“Love in Every Chapter: From Barrister to Celebrant”

Charlotte is a Warwickshire-born celebrant who believes that love is present in every chapter of life. After a successful career as an international corporate barrister, Charlotte’s life took an unexpected turn when her daughter made a surprise arrival during lockdown in Amsterdam – despite Charlotte not knowing she was pregnant.

This extraordinary experience reshaped her perspective on life, love and what truly matters. During maternity leave with her son, Charlotte retrained as a celebrant and has never looked back. She now spends her days telling people’s stories and creating meaningful ceremonies across Warwickshire and beyond, including weddings, funerals, vow renewals, celebrations of life, living funerals and naming ceremonies.

In this engaging and uplifting talk, Charlotte shares the story behind her dramatic career change, explains what a celebrant actually does, and reflects on the privilege of helping families mark life’s most important moments.

With warmth, humour and honesty, she also tackles a topic many people find difficult: talking about death. Charlotte believes that planning ahead can be empowering and reassuring, and that discussing our wishes doesn’t make anything happen sooner—it simply helps the people we love. Her approach is to “put the fun into funeral,” making what can feel like a daunting subject far less intimidating.

Charlotte will also touch on how the law around marriage ceremonies may evolve in the future and why she believes celebrants are becoming an increasingly important part of modern life.

Above all, this is a talk about stories, love, and celebrating every stage of the human journey.

What the Talk Includes:

• Charlotte’s remarkable story from international barrister to celebrant
• The unexpected life event that inspired her career change
• What celebrants do and how ceremonies are created
• The importance of planning ahead and talking openly about end-of-life wishes
• Insight into weddings, funerals and modern ceremonies
• A look at potential future changes to marriage law
• Reflections on why storytelling is at the heart of every meaningful ceremony

The talk is warm, thought-provoking and often funny, leaving audiences feeling more comfortable talking about life, love and even death.