Real Families: Naming Ceremony

How many of you are christened? OK how many of you have christened your children or are planning to? It seems to me that less and less people are carrying out religious christenings these days, so what do you do if you still want to celebrate the birth of your child but don’t want to go down the formal route of having a religious ceremony. Well you have a naming ceremony!

I was delighted when I was sent in this gorgeous shoot from Erica from Mr & Mrs Unique as I have wanted to feature a naming ceremony for a while now and this one is just stunning. I have always said to Nik that I wanted a naming ceremony for Dexter even before he was born, at the moment we are just trying to decide where we hold it and to what sort of scale! This one was made even more special as Erica managed to call upon lots of her favorite suppliers that she knows though her wedding business. I hope you enjoy the photos it certainly reminds me of what a lovely summer we had and has certainly given me some ideas for my own naming ceremony.

I’ll pass you over to Erica to tell you more about the day…….

The naming ceremony came about when my husband Lee and I wanted to do something special to celebrate the arrival of our two children Indi & Marley. We had discussed for a long while whether or not to get them christened and we just couldn’t come to a matching decision, so I put forward the idea of a naming ceremony. It was also going to be my daughter Marley’s first birthday; so a double celebration!
I had only been to one other naming ceremony and knew it was a relatively new idea… I wasn’t sure on what to do, what people expected or what was deemed normal to do at these types of events. So I decided I would just go with the flow, as long as the kids enjoyed themselves and we had the opportunity to thank our friends and family we had chosen as guardians then it would be a great day.

I’m lucky as I run a business called Mr & Mrs Unique, which focuses on unique and creative wedding suppliers so I had a head start on locating some amazing suppliers that I could use.

The venue was extremely important, as I wanted somewhere safe for the kids to run around, but would also offer a gorgeous festival vibe. One of our new venues Henlow Bridge Lakes is literally down the road from us, and it offered amazing facilities and a beautiful wooded, enclosed space called the Roundel. With tents, BBQ and fire pits; it was perfect for the naming ceremony. Funky Monkey Tents set up a lovely tipi, which we used as a kids den… we filled it with balloons and the children went crazy for it! Jade Sayers Photography came down for the afternoon to take photos of the day. I wanted natural, un-staged photos of the day, capturing the fun of the day of family and friends. The lovely Natasha from Nevie-Pie Cakes made a stunning white tower unicorn cake, with floral details and edible gold sequins. I loved the fact she painted Indi and Marley riding the back of the unicorn!! My sister in-law also made a beautiful rainbow sponge cake for Marley’s 1st birthday. The letter decorations including the LOVE letters are from Scene-Setter and we hung pom poms, fans and crape paper ribbons from the trees to add a bit of colour.

There was plenty of homemade touches created for the day including the Feed The Monsters games, a signpost made from an old fence panel and dream catchers made by my good friend Michelle. Charlotte from Wilden Bride also made me a gold sequinned maxi skirt for the day as I couldn’t find one anywhere in the shops! Really added some sparkle to the day!

We started the day with a small ceremony where my sister read ‘Forever Young’ by Bob Dylan and my best friend Paul who runs Lord Wordsmith Emporium of Poems & Rhyming Speech, wrote us a personalise poem which meant the world to us and it brought many laughs to the occasion.

One’s a cool boy of three, cherubic girl is only one
One is Indiana, AKA, Loudy McShouterson
Then there’s little smiley Marley, cuteness everywhere
And luck would have it only one got Mum’s orang-utan hair
Daddy’s hyena cackle comes from both their little faces
Even when there’s poo and snot and sick from all their places
Lee and Erica do brilliantly, to their brood will come no harm
Making parenting look easy, with more creatures than a farm
Yes, the life ahead looks rosy for this gorgeous girl and boy
Showered in love, cherished in heart and given every toy
Boyish boy and girly girl, right aspects you’ve both had
Not like tactile camp closet Dad and Mum that’s just a lad
As well as features of Mum & Dad, it would be jolly weird
If Indi got Mum’s croaky voice and Marley got Dad’s beard
Surely Indi Jacob will follow Dad, growing up in ways that matter
Love of all things 70’s, food served on wooden platter
Marley Summer will take after Mum, inherit all things sublime
Like 90’s music, mixed up words, inherent love of wine.
They’ll grow up like Ma and Pa, things reaching their natural peak
When they start flogging shampoo or blogging for Mr & Mrs Unique!
Indiana and Marley, for you I hope Hitchin’s always bitchin’,
And fingers crossed you’ll always be OK in wheaty kitchens
You’ll always have the love of all those around you: brainy, dippy,
Godparents that are Plumbers, Artist, Writer and a Hippy
Whether you grow big or small, brown hair, or head that’s red
You’ll always have a happy home, it really must be said
For Indi, Marley, Mum and Dad, you’re all a perfect foursome
I hope your lives will be filled with all things great and awesome

I was really keen to give a small thank you to our chosen guardians so I asked Sarah from Russet & Gray to design me some thank you cards. I actually had first seen these cards at a wedding fair where I was set up next to her. We tinkered around with the words and I wanted some gold glitter on there so she added that detail on for me. They all loved them!

Afterwards the BBQ was lit and the kids ran around played with homemade games and a craft area which included fab dinosaur and mermaid stick on tattoos from Wedding in a Teacup. The adults were treated to a Mimosa Bar, which basically was a prosecco cocktail table with ice and fruit. We had a specially made up bottle of champagne from Bottle Bazaar in celebration of the day, which was a lovely touch.
For food we has a BBQ feast which included some amazing salads that my good friend Sarah prepared for the day and afterwards the Henlow Bridge Lake team turned up on their tractor to take everyone around the site on a tour, which both the adults and kids really enjoyed.