Hi, I'm Lel!
My career has taken me through the creative world: writing, producing, directing and managing. I’ve been a textile designer, event producer, commercial photography director and craftsperson. In every role, I found joy and satisfaction in bringing ideas and elements together and turning them into something that connects with people.
Ceremony asks for the same thing, except now the raw material is your story, and other dimensions come into play: spirit, ritual, symbol and witnesses.
Small talk isn’t my strength. I’d much rather hear about your favourite things in the world ever, or the posters that decorated your bedroom when you were twelve. Everyone has a story, and I’m always keen to hear it.
Share it with me, and we’ll make something meaningful from it together.
I’m Glasgow-based, which is handy for Ayrshire, the Lothians, and the whole central belt. But there’s a campervan called Wanda in the driveway, so nowhere in Scotland is out of reach. I love an adventure.
My Story, My Beliefs
I’m not religious, but I’ve been curious about faith and how the universe works since I was a wee girl.
I believe giving and receiving are the same movement seen from two angles, and I’ve felt that as a visceral thing many times over. I believe ritual belongs to everyone, and it can be a beautiful vehicle for conveying what words can’t. And I believe that ceremony matters, not as decoration around a moment, but as the moment itself. Get it right, and people will remember it for the rest of their lives.
I’m a working celebrant and a 2026 graduate of Rites and Rituals Scotland’s six-month ceremonialist training, which opened up the rest of a rewarding vocation: weddings, life ceremonies, ritual and symbolism, spiritual exploration, and a good deal of soul-searching I hadn’t bargained for. It stretched me out of shape in the best possible way, and I’m delighted to be part of this community.
So now, alongside funerals and memorials, I write and lead weddings, vow renewals, baby namings, and bespoke ceremonies of many shapes and sizes. There’s no limit to what a ceremony can mark.
As for the story, it starts with Blue Peter in the 70s, my favourite programme of all time. I made everything they ever made on that show, from pom-pom kittens to the hallowed Advent crown. Sticky-back plastic, wire coat hangers and yarn were constant companions. At school it was English and art that got my creative juices going, and a degree in industrial textile design in the Scottish Borders taught me about friendship and growing up, as much as it did about colour, pattern and structure. A wonderful career producing large-scale street theatre and music events, and twenty-odd years directing commercial photography shoots, have brought me to where I am now: connecting with people who need someone like me at this point in their life, to help them through a threshold moment.
I’m a rocker at heart, a wanderer in soul, a very proud mum, and a thoroughly smitten granny.
And I smile a lot. Fair warning.
Whatever you’re marking, I’d love to hear about it.
You can find out more at https://www.lelthecelebrant.com/
