed River at the trails at Ignatius by Ema Suvajac

Oh my gosh their vows were funny! And sweet. And tender. And with just the right amount of roasting each other. It was so them.

One of the fantastic benefits of keeping your vows a surprise from each other is that you get reactions like this. I mean, I had read both of their vows already and I was still cracking up.

Moments beautifully caught by

The indoor wood stove is gonna be warm and cosy today! With the generous amounts of rain happening today we’re going to move the Deadname Funeral indoors at the Villa at Ignatius.

Last minute registrations are welcome. We’d love to have you there. Eventbrite link in bio.

Here’s a wee map for where you’re going on the property. Volunteers will meet you at the top of the driveway by the Orchard Park office building to give you a map.

We start at 6:30pm tonight, Sunday Nov 10.

If you’re not feeling well or have tested positive for covid in the last ten days then please stay home and rest. Masking indoors is encouraged. Two air purifiers will also be going.

This frightful Halloween wedding happened outdoors, on the night of a full moon. So naturally, I made all of the guests howl at the full moon together. Because when I do theme weddings it’s not just the look, it’s a full character and the whole ceremony is written in that voice. It’s wickedly fun. 👻🎃💀

Lavender harvest day! Ask permission, leave an offering (this time it was a song), say thank you.

Grateful to have this plant as a friend. Always excited to watch them grow in the garden. Thankful that we've partnered; I often use lavender as an offering when I go to new places. A gentle ally in my personal ritual work.

Throwback to the first time I officiated at Langdon Hall in 2015 for A. and C.!

A. and C. have an epic love story, that began with them living oceans apart! A. was at med school and travelled with a group of students to New Zealand, visiting where C. was going to school. During a 2 week stay the sparks flew between them and against all odds, they found a way to make it work! (Their adorable young baby was somewhere out of frame.)

Somehow I got added to the Langdon Hall list of recommended vendors early on, and it’s probably the location I officiate most often now. To be quite honest, at first I wondered if I’d be comfortable officiating at a high-end venue. I worried that it would feel like a stuffy, judgy, shallow environment where people would be making a grand spectacle of their weddings. As someone focused on the heart and connection of a wedding, I worried it could give me a big ick feeling. But it didn’t at all. I found it to be a relaxed, welcoming space, with weddings that are simple and elegant. And I’ve officiated numerous intimate, 16 guest weddings composed of a heartfelt ceremony and delicious meal. I’ve met so many kind hearted staff over the years there, and by the end of this summer I will have officiated at the weddings of (or done the legal signing for) three of the staff there. It was only in the last year that I had the pleasure of having a full meal there, and wow, now I see what all the hype is about!

Celebrant origin story! Theatre edition! There are many threads that make up the origin of how I got into this work, and one of them is definitely my background in theatre and performance. My undergrad degree is in theatre from University of Guelph where I focused on acting. And I've dabbled in drag, burlesque and slam poetry over the years.

My background as a performer is front and center in theme weddings like the creepy clown Halloween wedding pictured where I step into character. It's also there when I use my vocal training to be heard clearly without a mic (the number of times people have complimented my diction! Didn't expect that!). It's there in my strong sense of how a written thing will feel when it's up on its feet--both managing the logistics of rituals and the emotional journey of the storytelling. And allows me to easily improv when something unexpected happens during a ceremony (crying babies, boats speeding by on the lake).

The origins of theatre and ritual are one and the same. The shift from my theatre degree into Woven Threads felt like, "Of course!" I'm a celebrant/bard/priestex/ritualist/storyteller/shapeshifter/actor.