Ko au ~ this is me
“You made our day so absolutely wonderful. We both agree that the ceremony was the best part of the day”
Okay, but who actually is Philippa Thomas, and why should I pick her to be our celebrant?
What even is a celebrant?
Well. Let me tell you.
I’m Philippa, “suitably weird and not too serious”. I became a celebrant (celebrant, officiant, marrying-person, the-person-who-pronounces-you-married, tohunga mãrena) over ten years ago because I am crazy passionate about giving everyone an awesome wedding, setting you up for an amazing marriage.
Without judgement or discrimination.
I don’t care if there’s a 45 year age gap, or if one of you is a cat person and the other is Team Dog. I don’t care if you want to say your vows while you are waist deep in an alpine lake, or paragliding off Coronet Peak.
What I care about is EQUALITY, INCLUSION, ACCEPTANCE, SAFETY AND LOVE.
And what I also care about is making your wedding planning journey easy and fun. Life is complicated enough, let’s make your wedding the raddest it can be.
I am a proud Mãori woman and happily interweave Te Reo Mãori into any wedding. Here’s a little article I wrote about it.
In fact, I’m thrilled to interweave any language or culture into your ceremony. I’ve performed two Hindu weddings (including a three-hour, Hindu/Mãori/Greek fusion ceremony) and been part of a Vietnamese Tea Ceremony. I’ve spoken Bengali and Hindi, Korean, Gaelic, Portuguese and Samoan. I’ve even down a wedding in which no one spoke English except the couple - it was almost entirely in Czech, and while I had almost no idea what was going on, it was one of the most fun weddings I’ve done!
Some fun facts about me:
When I’m not celebranting (a word I may or may not have made up), I am a mother to three not-so-small kiddos (Holly, Jaydn and Naiah), two cats (Honey is delicious, Millie is kind of mean …) and one chaotic dog (Reign). My awesome kids (cats and dog included) drive me crazy batty and I just love the chaos and laughter that parenting brings.
I have three sisters and I’ve married two of them. Not many people get to say that …
I flippen LOVE Formula One racing. LOVE IT!. I’ve been to three races (Singapore, Melbourne and Abu Dhabi) and am already planning where my next race will be. Want to get married at a Formula One race? Oh my goodness I would most definitely be keen for that! I also collect Formula One caps, it’s my obsession. And F1 lego … honestly, get me talking about F1 and we will be here for days!
I have collected M&M memorabilia since I was a teenager. Yes, the candy! Yes, you may give me some!
I drink 80 hundred cups of coffee a day and I love it.
I’ve been married for ten years. In fact, it was when I became engaged (six months pregnant with two toddlers in tow) that the idea of becoming a celebrant came about - I had an idea of what I wanted in a celebrant and then figured, surely I can’t be the only one! Turns out, I was right! I’m laid back, I’m relaxed and I’m mad crazy about everything “weddings”.
I’m a bit of a dork, I’m a lot adhd, I’m awkward AF and I have resting confused face.
I’ve recently launched, along with my Cele-pal Laura (who, btw, I married), The Celebrant Guide - a training, support and empowerment platform for celebrants in Aotearoa. Pretty proud of that.
And most of all, I love love. Because, love is love ♥
“SHE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND USING PHILIPPA! PHILIPPA THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR DAY SO SPECIAL, WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH”
