SICA member Ian Bonner-Evans

Ian Bonner-Evans‘s biography

I believe that Love is the most powerful force in the universe. We catch a glimpse of this love when we see human beings at their very best. Perhaps the most obvious way to see this love in action is to observe our relationships with our closest family members and friends.

Our loving relationships are precious to us, and I believe that we have a deep seated need to express this love during important times in life. We will often want to mark the safe arrival of a baby, or celebrate the union of two people in marriage, or say farewell to a loved one who has died. Of course, there are many other occasions that we might want to mark including anniversaries, transition times like graduations or coming of age, and endings such as the death of a pet.

I have spent most of my adult life working alongside others in various settings including education and training, pastoral work, and counselling and supervision. I have conducted all kinds of ceremonies for over twenty years. I have held religious services, spiritual ceremonies and humanist celebrations. I am an ordained OneSpirit interfaith minister which means that I able to conduct legal marriages and civil partnerships in Scotland.

What really matters to me is that I hold your ceremony as you want it to be, with love lying at the very heart of it.

Please feel free to contact me for further information or visit my website by clicking on the “house” icon at the top of this page. You can also watch a short video that I’ve produced by clicking the V (Vimeo) button at the top of this page. I’ll look forward to hearing from you!

The photo showing a funeral was taken by Jenn Knox of PhotoJennK at a “Staged Funeral” event organised by SICA in May 2024 at Brewsterwells Crematorium in Fife. I was involved in a ceremony dedicated to “Alex Murray” an imagined person. The event was supported with a grant from Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief and Agnostic Scotland. Many thanks to all involved, including William Purves Funeral Directors, Oor Fleurs, and Sarah Lawson the BSL Interpreter. Thanks also to those SICA colleagues who organised the day.

Some Testimonials

“Ian was wonderful to work with and helped us create our perfect wedding ceremony. From the first meeting, Ian was incredibly organised and walked us through the process of planning our ceremony. We had several video calls with him in the months and weeks prior to the wedding and his friendly and accommodating nature made us feel at ease and truly heard throughout the entire process. On the day, the ceremony was exactly what we had hoped for, and it was clear that his dedication and organisation played a huge role in making it a success. We highly recommend Ian to all couples looking for a professional and heartfelt officiant!”   Laura and Philip

“Ian’s love and support leading up to the funeral of my dad, and afterwards, gave enormous comfort to myself and my family. His care and compassion held us all at this sad and difficult time. Both the service at the private family cremation and the Service of Thanksgiving at the Church were full of warmth, deeply personal, and heartfelt. All family and friends who attended commented on how beautiful the services were and how they captured the essence of who my dad was, which is exactly what we had hoped for. We can’t thank him enough for all he has done for us to help make this unbearable time more bearable. ”   Debi and family

“One of the best decisions we made for our Wedding Day was having Ian officiate and we simply cannot recommend him enough.  From the outset of planning our wedding, Ian was there for us. The lead up to any wedding can be nerve-wracking but we always felt incredibly confident and in such safe hands with Ian. What made our journey so special was that he truly captured who we are as individuals, our own personal stories and who we are as a couple. As a couple, Ian made our ceremony feel perfectly tailored to us. We come from different religious backgrounds and have families from all over the world who attended the wedding, and Ian was able to beautifully welcome everyone and ensure that we were all woven into the ceremony. For example, Ian even learned a few sentences in Serbian to welcome our international guests. We have had countless wedding guests compliment us on how perfect, beautiful and meaningful our ceremony was. Many guests told us, ‘that was the best wedding ceremony we have ever sat through’. We decided to have both a photographer and a videographer on the day and thank goodness we did as having a video of our ceremony to look back on has been wonderful.”   Anna and Stefan

“The funeral service was beautiful. You carried out Frank’s wishes and fulfilled all of the family’s requirements too. It was very personal, dignified and respectful and summed up Frank really well. Thank you.”   Dick and Maureen

“Ian was the celebrant for our marriage. Because it was the second time around for the both of us, and we are now a little older, we didn’t want a formal church service. What we did want was a ceremony that would give a defining spiritual experience that wasn’t overly religious, for such a special event in our lives. Ian managed to bring all of that together for us, while at the same time introducing a good element of light-heartedness and warmth to the occasion. All of this was very much appreciated by both of us, and all of our family and friends who attended.”   John and Lynn

“We just wanted to thank you for a wonderful service and for the support you have given us over this time. You captured my mother perfectly, with her love for her family and for life in general, and this made the funeral so special.”   Susan and David

“We wanted to thank you ever so much not only for being part of our wedding day and for such a wonderful service but also for everything that went into the planning and organising in the run up to the day. Your support, knowledge and wealth of experience helped us massively in deciding what kind of ceremony we wanted, and we could not have done this without your help and guidance (including a crash course on how to use a fountain pen!) There were so many comments from our friends and family of how lovely the ceremony was and how much they enjoyed it so thanks again, it was just perfect.” Dylan and Lynsey

“Thank you so much for a wonderful wedding ceremony, it was perfect! We were so happy with it and so many of our friends and family complimented your delivery and how warm you made the ceremony feel. You were able to help us make the wedding a very personal reflection of our beliefs, and for that we are so thankful. You were so in tune with us, we felt we could completely trust you to perform our wedding.”   Janine and James

“We both wish to thank you again for today and especially your hard work in preparing a service for our special day. Your thoughtfulness and inventiveness in preparing the order of service is much appreciated and your delivery of the service today was exemplary. We couldn’t have wished for more.” Keith and Primrose

“Thank you so much for such a beautiful wedding ceremony last Saturday. Everyone commented on how great the service was, so much so that most people asked us how long we’d known you! What more can we say?!” William and Abigail