The City Sanctuary

We got in touch with Karen via a recommendation from a friend, and it was just about the best recommendation we've ever gotten! From the initial phone call and our video chat with Karen, we just immediately felt like we'd known her our whole lives. She instantly understood what we were looking for, and gave us such excellent advice in the buildup to the big day, especially in terms of the structure of the ceremony and the flow of how things would work.

The ceremony itself was absolutely perfect. Neither of us were interested in anything stuffy or overly-formal, and Karen delivered a wonderful ceremony that was just perfect for us in terms of the tone - it felt like it was an old friend guiding us through it all, and she made everyone in the party feel included and completely at ease. We've had countless guests, including my 94-year old grandmother, tell us that it was the most beautiful ceremony they'd ever attended, and that's so much down to Karen.

We can't possibly thank her enough, and we give her our absolutely highest recommendation.

We just wanted to say a huge thank you for making our wedding day what it was Honestly, every person there spoke about how incredible you and the ceremony was which was always the most important thing for us. It was honestly perfect and we can't thank you enough.

Karen was amazing throughout the planning of the wedding ceremony, very quick to respond to any queries, on the day she was brilliant

Karen was our celebrant for our recent wedding, from first engagement to the ceremony day she was super helpful and easy to deal with. Family and friends commented on how warm and personable Karen was.

Due to COVID, we ended up organising a lot of things last minute, and choosing our solemniser was one of them. It's funny how we knew Karen was the right person for our Big Day...We saw a lot of other celebrants online but she was the one with the biggest smile! We just got such a good energy from Karen and we were delighted to hear that she was available to officialise our marriage. She was very flexible and so supportive during the pre-wedding process and so helpful in moments we felt completely lost! Karen created a beautiful ceremony and made it so easy and relaxing for this nervous couple! Everybody loved it and complimented Karen! Thank you so much for making our wedding so special!

Karen was great, both before and after the wedding. Helped us decide on the format of the wedding beforehand. On the day, she was a warm and engaging presence, and made the wedding day special.

Choosing the right celebrant is so important to set the tone for the day, and we couldn't have found a better person than Karen! From the first email, she was so warm and lovely and we knew she was the right person to marry us. She was so helpful during the planning process and gave us a lot of suggestions but was always open to what we wanted. She helped us design a ceremony that reflected who we are as a couple and did such a beautiful job. Our guests were so impressed and said it was the most beautiful ceremony they had been to!

Karen delivered such a personal and warm ceremony filled with so much love and we can't thank her enough for making it a day we will always cherish. Thank you for calming my nerves and making me be present in the moment!

My husband and I were so lucky to be married by Karen this August and we absolutely could not be more grateful for the incredibly beautiful ceremony she created. Every step of the way through the (relatively short!) planning stages, Karen calmed us and centered us and kept us grounded. We never felt rushed or like anything was too much or too little to ask or consider. The ceremony was all at once fun, comfortable, emotional and personal. She is a complete natural and it's as though she was born to celebrate people!

Everyone at our wedding asked for her name after as they all can't wait to have her for their own ceremonies! She put everyone at ease and created the most beautiful and comfortable environment for all of us. We truly could not have imagined better, or more tailored to us.

Thank you again, Karen.

We had the privilege of being married by Karen two weeks ago and the whole experience was perfect from beginning to end. We had a relatively short run in time to the ceremony but we never felt rushed with Karen. Her system works very well in that she has lots of suggestions and guidance for every stage of the ceremony that she can send by email in advance. She was very prompt to reply with suggestions and thoughts, so that, by the time we met her, we were able to personalise the ceremony exactly as we wished. We were able to combine Karen's suggestions with some of our readings and it all went like a dream.

Karen has a lovely warm, caring, inclusive manner, that shines through at every stage. For a number of our guests, this was their first non-church wedding and they were all blown away by how personal and thoughtful Karen's service was.

We cannot recommend Karen highly enough, she is incredible.

Karen is not only an amazing friend and one of the most generous people you could ever meet, she now performs weddings too!!! How could I not request for her to marry me?
Karen performed our wedding ceremony in November and even before the day she made time to catch up regularly with me and my husband and created a personalised ceremony based on our lives, no doctrine required. :P
On the actual day she nailed it, even the older staunch country catholic ladies were fierce impressed! The quote "That's the way you do it" was echo-ed throughout the day. To re-iterate what other reviews have said, every single person raved about it afterwards. I think you may have even gotten two more bookings out of it, testament in itself.
Thank you so much missus and we'll definitely be giving you a call for any of our future spiritual needs.x

Matt and I could not be one ounce happier with the amazing, magical and at times hilarious ceremony Rev. Karen delivered for us and our guests.

It was a really heartfelt and personal celebration for us both, with nerves running high, both of us clinging to each other with somewhat sweaty palms, Karen kept us centered, in the moment, and focussed on what this marriage was all about... our commitment to each other.

Every single one of our guests commented on just how personal the ceremony was, with many pointing out the differences with more traditional civil or religious ceremonies. More importantly they commented on Karen and her amazing personality and what it brought to making this day special for everyone in the room.

We were on this journey with Karen, planning the ceremony for over a year; and even though we had planned it in detail, it still blew us both away.

The day and party that followed just could not have been more perfect with everyone in fantastic spirits ready to celebrate a big moment for us; we firmly believe that was in part caused by the tone Rev. Karen set for the day.

We booked Karen to come and do our ceremony in Aran islands hotel.
From the get go she emailed us what to expect. We meet the night before and chatted through ceremony which was lovely. The ceremony was great we had loads of fun as we wanted and was really relaxed. The hand fasting and nice poems were very intimate moments. We had 6 bridesmaids and one best man so our odd number was a worry but was grand,Karen will do whatever you ask ceremony wise to relax crowd and was nice to be married by someone so down to earth. I would highly recommend Karen for ceremonies where ever the location. Aran islands is a adventure in itself to get too.

Where to start. Karen is such an amazing woman, the compassion she showed us when we had to postpone our wedding was second to none. When we finally got around to rescheduling she helped us in every way she could.
She made our day amazing, the ceremony was both beautiful and funny. All our guests would of been more used to a traditional church wedding but each one of them said how fantastic it was.
Thank you so much Karen you made our ceremony everything we ever wished for xx

Karen is 1 in a million as a person and solemniser, she gave us little ideas to include everyone in our special day and kept me calm the day of our wedding, I would recommend Karen to everyone, she listens, understands and is grateful to be part of your day.
Karen THANK YOU for making our day unique xxxx