As your celebrant, you're going to be spending a fair bit of time talking to/WhatsApping/Zooming/planning with me during our time working together. I'll be getting to know you pretty well, so it's only fair that you get to find out a bit about me first.
I was born in Lancashire, brought up in Manchester, and I now live in Cheshire with my husband and two whippets. Writing and performing is in my bones, and I trained as an actor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Hello! I'm Connie.
Now at this point, I could show you a picture of me doing some "Very Serious Acting", but where's the fun in that?
So instead, here's a picture of me laying a golden egg.
Yep, that's me inside the goose costume.
Anyway, I fell into weddings and events almost by accident. After working in front of house at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, I became one of their Event Coordinators, (you can actually get married onstage there. How cool is that?!) and then I went on to be a wedding bod at The Holford Estate in Cheshire.
After spending the best part of 5 years learning all things weddings and events, and building up a wonderful network of suppliers and all-round good eggs, I decided to flex my performance/writing muscles once more, and now I'm a celebrant, bringing couples and families knock-out ceremonies to remember.
When I'm not celebranting (not a word...) I like taking my dogs for a good run on Crosby Beach, drinking tea/red wine/gin and tonic, shooting arrows (yes, I used to fancy Legolas; no, I don't anymore; yes, I'm deadly; this is how I met my husband), and re-watching Schitt's Creek for the umpteenth time. I can also be spotted lurking in TK Maxx or Homesense, failing miserably at resisting the urge to buy more mugs and notebooks that I don't need.
And finally...
I should probably also mention my obsession with dogs. Whippets, greyhounds and other sighthounds are my favourite, but I love all dogs. Human beings don't deserve dogs. I regularly interrupt my husband mid-sentence because I've spotted a dog on the other side of the street and I have to go and say hello. (He always rolls his eyes at this but he's just as bad with cats.)
If I ever won silly money on the lottery, I'd buy an enormous house with a huge plot of land and I'd have a pack of dogs. That's it. No fancy cars, no yachts, just dogs. But seeing as though I will never win the lottery, I'll just have to make do with these two. And oh, how I love them.
This is Thisbe.
We rescued her as a pup and she's nearly 8 years old now.
She's the brains of the operation.
She knows each of her toys by name.
She's my muse and my lap-warmer.
She's a supermodel and she knows it.
This is Jake. He's only 2.
Thisbe's best mate had pups and when we went to see them, this one decided he was coming home with us.
We had absolutely no say in the matter.
There isn't much going on between his ears but he's as fast as lightning.