Ceremonies & Rituals

“Julie was the perfect choice. We could not have asked for someone who could honour our son, Fred, with more dedication, care and concern. Julie spent hours listening to Fred’s music to immerse herself in his energy as she wrote! The creative and meaningful rituals she proposed were right in line with who Fred was and added the necessary symbolism to ease our grief. In a nutshell, Julie is simply an intuitive and innovative Celebrant who cannot be compensated for the value she brings to such intimate events. Her service was priceless!” 

“Julie’s open minded, creative and progressive approach with each and every family she encounters is an asset for families seeking assistance while planning an appropriate final send off for their loved one. Her unique approach to funeral services is suitable for those who have no faith background, varying faith backgrounds or who are spiritual or secular and have no church affiliation. Stepping out of the box, Julie discovers  that the essence of the person and then magically creates a true tribute. Finding someone with such a profound passion to help others is uncommon but that is exactly what Julie has.”

“When our daughter Kate died, the light and air were sucked from our world. The death of a child is tragic and not the way things should happen in the world. We knew we needed someone to help us celebrate the incredible life of our child. We needed someone who would go beyond the usual funeral service to help us create a personal celebration. Someone who would take the time to truly learn about Kate, her life and who she was. Julie Keon was that person for our family. Her experience as a Life-Cycle Celebrant was evident in her care, attention and nurturing of our raw feelings and dreams for a celebration for our daughter. Julie took the time to listen intently as we told her all Kate.  She educated herself about our personal beliefs and she guided us in every step of the process; offering  suggestions that we would have never considered. Julie is professional and experienced, and she is also warm, empathetic and soft. She truly extends her heart and support to the families she is working with and she has an intuition about the needs of all members of the family and how to navigate everyone into a sense of calm and feeling present and included in the process. I will always be grateful to Julie for helping me celebrate my daughter in the way I wanted. Kate’s service was beautiful, full of light and love and pink hearts. Julie’s words and her styling of the service were exactly to our wishes and she ensured we were fully prepared for the day. Julie Keon was a gift when we most needed one.”

“It will be one of the hardest days but Julie will help make it easier. It will be an incredibly busy time with one million decisions to make but Julie will help to guide you. You will worry you will not be able to find the words and ideas to honour your loved one but not to worry, Julie will think of just the right thing. My Dad loved a lot of things: running, his cats, a good meal, music, wine and especially a good party with those he loved. He wasn’t a religious man and my mom and I were not sure how we were going to honour and say goodbye to him. Julie helped us in making a difficult time into something uplifting and something my Dad would have been really mad he had missed out on! Julie sat with us and listened to us tell stories about my father, helped with decisions about music, and came up with those little ritual ideas that made for an intimate and personalized service. I don’t know if I would have had the confidence to do my Dad’s eulogy without her finessing and guidance, but am so glad I did. Julie did not know my Dad but after the ceremony, we were inundated by compliments about the ceremony. Longtime friends remarked how it captured his essence perfectly and friends who did not know my Dad expressed how they left feeling like they knew so much about him.  Julie, I am not sure how you do what you do, but we are so incredibly grateful you do. Thank you, for helping us find the way!”

“I want to thank you for the wonderful ceremony that you put together for my wife’s Celebration of Life event. We, the family, received so many compliments that I’ve lost count. You captured our love, respect and regard for her and the enthusiasm the family had to tell of the fun they experienced with her. People came to me on the day to tell me they never experienced such a beautiful celebration. Others expressed opinions that if you didn’t know my wife before, you would certainly know who she was now. I was in awe at your ability to capture the mood (or moods) of the individuals who make up our family and then include that into the ceremony. The final event was AWESOME! Thank you so much for making this a day to remember with love.”

“I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am for your involvement in my grandma’s funeral. When we sat down with the funeral home to discuss my grandmother’s wishes all I could think of was a funeral I’d recently attended that had felt so impersonal and, for lack of a better descriptor, “canned”: like the name of the deceased had been placed in a service that is read over and over without any thought or consideration to whether it represents the life of the person it’s supposed to be commemorating. My grandmother was a strong, independent, kind, and generous woman, and I knew her service needed to reflect all those things. Your ability to navigate the complexities of our family’s situation was greatly appreciated as my grandma’s funeral certainly did not bring everyone together.Your soft spoken yet commanding presence is such a rare find in an officiant. Grandma would have appreciated your compassion as much as she would have enjoyed your sense of humour. You captured the essence of who she was beautifully and every moment and word was dedicated to celebrating her life, the good times and the bad. Thank you for your support and gentle kindness during my family’s time of need.”