I stepped out of my front door with quiet anticipation.  It was still dark, but the birds were just beginning to ruffle their feathers and stretch their wings preparing to burst into a dawn chorus.

There was something about the stillness of the morning, and as I slid into the passenger seat childhood memories came flooding back.

Gently being lifted into the back of our Ford Cortina in the darkness, wrapped in a blanket by my mum as we started on the exciting journey for a family holiday in Cornwall, a journey we made every year, but from our home in the Midlands, it always felt like we were going on an amazing adventure a million miles away.

I resisted the urge to ask Rob ‘are we there yet’ and shook my head back to the present.

As we got closer to the venue the excitement began to escalate, there were several reasons for this.

I was meeting up with celebrant friends, I was looking forward to hearing from the fabulous speakers and I was going to spend the night in a bed on my own, in a swanky hotel…bliss!

But most exciting of all, I was a finalist in the Association of Independent Celebrants annual awards.  The category I’d been nominated for was ‘Outstanding Couple and Family Celebrant’.

We arrived at the venue, I hastily waved Rob off and wheeled my suitcase into the building.

After lots of hugs from familiar celebrant friends, a fresh coffee and a complimentary pastry, we made our way into the hall for the start of the day and the AGM.  The formalities began with the outgoing President making his speech, new officers duly elected, and reports agreed.

Next came the inspiring and mesmerising keynote speech from the incredibly talented Charlie Jordan, a former radio presenter, Birmingham Poet Laureate and Celebrant, her words left me wide eyed and open mouthed.

After a delicious lunch we continued the afternoon with more wonderful workshops, finally ending the day with a relaxing meditation session.

We retired to our rooms to get ready for the evening celebrations.  I’d taken a small bottle of Prosecco to enjoy while getting ready, and in complete and utter self-indulgence, I took a leisurely shower, poured my Prosecco and wallowed in the uninterrupted silence of pampering and preening.

One last check in the mirror, and I made my way downstairs to meet my lovely celebrant friend Sara for a pre-dinner G & T.

Everyone looked fabulous all dressed up in their best bib and tucker. I’d taken two dresses, a demure black dress, and a more me, shiny leopard print number… I went with the leopard print!

We were called through, found our table, and sat down to enjoy the delicious three course dinner, enjoying lots of chatter as we did so.

Then it was time.

The awards ceremony commenced.

I have to be honest here, a couple of other categories were up first, but once again I was transported back to childhood.  This time I was at school waiting for my turn to speak and not hearing anything that preceded because I was too nervous thinking about my turn. This explains why I actually can’t remember the categories that went before mine.

I dared to dream I might win and was thinking about my acceptance speech!  However, I did clap and cheer the runners up and winners.

This was it, the President announced my category, and as is usual, a snippet of one of the nominations was read out, and the runner up announced, we clapped and cheered the very lovely and worthy runner up.

Next the winner.

Once again, an anonymised snippet of a nomination was read out… wait… this sounds like one of my brides, unless another celebrant had been up late the night before the wedding reassuring her bride that everything was going to be ok…could this be?  I leaned in and whispered to my friend, I think this might be me, I continued to listen for more clues, my stomach doing butterflies.

Finally, the winner is…Tracy Munday!

 

I’d love to say I walked graciously to accept my award with dignity and decorum, but I didn’t.

After giving Sara a hug that nearly knocked her off her feet, I whooped for joy as I hurtled to the front before they could change their mind.

So, do awards matter?

Well, my ceremonies won’t be any different now I’m an ‘award winning celebrant’ my couples and families will still receive the same commitment, love, dedication, and professionalism.  But from a personal perspective, to be recognised, acknowledged and rewarded for doing something I love by my couples and the judging panel is an honour I will treasure always.