Testimonials | Telling Lives — John Sellwood, celebrant and journalist

Hi John,
Just wanted to say thanks again before we headed out of town. Rod and I loved what you did for us, and apparently so did every one else. My brother told me he'd never bothered to listen to a ceremony before, but totally enjoyed and listened to the whole thing. My dad told me it was simply perfect; and heaps of others commented on how great it was - fun, entertaining and totally suitable to us.

You're a real gem and you played a big part in making our day just right. Love your work!

Kindest possible regards,
Rod & Lovetia.... oh hang on... Mr & Mrs Smith.

Hi John,
Just a quick note to say thank you so much for our wedding ceremony! You did fantastic job, our guests all loved you & we have had so many people come up to us & say "that ceremony was so 'you'.." exactly the kind of response we wanted :)
Hopefully we run into you again one day (have passed your name & details onto friends already), you were great!

Thank you,
Scott & Kellie Radcliffe

John - just wanted to say a massive thank you for doing our wedding on the 21st January. We're now safely ensconsed in the snow in London and have great memories of a hilarious windy ceremony!

You were brilliant - pitched exactly right, lots of humour and the right amount of solemnity - the perfect balance.

I hope you got back ok and things in Lyttelton are settling. Also - I will send through some pics as soon as we get them from Alice.

Take care and best wishes

Hi John,

We just want to say thank you SO much for being such a great celebrant! We absolutely loved the day, including the ceremony in which you played such a big part. We loved the little stories you included along the way.

Hi John,

Thank you so much for the beautiful ceremony that you preformed for Richie and I on Thursday 5th January. You made us so relaxed and the ceremony was so special. We have had so many people compliment us as well on what a great service it was and how impressed that they were with you. Thank you so much for being a special (and integral) part of our day.

Kind regards
Hayley and Richie

Hi John

thanks so much for your input into our day - we were thrilled, you fitted in perfectly and many of our friends have complimented us on our good choice! - seriously they have said what a fantastic job you did - you really added something. The passing of the rings and the lemon balm has stood out as being pretty special - well done you, thanks for suggesting it.

We wanted a very relaxed, inclusive, "true to us" ceremony and you delivered that. There was hardly a dry eye anywhere at times and photos also show huge amounts of laughter - people had a great day - us in particular.

Also thanks for being so flexible with the hiccup with the late arrivals - it was really important to have them there and happily revised your plans to make it work,; to say this is appreciated really is an understatement. It was huge.

We have fantastic photos, fantastic memories. We really valued your guidance, input, professionalism and humour.

Hi John,
We are finally home and back to reality, glad to be back but already feeling nostalgic over our wedding and honeymoon! We had such an amazing time and everything went perfectly, thank you so much for the part you played in making our day as amazing as it was. We had a lot of comments from our guests about the wonderful job you did, and we were so happy with how it went and how at ease you made us feel, so thank you!!!

Hey John
Just wanted to say a great big THANKS for being a terrific celebrant for our wedding. Got nothing but great reviews about you and how everything went. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Thanks again, you were wonderfully funny and made it a truly special day for us.
Tracy and Karl

Although this has been a long time coming, Jorgen and I would both like to thank you for the amazing job you did for us as our wedding celebrant at Easter.
You were well prepared, able to give us excellent advice and rolled with whatever happened. You were extremely professional and everyone still asks us about you and comments on the perfect ceremony you conducted.
All the best and we hope that life in Lyttelton calms down soon.
Lisa and Jorgen Andersen

The family is very appreciative of the grand job you did for Dads Service. You certainly won Mother over! We have not heard her sing like that for many years.

Amongst the cards we received down here is one from one of Dad's old employees and he mentioned the "Never better Jack"

Everyone we have spoken to has said it was a tremendous service. Thank you very much for your part in bringing it all together, a fitting tribute to a very good Dad.

Regards John

Hi John,
Here a couple of pics i thought you might like, many thanks again for
your wonderful work and help at our wedding.... we had so much fun and
all our guests enjoyed themselves, many commenting on what a great job
you did and asking who you were!

All the best

Jacqui

Thank you for conducting such a wonderful service for Ron.

Your professionalism and compassion helped make the day much easier for us. Your words, suggestions and help with the music created a very moving tribute for which we are very grateful for.

It was a service Ron would have liked and we feel we were honoured by it.

A quick note to thank you so much for the part you played in making the send off for my Dad so special. I know you would have totally related to dad.
A special thanks also John from mum. She was delighted with the service for her "best pal".

Hello, and a big thank you for playing such a central role in helping to make Brendan and Marijke's wedding so wonderful.
We thought your form of wedding ceremony was nicely balanced between the required formality and the intimacy appropriate to the setting. We loved the ritual of passing the rings around from hand to hand.
It was altogether, we thought, a nicely crafted ceremony and we received many compliments from our guests.

Thank you very much for officiating at our wedding last month. We really appreciate all you have done for us, especially in light of all you have been through with the earthquake. Our ceremony was exactly what we wanted, and we will treasure our memories of the event.
Kind regards Carolyn and Simon.

Hi John,

Just wanted to say a massive thank you for being our celebrant on 16 April at Terrace Downs. So many people commented after about how your personality really suited our ceremony so we thank you heaps. I have forwarded your details onto the wedding co ordinator at Terrace Downs as she was asking after you.

All the best John and thanks again.

Amy and Davie Gellatly.

Thank you so much for creating such a personal and meaningful ceremony for us.
I couldn't have dreamed a better fairytale wedding and your special brand of humour struck such a cord with us, and our guests ( you even won the hearts of the most traditional). So we can't thank you enough - your clearly living your passion and it shows.

Pete and Lee

Dear John,
Thank you for helping make our day so enjoyable and relaxed. You were awesome and we couldn't have wished for better person to marry us.
Love Carla and Sam