About Me | Funeral Celebrant in Somerset, Dorset & Devon
I'm Derren, a funeral celebrant, which is a real honour & privilege. I believe in celebrating the life of your loved ones with my bespoke ceremonies.
funeral, funerals, funeral service, celebrant, somerset, dorset, funeral celebrant Somerset, independent funeral celebrant,independent funeral celebrant Somerset, independent funeral celebrant Dorset, Celebrant led funeral, funeral services, bespoke funeral services, celebration of life, memorial services, memorial services Somerset, memorial services Devon, memorial services Dorset
2page-template,page-template-full_width,page-template-full_width-php,page,page-id-2,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-child-theme-ver-1.0,qode-theme-ver-13.2,qode-theme-bridge,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-7.6,vc_responsive
An Introduction
Hi, I’m Derren, a highly experienced Funeral Celebrant from Ilminster, Somerset, where I live with my husband Phil, our four dogs and six cats……yes, I’m a bit mad on animals!
Living in this part of the world is amazing. My husband and I really enjoy walking our dogs in the beautiful Somerset countryside. We’ve also recently purchased a VW T2 Campervan, she’s bright orange and named ‘Matilda’.
Our plan is to spend any free time we have venturing out in her and getting to see more of this beautiful country.
Why I became a Celebrant
Wanting to become a Funeral Celebrant was a choice I made after the death of my father in 2012. Now he was a real character! Being non-religious, there was no way he would have wanted a member of the clergy to conduct his funeral. He always believed that God would strike him down if he even set foot in a church! So we found a ‘Celebrant’ to conduct his ceremony.
The ceremony was both moving and personal and really captured the essence of my Dad. We came away feeling uplifted and contented that we had ‘done our Dad proud’.
I want to say Derren is more than a Celebrant.
She really brought the day together and had exactly the right tone.
She has a natural kindness that can't be taught.
When the chips are down she's the person to have on your side.
I would recommend Derren time and time again.
Derren, Thank You for your professionalism, kindness and insight.
From Mum, me and all family and friends.
Bruce xx
Bruce Jones
Last week Derren conducted my mother’s funeral service. She took the time to speak to me at length about my mum and to capture her true essence. Derren led the service so beautifully, it was personal and moving and made us smile too, encapsulating my mum to a tee. An incredibly fitting farewell for her and one which will remain in our memories forever, thank you x
Hello Derren,
Just a quick note to thank you for organising the order of service and the personal file you prepared for my sisters and I.
We thank you very much, we were pleased that though emotional at times, the service was memorable and the location couldn't have been better. Thank you for your support at this difficult time.Kind Regards,
Susan on behalf of Angela, Dianne and Sarah
Susan Lowder
Dear Derren
We just wanted to thank you so much for the service you did for Kathleen Day at Yeovil Crematorium, you did such a beautiful service, it helped us so much, so many people said afterwards that they enjoyed hearing the stories that they didn't know about her.Thank you, at a time of grief, to have a caring lady like yourself there helped such a lotLove John, Sandra and Allan x
John Day
Dear Derren, you understood the very essence of Mum and what she meant to us as a family. There are some people who you meet in life who you never forget, through the happy times and the sad. You are truly one of them. You care. You scooped my sister Jill and I in your arms before the service, it meant so much. We were missing our Mum, not wanting to say goodbye, but you made us feel cared for and we could see this was more than just a job for you, you cared, and you were in tune with the way we were feeling on that day. The service was lovely, you covered everything. Thank you so much Carole and Jill X"
Carole Sewell
Derren is an amazing and caring person who did a wonderful service for my Mum and my Dad. Derren also did the scattering of the ashes for Mum and Dad at Yeovil Town football club which was perfect. I would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone, you really made us, as a family feel at ease and you were with me every step of the way. And for that l thank you x
Sherry Powell
Derren did a fantastic job of conducting the service that my dad deserved. It was well-written and the support and sympathy given was just amazing. I could not have asked for a better Celebrant to represent my dad. For that I will be forever thankful. Amazing lady, amazing service and I would recommend to anyone. The presentation folder given at the end was just beautiful and something I will cherish forever. Thank you so much Derren. xxx
Kerry D'Arcy
Derren is absolutely amazing and at the same time professional. She handled our Dads funeral (10th February) with such thoughtfulness. Would recommend her in a second.
Jackki Lavender
Dearest Derren "Blossom Ceremonies' please accept a truly heartfelt thankyou for the most beautiful service that you conducted at Yeovil Cemetery for my step dad Laurence Langley known to many as Mr Shirabell.
You helped us so much and the manner in which you presented every part of the service was very comforting and professional.
My mother and I also were very grateful for the presentation folder that you presented to us capturing every precious moment of the service.
We as a family would highly recommend your service.
Sharon Hawker
Dear Derren I cannot thank you enough for the beautiful service for my mother Yvonne Francis yesterday. In these difficult times it was sad that we could not give my Mum the send off that we had hoped for, but you made the service so special, it was full of our personal memories of Mum, with the music that she loved and your special touch was something my mum would have loved so much!! Thanks to you we did Mum proud you are an Angel. Lots of love Jenny and all of the Francis Family.
Jenny Francis
Derren,
Just wanted to say another BIG THANK YOU for yesterday. It was a lovely service conducted by a very professional and compassionate lady. Thankyou and take care. Ian xxx
Ian Jeffery
Dear Derren,
What can I say? You are amazing we loved the service so much, it was personal, sad and fun all added together.Without you the service would not have been the same.
You are a lovely caring lady and I will truly never forget what you did for us yesterday.
Love to you and thank you once more for making my Mums farewell so special for us.
Jenny, Chris and all the Francis family.
Jenny
Dear Derren, many thanks for the professional and caring service you conducted for us last week. Given your attention to detail and the quality of your service you should be charging more! Thank you for helping us through a difficult time.
Margaret, Malcolm & Lorraine Hunt
I am writing a week or so after the funeral, on 24th July, of Joan, to thank you for your part in making it such a good celebration of Joan’s life.When we spoke early on, you had not had, at that stage, been given much information about Joan’s life story, her personality, and interests, but by the time of the funeral, you had spoken to many people and you were able to integrate it all, weaving a vivid picture of Joan.
Elizabeth
We couldn't have wished for anyone other than Derren to conduct our mums' funeral. Taking the time to listen and getting to know all about her life. Thank you Derren from all the family for providing a thoroughly professional and sensitive service.
Jackie
Derren was a fantastic celebrant at my mother's funeral. She took the time to get to know her and really listened and created the perfect sense of who my mother. She was so sensitive and her words comforting, I can't rate her highly enough
Alice Tempest
I just wanted to say thank you again for yesterday. The ceremony seemed to really fit, I have been to funerals before and not really recognised the person described. You have a gift, which not many of us would. I will always recommend you to anyone having to arrange a funeral.
Anonymous
We want to sincerely thank you for making our Grandfather's funeral service such a unique, personal and meaningful one. You held us all together and even though you never met our PopPop, it felt like you knew him so well and the things you said were so wonderful and kind, it really made it such a lovely service, despite the sadness of it all.
Anonymous
In deciding to become a Funeral Celebrant myself, I did some initial research of my local area to ensure their was a need. I then found The Fellowship of Professional Celebrants. enrolling on their comprehensive training course. I have been a Somerset Funeral Celebrant since!
I am a Somerset Funeral Celebrant but also officiate ceremonies in Wiltshire, Dorset and North Devon and as Blossom Ceremonies, I absolutely love my role as a Funeral Celebrant. My clients have taught me so much over the years and I have made many friends, heard so many wonderful life stories and many sad stories too.
To be a Funeral Celebrant is a real honour and privilege and it also brings great satisfaction, especially when families want to become involved too, making the ceremony just that little bit more ‘personal’.
The passion behind the role
One of my biggest passions is making each funeral ceremony bespoke and as personal as possible which means capturing those special things that made your loved one unique. They may have been an avid football fan or followed a particular team, in which case I will endeavour to wear their football team scarf and maybe even write a personal poem about their team. Some people are very proud of their heritage; Scottish roots for example therefore it may be appropriate to have a Lone Piper, Scottish Poetry etc. Your loved one may have enjoyed a particular genre of music, Jazz maybe? Well why not forego the ‘traditional’ hymns and have a jazz band instead? And while we’re talking about ‘personalising’, why not think outside the box about where you would like the ceremony to be held. It doesn’t have to be a church or crematorium.
There really is no limit to how imaginative we can become when creating your ceremony.
Let me create a celebration of life for your loved one.
