I’m delighted to introduce you to this month’s Graduate interviewee, Ruth Boswell. Ruth completed our Wedding Celebrant training and her attention to detail and writing ability stood out from day one. Ruth will be delivering ceremonies in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Bristol, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Enjoy her interview.
What made you decide to become an Independent Celebrant?
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant:
I have been interested in becoming a celebrant for a number of years. I honestly can’t remember what initially piqued my interest but it was a conversation with a good friend about a year ago that really pushed me to get on with it. My two boys have now (mostly) flown the nest and my weekends are no longer spent on the football touchline so now seems the right time.
What skills do you think you bring to the role?
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant
I have worked as a Chartered Surveyor and construction project manager for the last 30 years and so I have to develop good written and verbal communication skills. I’ve become skilled at communicating in many different ways to ensure that the various stakeholders that I deal with can all understand what is happening and why. I am often briefing projects where the client doesn’t really know exactly what they want and so I have become adept and helping them to identify what is important and what they want to achieve – I see big parallels with this and ceremony planning.
I am also pretty organised – not only because of my job but through necessity, raising two boys with lots of hobbies whilst juggling a full time job. Time is precious and so I guess I have become good at using it wisely!
I set high standard for myself and am a bit of a perfectionist (not always a good thing!), I can now channel this into creating perfect ceremonies. I loved writing scripts during the training with Dinah, I enjoyed disappearing into the rabbit hole of research to find the perfect readings and music.
What have you found the greatest challenge as a new celebrant?
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant
I hadn’t considered the sheer amount of “other stuff” that I would need to do to get myself set up – branding, website, social media, blog writing, GDPR, advertising, I could go on! It sounds crazy now, but in my mind I was just going to train as a celebrant and get on with it!
What were you most surprised by during your training?
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant
It has to be the social media interaction. I just hadn’t thought about it at all which is crazy as I am an avid Pinterest user and have been for many years. I have also been surprised by the amount of resources available on line to use to craft the ceremonies – hurrah for the internet!
What type of ceremony would you love to create – if there were no limits on time or budget?
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant
I love a DIY wedding, ceremonies that family members and friends are a real part of. Weddings where, either through necessity or choice, the couple want to be sustainable, make economies and be creative. I have hundreds of ideas (and indeed used some of them for my wedding 20 years ago!). I love a trawl on Facebook market place for bargains and a visit to Pinterest for idea! I’m in the process of writing a series of blogs with my money saving ideas.
What top tip would you give anyone exploring the idea of training as an independent celebrant?
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant
Go for it! Its difficult to know, until you do it, whether it will really be right for you, but undertaking a course will certainly be a good place to start. I started with a very generic on line course which was only around £75 but it allowed me to explore the role in more detail. It cemented my view that funerals were not something that I was interested in pursuing. I then signed up for the wedding training with Dinah which prepared me properly to conduct ceremonies.
There is a lot to put in place so break it down into manageable chunks otherwise you will feel overwhelmed! Take it at your own pace, don’t put yourself under too much pressure, create a plan and a realistic timeline and try to stick to it.
Can you share five things about Ruth, the person – not the celebrant – tell us about you.
Ruth Boswell – Celebrant
Friends and family are the most important thing. My two boys are now young adults and are rightly making their own way in the world. This means reassessing your life and finding new ways to spend the new found free time! I love spending time with friends, trying new activities, heading to the spa or out for afternoon tea and cocktails! You don’t realise how little “me time” you have until your kids fly the nest.
I love to travel and explore new places. I’m obsessed with old, battered doors and ceramic tiles and so I have a huge collection of door and tile photos from my travels!
I’m an avid baker and am often roped in to making birthday cakes – this year so far I have made a 50th, 60th, 16th and 1st birthday cake (hurrah for Pinterest for inspiration!). I also like to bribe people who have to sit through meetings with me by bringing cake!
I’m know to love a cocktail – the sweeter the better! I work on the basis that if a drink is pink it will taste good – it’s a rule to live by (although the notable exception has to be a good Pina Colada which, whilst not pink, is definitely my Queen of cocktails!) Cocktails with friends is my favourite way to spend an evening.
I love hot air balloons and finally ticked “hot air balloon” ride off my bucket list this year, floating above the tree tops in Sri Lanka, at dawn, watching peacocks fly out of the trees and listening to the chimes of the bread truck was magical. Now I want to do it again!
How can people get in touch with you?
Pinterest; ruthboswellcelebrant