About me

When my husband asked me to marry him in January 2013, I was overjoyed. However, I soon faced a quandary: how could we create a secular (destination wedding!) ceremony that honored our cultural traditions? I put on my researcher’s hat and got to work, joining a destination wedding forum, searching through journal articles and the internet, talking to family and locating a fabulous wedding planner. (Oh, and convincing a good friend to conduct the ceremony.) It was all worth it: the ceremony was full of love, light and laughter and honored who we were and what we hoped we would become as a couple. Best of all, it was the perfect blend of our African (American) and Caribbean roots.  

 Planning my wedding, in addition to marriage equality passing in Virginia that same year inspired me to become a celebrant. I wanted to create loving, personalized ceremonies that honored each couple and family in front of me. In its previous incarnation, my work happily fell under the banner of Richmond Secular Ceremonies. However, Mahaba Ceremonies (roughly translated as overflowing with love in Swahili) more fully captures my emphasis on honoring culture and creating deeper connections during life’s milestone events.   

 In my non-celebrant life, I enjoy reading (fantasy, historical romance, sci-fi and steampunk novels), Afro-Latin dance, trying out new restaurants with my husband locally or in faraway locations, and loving on my babies. Please see my curated Pinterest boards for wedding, celebration of life and baby naming ceremony ideas that incorporate these elements and more.  

 Everyone is unique, so creating a personalized ceremony that suits and represents you—my client(s) is very important to me. I welcome people from all walks of life, but am especially interested in creating ceremonies for groups that are often ignored, including black and other people of color, disabled people*, members of the LGBTQIA community and atheists/agnostics/secular humanists. Please reach out to me. I promise that I will do everything in my power to create the ceremony of your dreams.   

*Note to my disabled clients: I am working on ensuring that my site is more accessible for you, and I appreciate your patience as I learn to serve you better. Please don’t hesitate to tell me if there’s something I can do to improve.