SICA member David Devenney

David Devenney‘s biography

Hi, I’m David. I suppose in many respects you might say that over the years I have had a portfolio career. I served for many years at senior level in the Royal Marines and Royal Navy serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then I have worked within the charities sector. I am also a licensed minister of the Church of Scotland with over thirteen years of creating unique ceremonies with couples at home and abroad. Over the years however my life journey took me away from established religion and I then trained to become an accredited independent celebrant.

I live in Central Scotland with my wife and two dogs and can be found most weekends on a long distance walk or somewhere up a hillside. They say that mountains are holy places and I believe that on mountain trails ‘altitude’ positively affects ‘attitude’ and being immersed in the outdoors brings an opportunity to enjoy the kinds of solitude it sometimes feels difficult to find elsewhere.

I seek to balance celebrancy with my position as the Director of a military veterans drop in centre. I am an accomplished public speaker, have presented a BBC documentary and am qualified in Neurolinguistics (NLP) and Therapeutic Hypnosis. I am an optimist by nature and feel that the best stuff is always ahead of us.

Christine…

David did a wonderful job as a celebrant at my husband’s funeral. He met with the family beforehand to gather information and details about his life and was very courteous and respectful throughout. We also spoke on the phone, and he spoke to former colleagues to gather information which meant the service was very personal and truly reflected the man my husband was and the life he’d lived which meant everything to myself and the family. I was able to email him with things I later remembered and wanted included in the service and nothing was too much trouble. The service was a celebration of my husband’s life with a wee bit of humour included, which was exactly what my he would have liked. Several people remarked afterwards on the service David carried out and how it truly reflected my husband, what more could we have wanted. David is a very professional celebrant; he listened to my wishes, treated us with kindness and respect and articulated perfectly , everything I wished to say about my husband, in a dignified and respectful manner. 

Jess…

David recently conducted my wedding and I cannot recommend him highly enough. So many of our family and friends commented on how wonderful the ceremony was. He spent time during the planning stages understanding us and what we were looking for, he was supportive, flexible and offered invaluable guidance. The result was a ceremony that we were both really proud of and felt entirely like ‘us’. We were able to include our own vows and traditional Scottish customs.On the day he was calm, collected and steered us through the initial nerves of being stood in front of lots of people. He spoke beautifully, and delivered an inspired address. The memories of the day will stay with us forever.