Robyn Harris
Funeral Celebrant
Hello, I’m Robyn.
I attended many funerals growing up and they were always long, sad and boring. I don’t think that’s how funerals should be.
Yes, we’ve lost a loved one but we should celebrate them. We’ll have plenty of time to mourn, and in my experience planning my husband’s funeral, it was a great help planning the service to reflect him.
Playing his favourite songs and talking about him and our time together. It wasn’t sad, despite having a broken heart. I knew I could not have officiated his funeral if I focused on sadness. And I thought that officiating his funeral myself was the best way to honour him.
So I made the attendees laugh talking about happy memories. I introduced them to things they may not have known about him. And tried to inspire them to live life to the fullest, since you never know how much time you have left.
Afterwards I met friends of his from university who hadn’t seen him in nearly 40 years and they said “That was Neil” from the music to the readings, if you hadn’t met him you knew who he was after his service.
And that was why I decided to become a funeral celebrant. I have since trained with the International College of Professional Celebrants.
If you would like to have a chat or meet with me in person, please get in touch with the team at White Rose.
