From Celebrity Stylist to Celebrant

Celebrity Stylist Ceril Campbell explains why she changed career and became a wedding celebrant at the age of 70.

I believe that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself – your life and style or your career. My social media #tag is ageless inspiration, as I hope to inspire women of all ages by demonstrating that a milestone birthday shouldn’t be a road block to your hopes and dreams.

My career in fashion, media and working with celebrities and both British and international royals have given me the opportunity to engage with clients from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. This experience has enabled me to understand diverse perspectives and turn your dreams into reality.

So…how did my own career path unfold from fashion stylist for advertising campaigns, magazines, films and TV commercials, fashion boutique owner and designer, TV guest presenter and expert fashion and royal style commentator and celebrity stylist – to life coach, motivational speaker and author – to celebrant, at the age of seventy?

I’ve always loved fashion. My fashion career began as a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, working Saturdays in boutiques on the Kings Road, Chelsea – first Mr Freedom, then Jean Machine. It was the 1970s, when London’s Chelsea was the fashion epicentre of cool. My debut fictional novel Secrets in the Dark was based in that era.

My career evolved – often from opportunities that presented themselves organically – to creating my own projects and businesses that fit with the zeitgeist of the time.

Creating and designing for two fashion boutiques happened sooner than I could ever have expected, whilst I was only in my early twenties – after a fashion design and merchandising degree in London and then working with major international fashion brands as a buyer.

The Jean Machine brand, FU’s, had around fifty jeans’ shops around the UK in the seventies and early eighties. The owners had known me since the age of fifteen and I had used many of their jeans in my subsequent fashion styling work. Out of the blue, they invited me to create and design two flagship FU’s stores in Knightsbridge – one next to Harrods, and the second in Bond Street – all the stock unique to the two innovative concept boutiques: suede tracksuits, parachute silk jumpsuits, coloured jeans and coords, bomber jackets and fashion trends which could be adapted and manufactured in China for the mass market and all their jean stores.

I continued my styling work, alongside designing and buying for the two stores, both in the UK and subsequently in Los Angeles.

In the 1980s, love, marriage and two babies opened a new chapter in my life. By the time my youngest child was five years old, I decided that creating and opening a kids’ fashion shop would free up my life to spend more time with my family than with the irregular hours of filming away on location.

I opened a pop-up store – ‘Kids on The Green’, on the New Kings Road – a kids’ emporium with everything from a hairdresser for the first haircut, to fun clothes, shoes, toys and dressing up. My clients came from far and wide and included the late Paula Yates for her kids, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, with her two girls and her bodyguards. When people discovered who was in my shop – it suddenly became mobbed and her bodyguards ushered the royal party quickly out – accidently not paying the full bill. I discovered that it was strangely easy, back then, to phone Buckingham Palace and to be put through directly to her to explain the situation.

I became quite familiar with the interior and royal apartments in Buckingham Palace, when I was styling Zara Tindall MBE, OLE in the noughties. I even got lost and locked in, by accident one evening as we had been working late after the offices had closed.

Challenges I’ve faced in my own life, combined with four decades of experience working in lifestyle, personal style, journalism, media and motivational speaking, together with consulting on brand image for high profile people in the public eye, have all helped me to listen empathetically, craft, write and deliver bespoke and stylish individual ceremonies – each with meaningful symbolism and ritual – unique to each couple.

Whether it’s a celebration of love, identity, new beginnings, or life’s milestones, I’ll make it a special ceremony for you and your families to remember for ever – maybe it’s a wedding the second time around – vow renewals – a milestone birthday – a divorce and separation healing – a baby naming or adoption ceremony – an identity ceremony – or rite of passage – all diverse, inclusive and unique – influenced by my creativity as a writer together with my background in fashion, media and style.

I can also simply write the speeches and vows on your behalf (not attend the actual ceremony) bringing your beautiful back stories and love journeys to life through carefully chosen words. It’s an honour to be trusted with your memories.

I especially love to work with couples who have found love in later life.
My home is currently in London but I have travelled extensively, living in Paris, Los Angeles and New York, and can converse in French, Italian and basic Spanish. I spend time in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Sussex and Andalusia in southern Spain – where my daughter and her family now live.

Ceril successfully completed her training as a Marriage & Family Celebrant with Terri Negus and is a member of the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants.