Alex Collis Celebrant

Alex Collis Celebrant 🌈 🧡 Creative, colourful humanist ceremonies for weddings, namings and funerals 🧡 🌈

📸 WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY DAY 📸 “But I hate having my photo taken!” I hear you. Me too. But here’s why you should invest in a ...
19/08/2025

📸 WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY DAY 📸

“But I hate having my photo taken!”

I hear you. Me too.

But here’s why you should invest in a branding photo shoot (and believe me, when I started out as a celebrant I NEVER thought I’d hear myself say that)…

It can help show who you really are, what your values are - and what your potential couples, families and clients are buying into.

People are getting even more savvy about where they’re spending their money these days. They want to know that they’re investing in something – or someone – who’s aligned with what they believe in.

The words are important, sure… but a strong, clear visual identity communicates so much that words can’t.

I’ve done several branding shoots over the past six years, as my celebrant business has evolved, and each one has had a slightly different brief to reflect the different stages in my journey.

Investing in these photos has completely transformed things for me as a small business owner. It helped me understand more about who I am as a celebrant and where I want to go, as well as the areas of my work I want to grow.

That wouldn’t have happened without four very talented photographers! 🌻🌈

Photos 1 - 3 by . These were to support an update to my website and my recent branching out into weddings and namings.

Photos 4 - 7 were taken by for the modern funerals photoshoot. I’ve used these to really show the ethos behind my funerals work, especially my focus on sustainability and natural burials.

Photos 8-10 were taken by to showcase my indie values and connection to my home town, Cambridge

At the end of last year, I was looking for a bit of a brand refresh, and way of showing my love of colour and storytelling. Lisa totally captured exactly what I was after (pictures 12 to 14)!

Green, green grass, blue, blue sky, you better throw a party on the day that I die… the song that played at the end of o...
30/07/2025

Green, green grass, blue, blue sky, you better throw a party on the day that I die… the song that played at the end of our celebration of C’s life today 🩵💙

A strong, feisty, funny lady, C left clear instructions for today. Bright colours and lots of laughter. Her favourite flowers on the coffin. Plenty of humour and smiles all round.

C, your family carried out your wishes brilliantly. Today would have been everything you wanted. Not goodbye, but see you later.

Hydrangea brooch by to match those on her coffin, and gifted to her daughter after the service.

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28/07/2025

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🎺 Music was P’s life. It brought him friendship and adventure and years of happiness, so it only felt right that we desi...
28/07/2025

🎺 Music was P’s life. It brought him friendship and adventure and years of happiness, so it only felt right that we designed his funeral today around that love of music.

🎺 He played the trombone for over 70 years, and always kept one in the boot of his car wherever he went - ‘just in case’ there was a chance that he might be able to ‘sit in’.

🎺 Today his trombone, bought by his dad from a mate all those years ago for the princely sum of ten bob, sat on top of his coffin.

🎺 Some of his musician friends walked in front of the hearse with their instruments, playing him into the chapel with the most beautiful jazz 🪕 🥁

🎺 And, as the hearse passed the trombone player, he dipped his instrument in tribute - such a beautiful gesture 🧡✨

🎺Rather than any formal words of farewell, we instead played a piece featuring one of P’s brilliant solos 🎶

🎺 Because it’s not always about what’s said. ‘Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.’ (Victor Hugo)

✨🌈 KIND WORDS 🌈✨Listening to your stories of them, gently asking questions and getting a picture of who they were and ho...
23/07/2025

✨🌈 KIND WORDS 🌈✨

Listening to your stories of them, gently asking questions and getting a picture of who they were and how they lived in the world… that’s one of the things I love most about being as a celebrant 🧡

To be able to bring that person off the page and into the room, and for their families to share them with me is truly a gift and a privilege.

Being able to support D’s family in their grief, to help them create a farewell that was beautiful, personal and meaningful… that was very special. And great to work with the Rosedale team, who just ‘get it’.

🌾 A spray of reeds topping the coffin, made by friends to remember D’s conservation work

🌈 Bright colours everywhere to represent his love of life - even the team from got involved, and I wore my sparkly purple converse at the request of D’s wife (any excuse!) 💜 ✨

🎶 A surprise song to end the ceremony and make his friends smile as they said a final goodbye

This is what funerals can look like 🌻

📸 Picture 2 by Rosedale Funeral Home

Do you travel for ceremonies? Why, yes - yes I do! I’m Cambridge based but very portable. I’ve travelled down to the New...
22/07/2025

Do you travel for ceremonies?

Why, yes - yes I do!

I’m Cambridge based but very portable. I’ve travelled down to the New Forest for funerals, up to Lincoln for namings and next year I’m flying to Crete to conduct a wedding! 🍹

So, if you’d like me to lead your ceremony but held off from asking because I’m not local to you - I’d love to hear from you! I love to travel 🧡🌈

📸 by

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📝 WRITING 📝 Writing has always been my passion. Now I’m lucky enough to have made a career out of it.So far this year I’...
19/07/2025

📝 WRITING 📝

Writing has always been my passion. Now I’m lucky enough to have made a career out of it.

So far this year I’ve written almost 250,000 words - and still counting! Each word carefully chosen to tell a unique story, to bring a person off the page.

Words to mark the end of one life, or to welcome a new one. Words to celebrate life and love. Here’s to their power and many more words to come 🧡🌈

Swipe to see teenage me’s idea of a holiday… 👉🏼

I’m writing a funeral this morning which is going to be a bit different…🌻 🌈While the funeral will take place in a quite ...
18/07/2025

I’m writing a funeral this morning which is going to be a bit different…🌻 🌈

While the funeral will take place in a quite traditional crematorium chapel, with just four family members there, we needed to think creatively about how to use the space.

Sitting in rows with me at the lecterns just didn’t feel right.

Instead we are going to gather chairs around the coffin, so that R’s family can feel close to her… so that they can touch the coffin and speak to her if they want to. Movement and touch are so important in funerals 🧡

We’ll decorate the space with some of her things, and for that half hour it’ll be their space, somewhere for R and her family to say their goodbyes.

We’re keeping the words deliberately informal too, to make the experience as gentle and peaceful as we can…

The look of relief from R’s daughter when I said we could make it this way… that told me everything I needed to know.

Funerals don’t have to be the way they’ve always been and I am really grateful for this opportunity to work creatively…

Photos 1-3 by from modern funerals photoshoot

Photo 4 shows the set up for a funeral I conducted last year after J’s sudden death, a small family gathering where connection was the most important thing…

🚁🪩 SHOW US YOUR MOVES! 🪩🚁Almost a year ago, we lost one of the best people we know - Jordan Evans. Jordan was a huge par...
15/07/2025

🚁🪩 SHOW US YOUR MOVES! 🪩🚁

Almost a year ago, we lost one of the best people we know - Jordan Evans. Jordan was a huge part of so many people’s lives, and it was one of the most loving funerals I’ve ever been involved in 🧡🌈

On the night he died, Jordan was looked after by . Their team not only did their best to help Jordan but also, since his death, they have gone above and beyond in supporting his family with aftercare.

They are, in our eyes, true heroes, and we wanted to do something to say thank you to them for everything that they have done. So, on Saturday 9th August, we are putting on a disco at the NCI Centre on Holland Street in Cambridge - plus we’ve got some really great raffle prizes on offer from local businesses.

So go to the link in my bio, grab your tickets and join us for what’s going to be a brilliant night supporting a fantastic cause!

Lovely little Sunday review… 🚜🌾That chapel is still giving me nightmares 🧼🧹 🕸️
13/07/2025

Lovely little Sunday review… 🚜🌾

That chapel is still giving me nightmares 🧼🧹 🕸️

📚 WELCOME OLLIE 📚A beautiful sunny pub garden naming ceremony for little Ollie this afternoon, in the shade of a tree wh...
12/07/2025

📚 WELCOME OLLIE 📚

A beautiful sunny pub garden naming ceremony for little Ollie this afternoon, in the shade of a tree while the children played on the slide nearby 🌳 🛝

📚 Four guide parents to help guide Ollie through life

📚 Powerful words about community and kindness

📚 A reading theme, with guests invited to choose a book that is special in some way to them, and write a message inside. Kat and Dave did this for his big brother, making it a special part of their bedtime routine… finding messages from the people they love is a real gift when they live so far away 💕

As I said during the ceremony, reading is like magic. Books open doors and, when you turn the page, you step into another world filled with possibilities, setting off on an exciting new journey unlike any other you will ever take. Reading brings us freedom, and is one of the greatest joys in life’.

Swipe to see the quote I found to use as inspiration… 💭

Mind you, we also used and I spent a good half hour playing with Ollie’s big brother, aged 2, on his Bluey etchasketch and teaching him the word rainbow. Good times! 🌈

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Cambridge

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07587 297657

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Welcome to Alex Collis Celebrant

I strongly believe that we should all have access to the type of funeral we want. With around 40% of the UK population now describing themselves as non-religious, choice is becoming increasingly important.

Trained by Humanists UK, I work closely with friends and family of the person who has died to create personalised ceremonies that help the bereaved to say goodbye but also celebrate the life that has been. Your funeral, your way.

Eight years ago my father died very suddenly and my sisters and I found ourselves arranging his funeral. A bit lost as to what to do for the best, one thing we were sure of was that we wanted a non-religious funeral, one that reflected his love of music and his personality. We found a humanist celebrant, and knew straightaway that it was the right fit for us.

My background is in community work, particularly anti-poverty charities, teaching, research and working in end of life care. I am also a member of Humanists UK Pastoral Support Network (think non-religious hospital and prison chaplaincy) and am currently training as a volunteer with Addenbrookes Hospital.