Saturday, 6 February 2016

Lily's Naming Ceremony

I was christened when I was a baby and I have always had god parents and I have always loved having them, and although im not religious and neither is my partner I really wanted Lily to have god parents to. So I decided that I was going to give Lily a naming ceremony.

A naming ceremony is a little like a christening but with out all the religious talk, instead you say nice vows about love and support and welcome Lily into the family, and you have guide parents instead of god parents.

Lily's ceremony was on the 18th of April 2015 and she was 5 months old and I decided to have it up north at the lovely venue that is Burnley registration office.

I got my friend from uni Adam,  AC French Photography , to come and take photographs. His mum and sister EBella also make cakes and so they made me a beautiful cake with Lily's name on it. I also had a beautiful bunch of Lilies and a guest book.


Lily wore the same gown that I had wore for my christening so this was very special having her in this dress. Here is me when I wore it. 


It was a beautiful sunny day and loads of family came to see Lily welcomed into the family. The ceremony starts with us saying some vows, and then we had my good friend Gordon talk about Lily. We then moved onto the guide parents standing up and saying there vows. We chose Niki and Andrew which is Chris sister and parents to our niece and nephew, and Sharon and Steven who have been a very close friend of my family for a while. They both got presented with a candle to keep with Lily's photograph on.



The last part of the ceremony I had organised something special. I had bought all the pieces of a charm bracelet to make for Lily for when she is older. Each charm had a word on it which is what family provide for her throughout her life. We had love, fun, care, protect, support, teach and advise. Each member of the family held a charm and placed it on the bracelet saying out loud what it was. 



We then signed a certificate and posed for photographs. After the ceremony we all celebrated at a venue with drinks and a buffet. It was a really lovely day and I would recommend having one to anyone. 







20 comments:

  1. What a beautiful day only been to one naming ceremony -they di seem to be more popular

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  2. So Beautiful !! I never even considered a naming ceremony for my children.. I went for Christenings.. but do prefer the naming ceremony .. seems more personal!!

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  3. Wow, I never even knew such a thing existed! What a good idea. I'm not religous either, but now I know about this, it may well be an option for us. Thank you

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  4. A good alternative to a christening for those not wishing to have a religious ceremony. I was interested in your post to read that while not religious, you "really wanted Lily to have god parents".I would hope however that you always refer to them as you said they were called, 'guide' rather than Godparents, or that would be somewhat hypocritical.

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  5. Gorgeous pics CHERYL HADFIELD

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  6. Looks a lovely day , Lily looked beautiful and the cake was amazing!

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  7. How lovely. I have never heard of this before, and it is all very formal and special.
    Everything looked beautiful, especially Lily and you.

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  8. What a wonderful alternative to a Christening, sounds like it was a beautiful day :)

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  9. I wasn't aware of Naming Ceremonies until so thank you for this informative article, I think it's a great alternative to a Christening.

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  10. such a good idea,ive never heard of it before

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  11. That's so lovely, I've never been to a naming ceremony what a great idea!

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  12. Love the idea of a naming ceremony!

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  13. What beautiful pictures. I'm not religious either so a naming ceremony is perfect

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  14. Looks like such a beautiful day and the charm bracelet is such a cute idea!

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  15. Looks fab and I love the bracelet

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  16. Love the idea of a naming Ceremony,looks like you had an amazung day

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