QLD Gold Coast Yvonne Thomas

Gold Coast celebrant Yvonne Thomas Authorised Marriage Celebrant - Appointed September 2008

I have a diverse background which includes administration, staff recruitment and training in a large retail environment, back in those days there was no degree required I was simply called a ‘Personnel officer’ and you learnt on the job, these days a university degree in Human Resources is the mandate.

A 10year break from the workforce to become a fulltime mum to my two children who are now in their mid/late 20’s, returning to fulltime employment some 16years ago after the death of my husband. Times had changed, the corporate world was a very different one to the one I had known, I had a complete career change into sales and marketing firstly in the print industry followed with the natural health industry. Throughout the past 16years I have trained in natural healing modalities including Reiki, Massage therapy, Bach Flowers, Psychosomatic Body Mind Analysis and currently studying Aromatherapy. I have regularly practiced meditation for the past 16 years.

My passions in life are exploring the great vast ‘unknown’ in our 3 dimensional world. Writing is another passion, I have written and facilitated Life Skill Workshops which cover subjects such as ‘understanding the dynamics of your mind’, ‘understanding emotions’, ‘understanding the dynamics of thought and its influence on your life, ‘tapping into your power source’, ‘coping with changes in life’ ‘learning the art of meditation’.

In 2008 I published my first book ‘Dare to Grow Through Adversity’ as a result of this publication I was approached by a local funeral director to conduct workshops within nursing homes for staff.

Due to my current full time job I have little time to pursue many of these passions, I still continue to write and store information on my computer and when I can continue to expand my knowledge – learning never stops! One of the many great blessings in my life was the birth of my first and only Grand child – a little girl named Myah who is now 5yrs old.

I was attracted to Celebrancy after the death of my husband. I stayed up all night writing a eulogy for my husband’s funeral, at the time I gave it to the priest as part of the service.

On the day of the funeral, as the ceremony was proceeding he came to the eulogy I had written and then looked at me and said ‘Eve would you like to come forward and read this’, my heart sank to my stomach then this inner strength washed over me and I said to myself ‘I can do this one last thing for the great love of my life, nobody in this world knows him and loves him like I do, how can I not get up and share this with so many people’ with that I got up to a packed church with standing room only and managed to speak off bat about the love and life we had shared, I don’t know where that strength came from that day, but something greater than me soared within me. For a long time after this day, something inside of me longed to work as a celebrant.

At that time the process and costs involved in undertaking these studies seemed ‘out of reach’ particularly with years of waiting to be appointed and absolutely no guarantee I would be appointed, so this dream was put on the back burner whilst I raised two children and worked hard for a living! Years later when my daughter was married by a Celebrant who was very professional in her approach, but sadly lacked warmth and feeling. Again a deeper part inside of me said ‘ you should become a celebrant, you know you would deliver a heartfelt ceremony for people being married’. I dismissed the thought, life was busy. The past couple of years several people kept saying out of the blue to me ‘you would make a good marriage celebrant’ – they helped stir that little flame still flickering inside of me. One day out of the blue I thought to myself ‘life is too short – no matter how busy I think I am – just do it’, with that I searched the internet and found a college, made the phone call and the rest is history. Through my training I have met an amazing group of women and we have continued to share our journey and support each other – wonderful friendships have been formed.

I completed training in funeral Celebrancy in October 2007 – a week short of facing my final face to face exam I had a phone call from an ex work colleague to tell me some sad news about a young girl in her late 20’s we had worked with, who had committed suicide and would I come along to her memorial service the following week. A small private family funeral had taken place the week before. Being a writer at heart, I was compelled to write about this beautiful girl and the many gifts she had bought to our world, whilst some may not agree with my belief on life and my views on suicide, I had this longing to write and share this insight. There were many people who were angry with her for what she had done, my own personal viewpoint is one of compassion, not of blame, so I could not help but share my views with my friend as she was really struggling with the concept of suicide, she was angry at the deceased for what she had done, after reading my words she said she felt it made more sense, she felt some peace at the situation, she was able to stop blaming and move into a place of not completely understanding and accepting of this girls suicide, but she was at least able to get out of her anger and into a more compassionate space. She in turn shared this with the organiser of the memorial service - he had been in the unfortunate situation of finding her body and was suffering terribly as a result. He in turn said that my words had helped him greatly to try and come to terms with her suicide and asked my permission for it to be read at the memorial service. I arrived on the day of the service and we had agreed I would set up some candles, someone else was bringing balloons and we decked out the venue in her favourite colour of purple. People started arriving – I then found out nobody had organised for a speaker. The man who had organised this memorial said to me ‘Eve can you please speak for all of us and say something about (the deceased)’. He had no idea I was a week away from being a trained funeral celebrant. Wow, talk about being put on the spot, nothing prepared, I swallowed my fear, took a deep breath and got up and conducted the memorial service for this beautiful girl with her friends and work colleagues. There were lots of tears and laughter, her Mum who was able to attend and who hated public speaking managed to really open up and share much about her daughter’s childhood and the many challenges she had faced as a young girl and in the last couple of years of her young life. I felt at home and so comfortable in this role, it was wonderful to celebrate the life of this beautiful girl, to remember the best in her and give gratitude to her and bless her on her journey into the afterlife.

On a lighter note, a funny moment in a wedding ceremony I officiated, when the Groom got to the part ‘repeat after me’ ‘I call upon the persons here present, to witness that I …. Etc.’ He said in a very loud clear voice over the microphone looking into the eyes of his beautiful bride ‘I call upon the persons here pregnant’, he stopped like a stunned mullet realising what he had just said, he was speechless, there was a roar of laughter from family, friends and his bride. Was he trying to tell us all something? Honestly, moments like these are treasures and can never be pre-planned. He managed to get through the remainder of his vows perfectly.

I love working as a celebrant – I don’t see it as work, it is wonderful meeting so many beautiful people and sharing in what is one of the most important days of their lives – Time and time again I am deeply moved witnessing so much love around me! This is definitely not a job – it continues to touch at my soul and move me deeply. It is an honour.

In five years time I would love to be working only for myself, continuing with my Celebrancy, living in a country town and being more self sufficient with vegetable gardens, fruit trees, possibly even running a B&B with workshops, meditation retreat centre, teaching and continuing to write and publish more books and hopefully making a positive difference to the people around me.

Yvonne Thomas
Marriage and Civil Celebrant
Gold Coast Queensland

More about Liane: www.yvonnethomas.com.au